The taxonomic status of Myotis nesopolus larensis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) and new insights on the diversity of Caribbean Myotis

By

Novaes, Roberto Leonan
Cláudio, Vinícius C. (Vinícius Cardoso)
Larsen, Roxanne J.
Wilson, Don E.
Weksler, Marcelo
Moratelli, Ricardo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1015

Pages

145--167

Subjects

Bats , Biogeography , Lesser Antilles , Morphology , morphometry , South America , taxonomy , Venezuela

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1015.59248

 

Abstract

Myotis nesopoluscurrently comprises two subspecies. The nominate subspecies (M. n. nesopolus) occurs on the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, whereasM. n. larensisis known from mainland South America in northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. Our Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analyses of cytochrome-b gene sequences recoveredM. nesopolusas a paraphyletic group, withM. n. nesopolusandM. n. larensisas non-sister lineages. The haplotype network indicates that these two subspecies do not share any haplotypes and are in different evolutionary trajectories. Additionally, these two subspecies can be distinguished on the basis of qualitative and quantitative morphological traits. This pattern supports the recognition ofM. nesopolusandM. larensisas full species. Our results also reveal that the assemblage of CaribbeanMyotisdo not form a monophyletic group. Caribbean species are phylogenetically close to mainland species from northern South America and Central America, suggesting that colonization of Caribbean islands happened multiple times.