GULF OF GUINEA ISLANDS' BIODIVERSITY NETWORK

PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF AFRICAN FRUITBATS (MEGACHIROPTERA)

Javier Juste B. 1, 2*, Yolanda Álvarez 1*, Enrique Tabarés 1, Amando Garrido-Pertierra1, Carlos Ibáñez 2,** and José M. Bautista 1,**

1Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular IV, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Veterinaria, 28040 Madrid, Spain

2Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC) Aptdo 1056, 41080 Sevilla, Spain

RUNNING TITLE: Phylogeography of African fruitbats

** Corresponding authors.

ABSTRACT

Joint sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome b and 16S rRNA genes of a wide representation of Megachiroptera were employed to evaluate the traditional taxonomical arrangement of African fruitbats and to examine their origins and evolutionary relationships. The resulting phylogenetic hypotheses are inconsistent with the previously established morphology-based subdivisions of Megachiroptera at the supra-generic level. Findings indicate the existence of an African clade, which appears to be formed by two endemic clades: the epomophorine and the myonycterine. According to our topologies, the genus Rousettus is monospecific in
mainland Africa, since its traditional subgenera Stenonycteris and Lissonycteris appear closer to the myonycterine than to Rousettus. Topologies also indicate that the African genus Eidolon is not phylogenetically related to any other African fruitbat. It would seem that the arrival of fruitbats in Africa was a complex process involving at least three independent colonization events. One event probably took place in the Miocene via forested corridors that connected the African and Asian
rain-forest blocks, as for other groups of mammals. The resulting lineage diversified into most of the present African fruitbats. Related to this clade, the Rousettus species group is thought to have arrived in Africa in more recent times, possibly by the progressive displacement from the East through India. Finally, the present topologies suggest an independent colonization of Africa by ancestors of Eidolon.