PARENT SESSION

Systematics/Zoogeography 2 -- Session Chair: Robert Anderson-- Nelson Hall East, Goodwin Forum

SYSTEMATICS OF THE BAT FAMILY MOLOSSIDAE USING NUCLEAR DNA SEQUENCES. Loren K. Ammerman and Lisa G. Smith. Department of Biology, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX.

ABSTRACT- Our current understanding of the relationships among the genera of bats in the family Molossidae (99 species, 16 genera) is based largely on morphological data. Relationships among the genera of free-tailed bats have not been tested with molecular data and thus, the objective of this study was to construct a phylogeny among molossid genera using DNA sequence data. We amplified, cloned, and sequenced intron 7 of the beta-fibrinogen gene to examine the relationships among 15 species from 9 genera in the family Molossidae and outgroups from the families Vespertilionidae and Phyllostomidae. Data were analyzed using both parsimony and likelihood criteria (HKY+G) in PAUP. A parsimony bootstrap analysis was performed to estimate the level of support for the recovered clades. We collected and aligned 1050 bases. Divergence values (uncorrected p) ranged from 1-6% within a genus and 3-10% between genera. Both parsimony and likelihood results support a division between New World and Old World lineages. However, the position of Otomops and Nyctinomops varies slightly between likelihood and parsimony analyses. In general, geographic proximity seems to be a better indicator of close relationship than does morphology on which the current taxonomy is based. Based on our taxonomic sampling, neither Chaerephon, Tadarida nor Mops appear to be monophyletic genera. We conclude that although additional taxonomic sampling will be necessary to completely understand relationships within the family Molossidae, the hypotheses of relationship supported by the analysis of the beta-fibrinogen gene are inconsistent with current taxonomy.

KEY WORDS: molecular systematics, Molossidae