Speciation within Bonneted Bats (Genus Eumops): The Complexity of Morphological, Mitochondrial, and Nuclear Data Sets in Systematics

Abstract

We phylogenetically analyze 705 base pairs of the cytochrome-b gene and 351 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) bands from populations of the karyotypically variable Wagner's bonneted bat, Eumops glaucinus, and the Florida bonneted bat, Eumops floridanus (Chiroptera: Molossidae). Three karyotypes have been documented across the range of E. glaucinus, and we report that the karyotype from Cuba is morphologically similar to that from Jamaica. A 4th karyotype is present in specimens from western Ecuador. Three distinct lineages are present in both the cytochrome-b and AFLP trees. One lineage is restricted to western Ecuador and exhibits cytochrome-b divergence values comparable to the values seen between recognized species of Eumops, suggesting that this lineage represents a distinct species. The other 2 lineages are distributed in disjunct areas: Paraguay and Venezuela; and Mexico, the Caribbean, and the United States. Specimens of E. floridanus are morphologically distinct from E. glaucinus, but cannot be distinguished by examination of cytochrome-b or AFLP DNA data. We conclude that there are 4 species in the E. glaucinus complex-E. glaucinus (South America east of the Andes), E. ferox (Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America), E. floridanus in south Florida, and an unnamed taxon in western Ecuador. Speciation is a complex process and no single mechanism, model, concept, or definition is likely to cover all the diverse patterns observed.