Yellow-bellied or white-bellied? Identity of Arabian house bats (Vespertilionidae: Scotophilus) revealed from mitochondrial DNA and morphology

0370681 - ÚBO 2012 RIV ZA eng J - Journal Article
Vallo, Peter - Benda, P. - Reiter, A.
Yellow-bellied or white-bellied? Identity of Arabian house bats (Vespertilionidae: Scotophilus) revealed from mitochondrial DNA and morphology.
African Zoology. Roč. 46, č. 2 (2011), s. 350-361. ISSN 1562-7020. E-ISSN 2224-073X
R&D Projects: GA ČR GP206/09/P624
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
Keywords : cytochrome b * phylogeny * cranial morphometrics * Scotophilus dinganii * Scotophilus leucogaster
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 0.900, year: 2011

The yellow-bellied Scotophilus dinganii is the only African house bat species reported from Arabia. Formerly, these bats were referred to similar-looking white-bellied S. leucogaster. We reassessed the taxonomic status of house bats from southwestern Yemen using genetic and morphological analyses. The Yemeni specimens clustered within two distantly related mtDNA lineages: East African S. aff. dinganii, which is paraphyletic to S. dinganii s.str. from South Africa, and West African S. leucogaster. Presence of two distinct taxa in Yemen was confirmend also morphologically. The Yemeni and comparative Ethiopian populations of S. aff. dinganii showed similarity to the type specimen of S. nigrita colias from Kenya, and were tentatively assigned to S. colias. However, final decision on the proper name must yet be explored. Based on environmental differences of the Yemeni localities, S. colias appears to be delimited to mountainous habitats, while S. leucogaster to lowland deserts.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0204406