Abstract
Using molecular genetics, male sexual organ morphology (baculum), and cranio-dental characters, we describe a new spe-cies of the genus Neoromicia from Madagascar, N. robertsi sp. nov. It is presumed to be endemic to the island and isknown from three specimens taken in montane areas of the eastern central region. The new species shows 1.0 % and 2.8%divergence in the 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes, respectively, from its nearest congener and is notably larger in cranio-dental measurements than other members of the genus occurring on Madagascar. This new species was previously iden-tified as N. melckorum, which is considered a junior synonym of southern African N. capensis. Neoromicia malagasyen-sis, an endemic to central western Madagascar, is the sister species to N. robertsi and the two are best considered vicariantspecies. Specimens provisionally assigned to N. malagasyensis, but notably smaller in baculum and skull size, and withdifferent baculum morphology, probably represent another unknown species from the island. Given the apparent rarity ofN. robertsi compared with other Malagasy members of this genus living in the eastern portion of Madagascar, it is considered a taxon of conservation concern.References
Barratt, E.M., Deaville, R., Burland, T.M., Bruford, M.W., Jones, G., Racey, P.A. & Wayne, R. (1997) DNA answers the call of pipistrelle bat species. Nature, 387, 138–139.
Bates, P.J.J., Ratrimomanarivo, F., Harrison, D.L. & Goodman, S.M. (2006) A review of pipistrelles and serotines (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Madagascar, including the description of a new species of Pipistrellus. Acta Chiropterologica, 8, 299–324.
Brain, C.K. (1998) Austin Roberts: A lifelong devotion to South Africa’s birds and beasts. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, 185 pp.
Boumans, L., Vieites, D.R., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) Geographical patterns of deep mitochondrial differentiation in widespread Malagasy reptiles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45, 822–839.
Carleton, M.C. & Goodman, S.M. (2007) A new species of the Eliurus majori complex (Rodentia: Muroidea: Nesomyidae) from south-central Madagascar, with remarks on emergent species groupings in the genus Eliurus. American Museum Novitates, 3547, 1–21.
Dorst, J. (1947a) Essai d’une clef de détermination des chauves-souris malgaches. Mémoires de l’Institut Scientifique de Madagascar, série A, 1, 81–88.
Dorst, J. (1947b) Les chauves-souris de la faune malgache. Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, série 2, 19, 306–313.
Eger, J.L. & Mitchell, L. (2003) Chiroptera, bats. In: Goodman, S.M. & Benstead, J.P. (Eds.), The natural history of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 1287–1298.
Felsenstein, J. (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenetics: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution, 39, 783–791.
Goodman, S.M. (2011) Les chauves -souris de Madagascar. Association Vahatra, Antananarivo, 129 pp.
Goodman, S.M. & Ranivo, J. (2004) The taxonomic status of Neoromicia somalicus malagasyensis. Mammalian Biology, 69, 434–438.
Goodman, S.M., Jenkins, R.K.B. & Ratrimomanarivo, F.H. (2005) A review of the genus Scotophilus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) on Madagascar, with the description of a new species. Zoosystema, 27, 867–882.
Goodman, S.M., Ratrimomanarivo, F.H. & Randrianandrianina, F.H. (2006) A new species of Scotophilus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from western Madagascar. Acta Chiropterologica, 8, 21–37.
Goodman, S.M., Ramasindrazana, B., Maminirina, C.P., Schoeman, M.C. & Appleton, B. (2011) Morphological, bioacoustical, and genetic variation in Miniopterus bats from eastern Madagascar, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 2880, 1–19.
Göpfert, M.C., Heller, K.-G., Volleth, M. & Wasserthal, L.T. (1995) Madagascar microchiropteran bats: new records including new species. Bat Research News, 36, 68–69.
Heller, K.-G. & Volleth, M. (1984) Taxonomic position of ‘‘Pipistrellus societatis’’ Hill, 1972 and the karyological characteristics of the genus Eptesicus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung, 22, 65–77.
Hill, J.E. & Harrison, D.L. (1987) The baculum in the Vespertilioninae (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with a systematic review, a synopsis of Pipistrellus and Eptesicus, and the descriptions of a new genus and subgenus. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Series, 52, 225–305.
Hillis, D.M., and Huelsenbeck, J.P. (1992) Signal, noise, and reliability in molecular phylogenetic analysis. Journal of Heredity, 83, 189–195.
Hoofer, S.R. & Van Den Bussche, R.A. (2003) Molecular phylogenetics of the chiropteran family Vespertilionidae. Acta Chiropterologica, 5, supplement, 1–63.
Hoofer, S.R., Reeder, S.A., Hansen, E.W. & Van Den Bussche, R.A. (2003) Molecular phylogenetics and taxonomic review of noctilionoid and vespertilionoid bats (Chiroptera: Yangochiroptera). Journal of Mammalogy, 84, 809–821.
Huelsenbeck, J. P. & Ronquist, F. (2001) MRBAYES: A Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Bioinformatics, 17, 754–755.
Huelsenbeck, J.P., Larget, B., Miller, R.E. & Ronquist, F. (2002) Potential applications and pitfalls of Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Systematic Biology, 51, 673–688.
