Malay Archipelago bat not one, but two species

Myotis muricola from Kuningan, West Java. Otherwise known as the Wall-roosting Mouse-eared bat, it is a species of vesper bat. They are typically insectivorous and nocturnal.

M. muricola is widespread on the Malay Archipelago, a region with
an island geography that provides natural boundaries and as a
result displays some of the richest biodiversity in the world.
Until now scientists had compared the shape and size of Myotis bats
across the Archipelago and conducted only limited DNA analysis. As
a result the Myotis family tree has remained in disarray with often
contradictory lines of evidence confusing matters.

To resolve these taxonomic difficulties, a team from the Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences launched
the first in-depth genetic study on M. muricola and its sister
taxa, M. mystacinus. Writing in the Pertanika Journal of Tropical
Agricultural Science, the team describe how they examined the bats
in two regions, West and East of Wallace’s line (fig. 2).
Using a genetic analysis technique known as ‘DNA cytochrome b
sequencing’ (fig. 3), they found that the Western and Eastern
groups had a genetic distance of between 26 and 39 per cent.

Based on this high genetic distance they argue that M. muricola
Eastern and M. muricola Western should be considered as two
distinct species. The data also suggest that the Eastern bat
started to diversify in the western region during the Pliocene (5
to 2.5 million years ago). They became fully diverged within the
western region during the Pleistocene (2.5 million to 11,000 years
ago) under the influence of ancient Sunda River systems that had
produced gallery forest corridors which functioned as safe havens
for the bats as the climate and geography around them
changed.

The authors stress that as a result of these findings an official
revision of the taxonomic status of M. muricola is urgently needed.
In addition, more samples from throughout the geographic range are
required to firmly establish these findings.

For more information on the research, contact

Sigit Wiantoro

Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense

Research Centre for Biology

Indonesian Institute of Sciences

Widyasatwaloka Building

Jl Raya Jakarta-Bogor Km. 46

16911 Cibinong, Indonesia.

E-mail: [email protected]

Tel: +(62) 2187 65056; Mobile: +(62) 8132 8891 321.

About Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science
(JTAS)

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Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS) is
published by Universiti Putra Malaysia in English and is open to
authors around the world regardless of nationality. It currently
publishes four times a year in February, May, August and November.
Other Pertanika series include Pertanika Journal of Science &
Technology (JST), and Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences &
Humanities (JSSH).

JTAS aims to provide a forum for high quality research related to
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journal include: agricultural biotechnology, biochemistry, biology,
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relevance.