Systematics and taxonomy of Platyrrhinus chocoensis (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) based on morphometric and genetic analyses: implications for biogeography and conservation

Geographic variation in select species of the bat genus Platyrrhinus

“…In both species there is some overlap in the geographic ranges of both group pairs. The recognition of chocoensis as a subspecies of Platyrrhinus dorsalis as suggested by Palacios-Mosquera et al (2020) was not supported by our analyses. Genetic analyses did not recover the two groups of dorsalis to be reciprocally monophyletic (Palacios-Mosquera et al 2020).…”

“…Members of the genus, also known as broad-nosed bats, are widely distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina, with most species found in the Andes region (Velazco and Patterson 2008;Velazco and Gardner 2009;Velazco and Lim 2014;Velazco et al 2018;Palacios-Mosquera et al 2020). Over the past two decades, numerous taxonomic changes have been made within the genus, and only since 2005, recognized diversity increased from ten to nineteen species, nearly doubling the number of taxa (Simmons 2005;Simmons and Cirranello 2022;Velazco 2005;Velazco and Gardner 2009;Velazco and Lim 2014;Velazco et al 2018;Palacios-Mosquera et al 2020). Simmons (2005) recognized subspecies in three Platyrrhinus species (e. g., helleri [helleri and incarum], lineatus [lineatus and nigellus], and umbratus [aquilus, oratus, and umbratus]).…”

“…On the other hand, currently, only subspecies in Platyrrhinus dorsalis (P. d. dorsalis and P. d. chocoensis) are recognized in the genus, but their subspecific status is still controversial. Platyrrhinus dorsalis is polytypic, with chocoensis and dorsalis recognized based on the geographic structure of the morphological variation (Palacios-Mosquera et al 2020).…”

“…We defined the landmarks based on homology, consistency of relative position, coverage of the form, and repeatability (Zelditch et al 2012). Specimens of P. dorsalis and P. umbratus were grouped into two set of populations (dorsalis and chocoensis or nigellus and umbratus) based on external and craniodental morphological differences that distinguished those taxa (Velazco 2005;Velazco and Gardner 2009;Velazco et al 2018;Palacios-Mosquera et al 2020). Hereafter, we use dorsalis and chocoensis or nigellus and umbratus to refer to the morphological diagnosable groups within each species.…”

Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 4: Bats

“…The genus Platyrrhinus is a widely distributed Neotropical genus that includes 19 currently recognized species (Palacios-Mosquera et al, 2020). Species of Platyrrhinus can be distinguished from other stenodermatines by the following combination of characteristics: presence of a fringe of hair along the trailing margin of the uropatagium; facial and dorsal stripes present; rostrum approximately as wide as, and almost as long as the braincase; large inner upper incisors that are convergent at the tips; upper outer incisors bifid, less than half the length of inner incisors; two accessory cusps on the posterior face of the second upper premolar; and presence of three upper and lower molars (Gardner, 2008f;Velazco and Lim, 2014).…”