Taxonomy and morphological evolution in Mormoopidae: a geometric morphometric appr...
| Grant number: | 15/02132-7 |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate |
| Effective date (Start): | August 01, 2015 |
| Effective date (End): | November 30, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology |
| Cooperation agreement: | Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) |
| Principal Investigator: | Alexandre Reis Percequillo |
| Grantee: | Ana Carolina D'Oliveira Pavan |
| Home Institution: | Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 16/23565-1 - Taxonomy and morphological evolution in Mormoopidae: a geometric morphometric approach including fossil data, BE.EP.PD |
Abstract The Neotropical bat family Mormoopidae has currently eight described species within two genera, Pteronotus and Mormoops. Recent works investigating the genetic variation within this group points to the existence of divergent lineages in several taxa of Mormoopidae. During my PhD thesis, I used different approaches to study the systematics and describe the evolutionary history of genus Pteronotus. The results suggest that diversity in Mormoopidae exceeds 20 species, and new questions on the systematics and taxonomy of this group of lineages remains unsolved. This project proposal aims to develop a deeper study regarding some aspects of evolution of Mormoopidae, with research lines on the taxonomy, biogeography, cranial evolution and ontogeny of the group. In the taxonomy approach, molecular data, morphometics and morphology will be used in order to elucidate the diversity and phylogenetic relationships within Mormoopidae. As a result, a complete and updated taxonomic arrangement of this neotropical bat family will be produced, which will provide a working hypothesis for several related areas. A biogeographical study based on this new hypothesis will be performed, estimating dates of origin and proposing past geographic and ecological factors that influenced in the group diversification. Finally, additional investigations on the Mormoopidae species cranial modularity and its consequences for the evolution of this phenotype will be addressed. A study on the cranial anatomy and ontogeny in a Pteronotus species is also proposed. In a broad perspective, this project aims to contribute significantly to the current knowledge we have about the Neotropical bat diversity and evolution. (AU) | |