A cryptic species of the Tylonycteris pachypus complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) and its population genetic structure in southern China and nearby regions.

ABSTRACT: Three distinct bamboo bat species (Tylonycteris) are known to inhabit tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, i.e., T. pachypus, T. robustula, and T. pygmaeus. This study performed karyotypic examinations of 4 specimens from southern Chinese T. p. fulvidus populations and one specimen from Thai T. p. fulvidus population, which detected distinct karyotypes (2n=30) compared with previous karyotypic descriptions of T. p. pachypus (2n=46) and T. robustula (2n=32) from Malaysia. This finding suggested a cryptic Tylonycteris species within T. pachypus complex in China and Thailand. Morphometric studies indicated the difficulty in distinguishing the cryptic species and T. p. pachypus from Indonesia apart from the external measurements, which might be the reason for their historical misidentificat

SUBMITTER: Huang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3927132 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature