Cryptic diversity and range extension in the big-eyed bat genus Chiroderma (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae).

ABSTRACT: Since the last systematic review of Chiroderma (big-eyed bats) more than two decades ago, we report on biodiversity surveys that expand the distribution and species diversity of this Neotropical genus. The Caribbean endemic species Chiroderma improvisum is documented for the first time from Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles. A broader geographic sampling for a molecular analysis identifies a paraphyletic relationship in Chiroderma trinitatum with respect to Chiroderma doriae. Cis-Andean populations of C. trinitatum are most closely related to the morphologically distinctive and allopatrically distributed C. doriae in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest of Brazil and Paraguay. The sister taxon to this grouping includes trans-Andean populations of

SUBMITTER: Lim BK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7086341 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature