Phylogenetic analysis of restriction site variation in neotropical short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia)

Ecologically and behaviourial, short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia) are probably the best known of the Neotropical bats. However, their systematics are poorly understood, particularly in South America. Previous comparative studies of morphology and chromosomes have not produced an explicit hypothesis of evolutionary relationships. To augment these studies, I conducted a phylogenetic analysis of restriction site variation within a 2,400 base pair mitochondrial DNA sequence that included the protein coding genes ND3, ND4L, and ND4. A total of 142 restriction sites were mapped for 145 samples which resulted in 123 phylogenetically informative sites for 75 unique haplotypes. The widely dispersed geographic samples of each of the four species of Carollia were monophyletic under Dollo parsimony with the exception of one problematic sample. Carollia perspicillata and C. subrufa formed a sister group relationship, and C. brevicauda and C. castanea were successively distant basal lineages to this clade. Within C. brevicauda, there was geographic structuring with two separate lineages corresponding to populations from western Panama north into Central America, and another from central Panama south into South America. Carollia castanea also exhibited geographic structuring with populations from throughout Panama grouping together in a sister clade to populations from Ecuador. Species boundaries, previously confused by geographic size variation, indicated that only C. brevicauda and C. perspicillata were present in Guyana and probably northeastern South America. Populations within each of these two species are relatively smaller from Guyana than their respective conspecific populations from Ecuador and Central America.