PHYLOGENY OF PHYLLOSTOMID BATS (MAMMALIA: CHIROPTERA): DATA FROM DIVERSE MORPHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, SEX CHROMOSOMES, AND RESTRICTION SITES

Abstract

Phyllostomidae is a large (> 140 species), diverse clade of Neotropical bats. Different species in this family feed on blood, insects, vertebrates, nectar, pollen, and fruits. We investigated phylogenetic relationships among all genera of phyllostomid bats and tested monophyly of several genera (e.g., Micronycteris, Mimon, Artibeus, Vampyressa) using 150 morphological, karyological, and molecular characters. Results of parsimony analyses of these combined data indicate that all traditionally recognized phyllostomid subfamilies are monophyletic and that most taxa that share feeding specializations form clades. These results largely agree with studies that have used a taxonomic congruence approach to evaluate karyological, immunological, and limited sets of morphological characters, although our finding that Phyllostominae is monophyletic is novel. Our results indicate that several genera (Micronycteris, Artibeus, and Vampyressa) are not monophyletic. We propose a new classification for Phyllostomi...