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MBE Advance Access published online on June 1, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msi180
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted May 24, 2005

Research Article

A Nuclear DNA Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Echolocation and Historical Biogeography of Extant Bats (Chiroptera)

Geeta N. Eick 1*, David S. Jacobs 2, and Conrad A. Matthee 1

1 Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa
2 Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Geeta N. Eick, E-mail: geeta.eick{at}gmail.com


  Abstract

Bats (Order Chiroptera) are the only mammals capable of powered flight and sophisticated laryngeal echolocation, and represent one of the most species-rich and ubiquitous orders of mammals. However, phylogenetic relationships within this group are poorly resolved. A robust evolutionary tree of Chiroptera is essential for evaluating the phylogeny of echolocation within Chiroptera, as well as understanding their biogeographical history. We generated 4 kb of sequence data from portions of 4 novel nuclear intron markers for multiple representatives of 17 of the 18 recognized extant bat families, as well as the putative bat familiy Miniopteridae. Three echolocation call characters were mapped onto the combined topology: 1) high duty cycle versus low duty cycle 2) high intensity versus low intensity call emission and 3) oral versus nasal emission. Echolocation seems to be highly convergent, and the mapping of echolocation call design onto our phylogeny does not appear to resolve the question of whether echolocation had a single or two origins. Fossil taxa may also provide insight into the evolution of bats and we therefore evaluate 195 morphological characters in light of our nuclear DNA phylogeny. All but 24 of the morphological characters were found to be homoplasious when mapped onto the supermatrix topology, while the remaining characters provided insufficient information to reconstruct the placement of the fossil bat taxa with respect to extant families. However, a morphological synapomorphy characterizing the Rhinolophoidea was identified and is suggestive of a separate origin of echolocation in this clade. Dispersal-Vicariance analysis together with a relaxed Bayesian clock were used to evaluate possible biogeographic scenarios that could account for the current distribution pattern of extant bat families. Africa was reconstructed as the centre of origin of modern day bat families. Dispersal from Africa to the Americas could have occurred by direct transatlantic dispersal from Africa to South America in the Eocene (55 mya). Alternatively, bats could have dispersed northwards out of Africa to Eurasia across the Tethys sea, into North America via Beringia or three possible trans-Atlantic land bridges, and finally into South America via the Carribean archipelago.

Keywords: DIVA; Molecular clock; Laurasiatheria; Mammal; Phylogeny.
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