Phylogeography of two sympatric species of the genus Micronycteris Gray, 1866 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)

• Grant number: 24/11973-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Joyce Rodrigues Do Prado
• Grantee: Ana Carolina de Souza Pallante
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/12632-0 - An old sample tells a good story: the evolutionary history of mammals from the diagonal of open vegetation of South America told by biological collections, AP.BTA.JP

Abstract

Biodiversity is priceless, transcending the environmental, economic, social and cultural spheres, and Brazil, with its diverse biomes, plays a crucial role in this scenario. However, these Brazilian biomes, including the Caatinga and the Cerrado, which are part of the Diagonal of Open Vegetations of South America (DVA-AS), are threatened due to human activity. Distributed across Brazilian biomes are bats, essential for biodiversity composition, helping in ecosystem maintenance. Among the bats found in the DVA-AS is the genus Micronycteris Gray, 1866, with a wide geographical distribution. One of its subgenera, Schizonycteris, includes two species occurring in sympatry in the DVA-AS, M. (S.) minuta and M. (S.) sanborni. These two species have great morphological similarity, causing confusion regarding their identification and geographical distribution; moreover, they do not share a common ancestor. The sympatric distribution of these two species, combined with their morphological overlap and their close evolutionary relationship, although not monophyletic, makes them excellent models for comparative phylogeographic studies. Therefore, this proposal aims to investigate the phylogeographic patterns in both species in the DVA-AS. Morphological variation will be accessed from morphological and morphometric data. Samples from biological collections will be used to generate genomic data, while environmental data will be gathered to characterize the ecological niche of these species in sympatric areas. The integration of the data will form the basis for a detailed description of the phylogeographic patterns of these species, as well as for the description of their evolutionary history, thus contributing to a greater understanding of the patterns of diversity and diversification of the Caatinga and Cerrado biota.