Distribution Confirmation of Myotis muricola in Guangdong Province and Its Taxonomic Discussion With Submyotodon Bats
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1.College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072; 2.Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization, Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510260, China

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    Abstract:

    Two bats were captured (specimen numbers 20180444 and 20190291 respectively) in Guangzhou City and Guangdong Shimentai National Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province in July 2018 and May 2019, respectively. The morphological and skull characteristics of these two bats were measured by using electronic digital calipers and compared with morphological data of Myotis species from other studies. The Cyt b and COI gene sequences of these two bats were sequenced. Then, the Cyt b and COI gene sequences of some Myotis species were downloaded from the NCBI database, and a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed using multiple programs in PhyloSuite. Genetic distances based on the Cyt b gene of 25 bats and COI gene of 15 bats were calculated using the Kimura 2-parameter model. Subsequently, phylogenetic trees of multiple species (Myotis and Submyotodon bats) based on Cyt b and COI sequences were then constructed. The main morphological characteristics of the two bats are small body size, with forearm lengths of 35.60 mm and 34.55 mm, respectively. Pelage is soft and thick. Dorsal hairs black basally with buff brown tips. The abdominal hair is slightly lighter than the back hairs. The base hair color is black, and the hair tip is buff (Fig. 1a). The ear is small and narrow, and the tragus is long and straight (Fig. 1b). The wing membrane is black-brown, without any fuzzy covering. The hind-foot length is short, less than half of the tibia length (Table 2). Combined with the skull measurements, they are different from the bats currently named as S. latirostris, S. moupinensis, and S. caliginosus, all of which were previously considered subspecies of M. muricola. For molecular evidence, the Cyt b and COI gene sequences of two bats were amplified by PCR. Based on the results of the phylogenetic analysis, the two captured bats are well clustered with M. muricola from the database. The genetic distances of Cyt b and COI gene are between 1.1%﹣2.1% and 0.9%﹣2.9%, respectively (Appendices 1 and 2). It is found that two bats have a relatively large genetic distance from Submyoodon (Figs. 2 and 3). Based on the phylogenetic analysis of multiple bat species (Fig. 4), the issues between M. muricola and Submyotodon of the classification differences in morphology and phylogenomics, as well as the geographical distribution differences among related species were raised (Fig. 5). In summary, two newly collected bats were identified as M. muricola. We have expanded our understanding of the geographical distribution of this species. The specimens are kept in the Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences at present.

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QIN Jia-Hao, HE Xiang-Yang, HUANG Ze-Shuang, ZHU Jun-Yu, YAN Ao-Ran, QIU Yuan, ZHAO Hua-Bin, ZHANG Li-Biao. 2025. Distribution Confirmation of Myotis muricola in Guangdong Province and Its Taxonomic Discussion With Submyotodon Bats. Chinese Journal of Zoology, 60(3): 436-450.

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  • Received:August 04,2024
  • Revised:
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  • Online: June 23,2025
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