Cynomops

Abstract: Previous understanding of the relationships among genera of bats in the family Molossidae was based largely on phenetic analyses of morphological data. Relationships among the genera of this family have not been tested with molecular data and, thus, the objective of this study was to construct a phylogeny of representative members of free-tailed bats using DNA sequence data from 1 mitochondrial locus (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 [ND1]) and 3 nuclear loci (dentin matrix protein 1 exon 6 [DMP1], beta fibrinogen intron 7 [bFIB], and recombination activating gene 2 [RAG2]) for members of the subfamily Molossinae and outgroups from the families Vespertilionidae and Natalidae. Data for each gene were analyzed separately using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods and also analyzed in a single combined analysis of a total of 3,216 base pairs. Divergence times were estimated from the combined data set using BEAST analysis. Few intergeneric relationships were significantly supported by mitochondrial data; however, monophyly of most genera was supported. Nuclear results supported a Chaerephon–Mops clade; a New World clade consisting of Eumops, Molossus, Promops, Molossops (including Neoplatymops), Cynomops, and Nyctinomops; and a basal divergence for Cheiromeles. Divergence analysis suggested a Paleocene origin for the family and a split between molossids in the Old World and New World around 29 million years ago. Generally, relationships recovered in our analyses reflected biogeographic proximity of species and did not support the hypotheses of relationship proposed by morphological data.

Abstract: Cynomops (dog-faced bat) generally is regarded as either a monophyletic genus or, in some cases, a subgenus of Molossops. Species limits and phylogenetic relationships within Cynomops, however, remain unresolved due primarily to subtle morphological differences and similarity in size of the small taxa. We used a combination of morphometric analyses for quantifying size variation and molecular data for reconstructing the evolutionary history within Cynomops. Rooting the tree with Eumops hansae produced a clade of Molossops neglectus and M. temminckii that was sister to a monophyletic Cynomops clade. The most parsimonious topology (in parenthetical notation) for Cynomops was (((paranus + planirostris) + (greenhalli + abrasus)) + mexicanus). Molecular analysis supports the autapomorphy of white venter as diagnostic for C. planirostris, although there was some overlap in size with the slightly larger, dark-venter C. paranus. Cynomops greenhalli was intermediate in size between C. paranus and C. mexic...

Abstract: The low representativeness of the dog-faced bats (genus Cynomops Thomas, 1920) in collections has constrained the study of the diversity and the evolutionary relationships within this genus. Taxonomic revisions of some taxa, in particular the large-sized Cynomops abrasus (Temminck, 1827), are crucial for understanding the phylogeny of Cynomops. A total of four subspecies of C. abrasus have been described to date, all widespread in South America: C. a. mastivus (Thomas, 1911), C. a. brachymeles (Peters, 1865), C. a. cerastes (Thomas, 1901) and C. a. abrasus (Temminck, 1827). Here, we evaluated the phylogenetic relationships within Cynomops, and the status of the four C. abrasus subspecies using complete sequences of two mitochondrial genes (Cyt b and COI) and 39 morphological characters. Maximum-parsimony, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic reconstructions recovered a novel hypothesis for Cynomops, supported the recognition of C. a. mastivus as a distinct species, separated from C. abrasus, and two hypotheses of lineages previously unrecognized for Cynomops. The use of mitochondrial genes combined with morphological characters revealed again to be a powerful tool to recover the phylogenetic relationships within Cynomops and demonstrated that the genus is more diverse than previously thought.