A New Species of Peropteryx (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from Western Amazonia with Comments on Phylogenetic Relationships within the Genus

Abstract

We report the discovery of a new species of doglike bat (Peropteryx) from the lowland Amazonian forests of Ecuador and Peru. It has transparent wing membranes that are faintly tinged brown with pale-brown arms and digits; ears that are separated on the forehead; and a skull with small, shallow pterygoid pits that are anterolateral to an undivided basisphenoid pit and that are separated by a mesopterygoid extension. These characters distinguish the new species from morphologically similar species with which it was previously confused (P. leucoptera and P. macrotis). A molecular phylogenetic analysis of unlinked loci from each of the four genetic transmission systems of mammals (mitochondrial, nuclear-autosomal, X, and Y chromosomes) independently corroborated the placement of the new species as the sister taxon to a clade that includes P. kappleri, P. macrotis, and P. trinitatis; the basal lineage for the genus is P. leucoptera. This phylogeny suggests that transparent wings (sometimes described as ''white'' but actually lacking pigment), the traditional character used to diagnose Peronymus, is not a unique synapomorphy. Furthermore, based on a molecular dating analysis, the depth of divergence of Peropteryx is equivalent to that of another New World emballonurid genus (Balantiopteryx). Therefore, Peronymus does not warrant higher-level recognition as a subgenus or genus.

Update on the distribution of Peropteryx leucoptera Peters, 1867 (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Emballonuridae): First record for the state of Sergipe, northeastern Brazil

“…Subsequently, this species was classified in its own subgenus Peronymus (Peters, 1868), which was later recognized as a genus (Miller 1907;Sanborn 1937;Corbet and Hill 1991). However, recent evidence shows that this taxon forms a monophyletic group with other Peropteryx (Lim et al 2008), which supports the recognition of Peronymus as a junior synonym (Jones and Hood 1993;Simmons 2005;Hood and Gardner 2008;Lim et al 2010). Peropteryx leucoptera is found in French Guiana, Guyana, Abstract: Three female specimens of Peropteryx leucoptera were collected in the Refúgio da Vida Silvestre Mata do Junco, a fragment of Atlantic Forest located in the state of Sergipe, northeastern Brazil.…”

“…Their ears are connected by a low band of skin across the forehead, and pterygoid pits are large and deep (Figure 2). This combination of morphological characters is diagnostic for P. leucoptera (Hood and Gardner 2008;Lim et al 2010). The recently described P. pallidoptera, recorded in Brazil based on a female collected in the state of Pará , also has pale or white wings beyond the forearm.…”

“…Currently, five species of Peropteryx are recognized : P. kappleri Peters, 1867; P. leucoptera Peters, 1867; P. macrotis (Wagner, 1843), P. trinitatis Miller, 1899, and P. pallidoptera (Lim, Engstrom, Reid, Simmons, Voss & Fleck, 2010). All these species occur in Brazil Castro et al 2012).…”

“…Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador (Hood and Gardner 2008;Lim et al 2010;McDonough et al 2010). In Brazil, this species occurs in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest biomes (Paglia et al 2012), but few records are available, all from the states of Amazonas (Reis and Peracchi 1987;Sampaio et al 2003), Pará (Vieira 1942(Vieira , 1955Bernard 1999;Bernard et al 2001;Bernard and Fenton 2002;Marques-Aguiar et al 2002), Pernambuco (Guerra 1980;Silva and Guerra 2000), and Paraíba (Feijó and Langguth 2011).…”

“…The specimens were identified according to the descriptions of Hood and Gardner (2008) and Lim et al (2010). External and cranial measurements were obtained using callipers (0.02 mm precision) following the criteria described by Taddei et al (1998).…”