Abstract
The analysis of molecular data within a historical biogeographical framework, coupled with ecological characteristics can provide insight into the processes driving diversification. Here we assess the genetic and ecological diversity within a widespread horseshoe bat Rhinolophus clivosus sensu lato with specific emphasis on the southern African representatives which, although not currently recognized, were previously described as a separate species R. geoffroyi comprising four subspecies. Sequence divergence estimates of the mtDNA control region show that the southern African representatives of R. clivosus s.l. are as distinct from samples further north in Africa than they are from R. ferrumequinum, the sister-species to R. clivosus. Within South Africa, five genetically supported geographic groups exist and these groups are corroborated by echolocation and wing morphology data. The groups loosely correspond to the distributions of the previously defined subspecies and Maxent modelling shows a strong correlation between the detected groups and ecoregions. Based on molecular clock calibrations, it is evident that climatic cycling and related vegetation changes during the Quaternary may have facilitated diversification both genetically and ecologically.
Highlights
The fields of ecology and conservation biology centre around the interactions between biological diversity and the environment
Sequence divergences indicate that the southern African representatives are as different from R. clivosus s.l. samples from further north in Africa (Kenya, Egypt) as they are from the sister species R. ferrumequinum (Table 2)
For the aridadapted Group 3 this variable was the minimum temperature of the coldest month. Their distributions coincide with the vegetation biomes, which in turn are influenced by temperature and rainfall and which would have experienced major changes during the Pliocene-Pleistocene
Summary
The fields of ecology and conservation biology centre around the interactions between biological diversity and the environment. Knowing the number and uniqueness of species, is important for conservation planning as it reflects species richness, endemism as well as potential threats of losing biodiversity [1]. The trend of increasing numbers of species has been attributed to ‘‘taxonomic inflation’’ [1], others argue that it reflects the underlying nature of species [4] and highlight the importance of evaluating previously unrecognized biodiversity (including genetic diversity) and the implications of this for ecological studies, conservation planning and the preservation of ecosystem services [3,5]. DNA-based studies enable the analysis of genetic diversity within taxa and in particular the quantification and subsequent recognition of cryptic and sibling species [6]. Most cryptic bat species, identified through molecular techniques, cannot be identified using external morphology but often do show other distinguishing characters, either in echolocation call [12,13,14] or more subtle morphological characters such as cranial morphology or tragus shape [15,16]
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