Toward a Molecular Phylogeny for the Molossidae (Chiroptera) of the Afro-Malagasy Region

A molecular and morphological investigation of species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships in Australian free-tailed bats Mormopterus (Chiroptera : Molossidae)

“…We agree that the norfolkensis group is, at the least, distinct from true Mormopterus (= the acetabulosus group) at the subgeneric level, a view also supported by our unpublished sequencing data. The systematic placement of the kalinowskii group is not fully clear but the molecular evidence of Lamb et al (2011) and the inference of Goodman et al (2008) Within the Australian Mormopterus, the magnitude of the genetic distances exhibited by allozymes and mtDNA between the 'planiceps complex' and M. eleryi and M. norfolkensis, and those between M. eleryi and M. norfolkensis, are close to those shown between these three groups and other molossid outgroup genera. This together with the corresponding cranial and dental differences evident between these three groups, lead us to conclude that these three groups each warrant subgeneric status.…”

“…Mormopterus, as currently defined in Simmons (2005), is represented worldwide by three species groups, one in Madagascar, Mascarene Islands and Sumatra (four species in total), another in the Neotropics (three species), and the third group comprising an unresolved complex in the Indo-Australian region. These three groups are likely to be polyphyletic (Lamb et al 2011) and the Indo-Australian group has previously been recognised as a separate genus, namely Micronomus (Troughton 1944). Australian Mormopterus comprises a distinctive group of small, free-tailed bats found throughout the Australian mainland, with representatives in most major habitat types (Van Dyck and Strahan 2008).…”

Cross-genus amplification and characterisation of microsatellite loci in the large-eared free tailed bat, Otomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from Africa and Madagascar

“…This is somewhat unexpected, as the higher divergence (RAG2 genetic distance) between T. brasiliensis and C. pumilus s.l. (4.6%) than between T. brasiliensis and O. martiensseni (3.2%) (Lamb et al, 2011) leads to an expectation of lower polymorphism in C. pumilus s.l. (Primmer et al, 2005).…”

“…TabrA10 F: AAG TGG TTG GGC GTT GTC R: GCG ATG CAC TGC CTT GAG A  TabrA30 F: AGT CGC GGG TTT GAT TCC AGT TA R: ACC CCT TCC CTT TGT TCC TTC within the Chiroptera, and phylogenetic and population genetic studies on this family have been based primarily on mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data (for example, Lamb et al, 2011;Ammerman et al, 2012). However, Russell et al (2005) used microsatellites to study the population genetics of the American species, Tadarida brasiliensis, and recently Naidoo et al (2013) reported on the utility of the primers of Russell et al (2005) to cross-amplify polymorphic microsatellites in the molossid species, Chaerephon pumilus sensu lato from south eastern Africa.…”

Stable Pleistocene-era populations ofChaerephon pumilus(Chiroptera: Molossidae) in southeastern Africa do not use different echolocation calls

“…Two forms of C. pumilus were found by Goodman et al (2010) to be genetically distinct from samples of this species originating from the type locality (Massawa, Eritrea); the eastern Malagasy form was named as a new species, Chaerephon atsinanana, whereas C. pumilus from the western Seychelles and the Comoros archipelago was referred to C. pusillus. A morphologically distinct Malagasy form was found to warrant species status and named C. jobimena, (Goodman & Cardiff 2004), although more recent molecular studies have shown this form to be too divergent to be included in Chaerephon (Lamb et al 2011). As our unpublished results show that C. pumilus from the southern portion of the African continent is genetically distinct from individuals obtained from the type locality of this species (Goodman et al 2010), we refer to these specimens from here on as C. pumilus sensu lato (s.l.…”