Bats Out of Africa: Disentangling the Systematic Position and Biogeography of Bats in Cabo Verde
1
CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
2
Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
3
Parque Natural do Fogo, Direcção Nacional do Ambiente, 115 Chã d’Areia—Praia, Santiago, São Lourenço dos Orgãos CP 84, Cape Verde
4
Associação Projecto Vitó, 8234 Xaguate, Cidade de São Filipe, Fogo 8220, Cabo Verde
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Genes 2020, 11(8), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11080877
Received: 12 June 2020
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Revised: 22 July 2020
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Accepted: 28 July 2020
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Published: 1 August 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Animal Genetics and Genomics)
Cabo Verde Archipelago presents one of the largest knowledge gaps in the distribution and taxonomy of bats in the world. Old works indicated that there are five species classified as European taxa. We have conducted an integrative taxonomy to revise the systematic position and distribution of Cabo Verdean bats with molecular, morphological, and ecological data, to test their native or exotic origin, and infer possible colonization patterns based on fieldwork and museum samples. Results showed that Cabo Verde Hypsugo is closely related to those from the Canary Islands, in which the taxonomic status is under debate, presenting unique mitochondrial and nuclear haplotypes. We also expanded the distribution of Taphozous nudiventris for Fogo Island through pellets and acoustic identification, showed unique haplotypes for this species, and that Miniopterus schreibersii shared a haplotype with European, North African, and Western Asian specimens. The morphological and acoustic identification of Cabo Verdean specimens was challenging because of the lack of modern morphological descriptions and similarity of echolocation calls within the same genus. More studies are definitely needed to access the systematic of bat species in the archipelago, but this work is the first step for the establishment of conservation actions of the probable only native Cabo Verdean mammals.
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Keywords:
chiropters; distribution; Hypsugo; islands; genetics; Miniopterus; Plecotus; Taphozous
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MDPI and ACS Style
Borloti, I.; Dinis, H.; Vasconcelos, R. Bats Out of Africa: Disentangling the Systematic Position and Biogeography of Bats in Cabo Verde. Genes 2020, 11, 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11080877
AMA Style
Borloti I, Dinis H, Vasconcelos R. Bats Out of Africa: Disentangling the Systematic Position and Biogeography of Bats in Cabo Verde. Genes. 2020; 11(8):877. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11080877
Chicago/Turabian StyleBorloti, Ianna, Herculano Dinis, and Raquel Vasconcelos. 2020. "Bats Out of Africa: Disentangling the Systematic Position and Biogeography of Bats in Cabo Verde" Genes 11, no. 8: 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11080877
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