SEABCRU » Rhinolophidae

Complex geographic variation in calls, morphology and genetic relationships in the Intermediate Horseshoe Bat

Joe Chun-Chia Huang — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 17:35:44 +0000

A complicated chap — Rhinolophus affinis from Malaysia. Photo Tigga Kingston

The Intermediate Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus affinis) is one of the most common cave species using constant frequency (CF) calls in Southeast Asia. In the past, variations of morphology and echolocation calls within the species have been observed among different geographic populations. However, the patterns of intra-specific variations across its extent and phylogeographic relationships among traits had not been not been fully explored. Cambodian researcher, Mr. Saveng Ith, led research on the geographic variation of R. affinis in mainland Southeast Asia. With morphological data, the researchers validated the two named subspecies in the region and reported a third form from Vietnam and Myanmar. Echolocation calls also show high variation in peak frequency but the divergence cannot be correlated with morphological form nor maternal lineages. The mismatches between the three traits in this study pose further questions on how CF bat species shape their morphology and echolocation.

The findings are published in the latest issue of Zoological Studies by Saveng and his collaborators, including another seven SEABCRU associates.

Original Citation: Saveng Ith, Sara Bumrungsri, Neil M Furey, Paul JJ Bates, Monwadee Wonglapsuwan, Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan, Vu Dinh Thong, Pipat Soisook, Chutamas Satasook and Nikky M Thomas. Taxonomic implications of geographical variation in Rhinolophus affinis (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae) in mainland Southeast Asia. Zoological Studies, 54(31): p 1-29.

Seven species added to Cambodia’s country list

Tigga Kingston — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:23:38 +0000

The Cambodian bat fauna is one of the least well-known in the region, as is evidenced by the addition of seven new species to the country’s list in a recent publication from Ith Saveng and colleagues. The authors reviewed specimens collected from around the country over the last 11 years and confirmed the presence of Rhinolophus yunanensis, Hipposideros diadema, Saccolaimus saccolaimus, Myotis ater, M. horsfieldii, Murina cyclotis and Kerivoula picta, bringing the country’s total to 60 species. There remains much to do however, and the authors anticipate addition discoveries as survey effort expands and intensifies.

Ith Saveng, Gabor Csorba, Paul J J Bates & Neil M Furey (2011). Confirmation of seven bat species for Cambodia. Cambodian Journal of Natural History 2: 93-103.

Ith et al. 2011. Seven new bats for Cambodia

Social organization and genetic structure in forest bats

Tigga Kingston — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:25:40 +0000

I am happy to say that our recent publication on the insights into social organization and genetic that can be gained from combining spatially explicit capture data with microsatellite analysis of genetic structure is now available online. The study was conducted at Krau Wildlife Reserve, Malaysia, and we focused on three species of Rhinolophus, and three species of Kerivoula.

Although all six species are co-distributed across the large Krau Wildlife Reserve, they have different roosting and social ecologies, and different patterns of local dispersion. This generated predictions of genetic structure at fine to landscape scales. The spatially explicit genotype data did indeed reveal differences in the extent of movement and gene flow and genetic structure across continuous intact forest. As might be expected, highest positive genetic structure was observed in tree-roosting taxa that roost either alone or in small groups, but there was a complete absence of genetic autocorrelation in the cave-roosting colonial species. The study was motivated by the need to understand how interspecific differences in roosting ecology and social structure might influence the natural limits of gene flow in unmodified habitat as a basis for predicting the impact of landscape-scale forest clearance and fragmentation.

Stephen J. Rossiter, Akbar Zubaid, Adura Mohd-Adnan, Matthew J. Struebig, Thomas H. Kunz, Sucharita Gopal, Eric J. Petit and Tigga Kingston (2011). Social organization and genetic structure: insights from co-distrubted bat populations. Molecular Ecology DOI: doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05391.x

Email tigga(dot)kingston(at)ttu(dot)edu or s(dot)j(dot)rossiter(at)qmul(dot)ac(dot)uk for a pdf copy

New Rhinolophus article

Tigga Kingston — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:53:29 +0000

Congratulations to Saveng Ith and his many co-authors (including me :-)) on their new article sorting out the complexities of Rhinolophus coelophyllus and R. shameli. No less than 11 authors from eight institutes and seven countries were involved, a model collaboration.

Saveng Ith, Pipat Soisook, Sara Bumrungsri, Tigga Kingston, Sebastien J. Peuchmaille, Matthew J. Struebig, Si Si Hla Bu, Vu Dinh Thong, Neil M. Furey, Nikky M. Thomas and Paul J. J. Bates. 2011. A taxonomic review of Rhinolophus coelophyllus Peters 1867 and R. shameli Tate 1943 (Chiroptera: rhinolophidae) in continental Southeast Asia. Acta Chiropterologica, 13(1): 41-59.

Contact ithsaveng@yahoo.com for reprints.

Fragmentation reduces genetic and species diversity

Tigga Kingston — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:09:05 +0000

It is widely recognized that the diversity of species that persist in forest fragments is likely to be a reduced subset of that in larger intact systems, but what of the genetic diversity of species holding on in fragments? In this June’s issue of Ecology Letters, Matt Struebig and colleagues report that there can be parallel declines in genetic diversity in small fragments, but not in all species.

Working in forest fragments embedded in oil palm and rubber plantations surrounding a large tract of primary forest in Peninsular Malaysia, the authors found the expected decline in species richness with fragment size, and that, as Struebig had previously reported, this relationship was driven by bats that not only forage in forests, but roost in foliage and tree hollows within them (“forest bats”). To look at the relationship between fragment size and genetic diversity (allelic richness) they focused on three species that are relatively common in the large primary forest (Krau Wildlife Reserve), but which were expected to differ in their response to fragmentation. The cave-roosting colonial Rhinolophus lepidus is highly vagile and from Matt’s earlier work, does not show an abundance response to fragmentation. R. trifoliatus and Kerivoula papillosa both roost within the forest in vegetation (R. trifoliatus) or small tree hollows (K. papillosa) and have small home ranges, and were expected to show a reduction in genetic diversity. This is largely what the authors found; while the genetic diversity of R. lepidus captured in forest fragments didn’t differ from those in continous forest, there was a reduction in genetic diversity in fragments relative to continous forest in both R. trifoliatus and K. papillosa, and for the latter, this decline correlated significantly with fragment area.

The article is currently available for download from Ecology letters here

Struebig, M. J., T. Kingston, E. J. Petit, A. Zubaid, A. Mohd.-Adnan, and S. J. Rossiter (2011). Parallel declines in species and genetic diversity in tropical forest fragments. Ecology Letters 14: 580-590.