Systematics of big-eyed bats, genus Chiroderma Peters, 1860 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

Abstract

We present a revision of the Neotropical bat genus Chiroderma, commonly known as big-eyed bats. Although species of Chiroderma have a wide distribution from western México to southern Brazil, species limits within Chiroderma are not clearly defined, as attested by identification errors in the literature, and there is no comprehensive revision of the genus that includes morphological and molecular data. Our review is based on phylogenetic analyses of two mitochondrial (COI and CYTB) and two nuclear (RAG2 and DBY) genes, coalescence analyses of mitochondrial genes, and morphological analyses including type specimens of all named taxa. We recognize seven species in three clades: the first clade includes (1) C. scopaeum Handley, 1966, endemic to western México and previously considered a subspecies of C. salvini; and (2) C. salvini Dobson, 1878, a taxon associated with montane forests, distributed from México to Bolivia; the second clade includes (3) C. improvisum Baker and Genoways, 1976, endemic to the Lesser Antilles, and (4) C. villosum Peters, 1860, widely distributed on the continental mainland and polytypic, with subspecies C. v. villosum and C. v. jesupi; and the third clade includes (5) the polytypic C. doriae Thomas, 1891, with C. d. doriae distributed in eastern Brazil and Paraguay, and C. d. vizottoi, occurring in northeastern Brazil; (6) C. trinitatum Goodwin, 1958, distributed from Trinidad to Amazonia; and (7) C. gorgasi Handley, 1960, distributed from Honduras to trans-Andean South America, previously considered a subspecies of C. trinitatum.

On the Taxonomic Identity of Pteronotus davyi incae Smith, 1972 (Chiroptera: Mormoopidae)

“…This result is in accordance with the findings of Smith (1972), who described the subspecies incae based on its larger size and decidedly broader skull, particularly in the rostrum. The contrasting results of our molecular and morphological comparisons of the populations of P. davyi are similar to findings in other bat taxa in which the genetic variation do not necessarily equate to patterns of morphological or geographic differentiation; as example, morphospecies once recognized in the genus Chiroderma and Lasiurus were later synonymized based on molecular evidences (Taddei and Lim, 2010;Baird et al, 2015;Garbino et al, 2020). This might reflect differing rates of morphological and molecular evolution (Wilson et al, 2013).…”

The role and impact of Zootaxa in mammalogy in its first 20 years

“…The Mammalia section of Zootaxa has also published a large number of nomenclatural clarifications and taxonomic revisions for various groups of species distributed around the world. These include a higher-level mammalian nomenclature notably enlightening the issue of Cetartiodactyla usage (Asher & Helgen 2011), and the revisions of extant Cingulata (Dasypodidae) from South America (Feijó & Cordeiro-Estrela 2016), Neotropical big-eyed phyllostomid bats (Garbino et al 2020), a complex of East African rodents (Murinae; Taylor et al 2011), rodent communities from Southeast Asia (Balakirev et al 2013), and Australian bats of the genus Pteropus (Helgen 2004). Zootaxa has long been one of the few journals allowing to publish large monographs at no charge for the authors.…”

Mammalian Diversity and Matses Ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru Part 4: Bats

“…Subfamily Stenodermatinae Gervais, 1855 One hundred species in 19 genera are currently recognized in the phyllostomid subfamily Stenodermatinae (Cirranello et al, 2016;Garbino et al, 2020;Simmons and Cirranello, 2020).…”