Kearney, T.C. (2005) Systematic revision of southern African species in the genera Eptesicus, Neoromicia, Hypsugo and Pipistrellus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Ph.D. thesis, The University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban.
Kearney, T.C., Volleth, M., Contrafatto, G. & Taylor, P.J. (2002) Systematic implications of chromosome GTG-band and bacula morphology for southern African Eptesicus and Pipistrellus and several other species of Vespertilioninae (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Acta Chiropterologica, 4, 55–76.
Kofoky, A.F., Randrianandrianina, F., Russ, J., Raharinantenaina, I., Cardiff, S.G., Jenkins, R.K.B. & Racey, P.A. (2009) Forest bats of Madagascar: results of acoustic surveys. Acta Chiropterologica, 11, 375–392.
Koopman, K.F. (1993) Order Chiroptera. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Eds), Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp 137–241.
Koopman, K.F. (1994) Chiroptera: Systematics. In: Niethammer, J., Schliemann, H. & Stark, D. (Eds.) Handbuch der Zoologie, Vol. VIII, Mammalia, Part 60. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, vii + 217 pp.
Leaché, A.D. & Reeder, T.W. (2002) Molecular systematics of the eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulates): a comparison of parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian approaches. Systematic Biology, 51, 44–68.
Lidicker, W.R. (1968) A phylogeny of New Guinea rodent genera based on phallic morphology. Journal of Mammalogy, 49, 609–643.
Longmire, J.L., Maltbie, M. & Baker, R.J. (1997) Use of ‘‘lysis buffer’’ in DNA isolation and its implication for museum collections. Occasional Papers, The Museum, Texas Tech University, 163, 1–3.
Maddison, D.R. & Maddison, W.P. (2002). MacClade 4 (version 4.05). Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
McBee, K., Schlitter, D.A. & Robbins, R.L. (1987) Systematics of African bats of the genus Eptesicus (Mammalia: Vespertilionidae). 2. Karyotypes of African species and their generic relationships. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 56, 213–222.
Mercurio, V., Aprea, G., Crottini, A., Mattioli, F., Randrianirina, J.E., Razafindrabe, T.J. & Andreone, F. (2008) The amphibians of Isalo Massif, southern-central Madagascar: high frog diversity in an apparently hostile dry habitat. Monografie del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali di Torino, 41, 5–58.
Milne-Edwards, A. (1881) Observations sur quelques animaux de Madagascar. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Academie des Sciences 91 (for 1880), 1034 – 1038.
Monadjem, A., Taylor, P.J., Cotterill, F.P.D. & Schoeman, M.C. (2010) Bats of southern Africa: A biogeographic and taxonomic synthesis. Wits University Press, Johannesburg, 596 pp.
Peterson, R.L., Eger, J.L. & Mitchell, L. (1995) Chiroptères. Vol. 84. Faune de Madagascar. Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 204 pp.
Posada, D. & Crandall, K.A. (1998) Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics, 14, 817–818.
Rautenbach, I.L., Bronner, G.N. & Schlitter, D.A. (1993) Karyotypic data and attendant systematic implications for the bats of southern Africa. Koedoe, 36, 87–104.
Roehrs, Z.P., Lack, J.B. & Van Den Bussche, R.A. (2010) Tribal phylogenetic relationships within Vespertilioninae (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data. Journal of Mammalogy, 91, 1073–1092.
Simmons, N. (2005) Order Chiroptera. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Eds), Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Third edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp 312–529.
Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (*and other methods), version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland.
Thompson, J.D., Gibson, T.J., Plewniak, F., Jeanmougin, F. & Higgins, D.G. (1997) The Clustal X windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Research, 24, 4876–4882.
Thomas, O. (1901) Some new African bats (including one from the Azores) and a new Galago. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 8, 27–34.
Thomas, O. & Schwann, T. (1905) The Rudd exploration of South Africa.—III. List of the mammals obtained by Mr. Grant in Zululand. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1905 (1), 254–276.
Van Den Bussche, R.A. & Hoofer, S.R. (2000). Further evidence for inclusion of the New Zealand short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) within Noctilionoidea. Journal of Mammalogy, 81, 865–874.
Vences, M., Wollenberg, K.C., Vieites, D.R. & Lees, D.C. (2009) Madagascar as a model region of species diversification. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24, 456–465.
Volleth, M., Bronner, G., Göpfert, M.C., Heller, K.-G., von Helversen, O. & Yong, H.-S. (2001) Karyotype comparison and phylogenetic relationships of Pipistrellus-like bats (Vespertilionidae; Chiroptera; Mammalia). Chromosome Research, 9, 25–46.
von Helversen, O., Heller, K.-G., Mayer, F., Nemeth, A., Volleth, M. & Gombkötö, P. (2001) Cryptic mammalian species: a new species of whiskered bat (Myotis alcathoe n. sp.) in Europe. Naturwissenschaften, 88, 217–223.
Wiens, J.J. (1998) Combining data sets with different phylogenetic histories. Systematic Biology, 47, 568–581.
Wilmé, L., Goodman, S.M. & Ganzhorn, J.U. (2006) Biogeographic evolution of Madagascar’s microendemic biota. Science, 312, 1063–1065.