PARENT SESSION

Genetics/Evolution 1 -- Session Chair: Hopi Hoekstra-- University Center, Kate Buchanan Room

HARMONIC-HOPPING DRIVES DIVERGENCE IN WALLACEA'S BATS. Tigga Kingston¹ and Stephen J. Rossiter². ¹ Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA, USA; ² Queen Mary University of London, School of Biological Sciences, Mile End Road, London, London, UK.

ABSTRACT- Horseshoe bats are a diverse Old World family (Rhinolophidae) that have undergone a rapid radiation in the past 5 million years. They use a predominantly pure-tone echolocation call matched to an auditory fovea to detect the fluttering wings of insect prey. Here we show that three distinct, sympatric size morphs of the large-eared horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus philippinensis) echolocate at different harmonics of the same fundamental frequency. We suggest that switching harmonics creates a discontinuity in the bats' perception of available prey that can initiate disruptive selection. Moreover, because call frequency in horseshoe bats plays a dual role in resource acquisition and communication, ecological selection on frequency may lead to assortative mating and ultimately reproductive isolation, regardless of external barriers to gene flow. We show that the morphs have undergone recent genetic divergence, and this process has occurred in parallel more than once.

KEY WORDS: natural selection, echolocation, speciation, Rhinolophus