Morphological, bioacoustical, and genetic variation in Miniopterus bats from eastern Madagascar, with the description of a new species

Abstract

Recent molecular genetic work, combined with morphological comparisons, of Malagasy members of the bat genus Miniopterus (Family Miniopteridae), has revealed several cryptic species. Based on new specimens and associated tissues, we examine patterns of variation in the recently described species M. petersoni, the holotype of which comes from extreme southeastern Madagascar, and for which specimens from more northerly portions of eastern Madagascar were noted to show some morphological divergence from typical M. petersoni. On the basis of morphological and genetic (cytochrome b) characters we described a new species, M. egeri sp. nov. This taxon also shows bioacoustical differences from M. petersoni. Miniopterus egeri is widely distributed in the eastern portion of Madagascar across an elevational range from near sea level to 550 m. The specific status of moderately small Miniopterus from Montagne d’Ambre in the far north remains to be determined.