Phylogeny and phylogeography of fruit bats in the subfamily pteropodinae in Malaysia

• Main Author: Kho, Andy Han Guan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2008
• Subjects: QL Zoology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/28819/1/Andy.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/28819/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

phylogenetic relationships on Megachiroptera have previously been constructed based on morphological and behavioral data but to date no one has investigates all Malaysian pteropodids species using molecular characte hus, study was done to understand the plylogeny and phylogeography of Pteropodinae in Malaysia. Sixty-two samples from 14 species of the Malaysian fruit bats (subfamily: Pteropodinae) were analysed using 395 base pairs of partial cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA gene. Another 74 samples from 18 species of Malaysian megachiroptera (subfamily: Pteropodinae and subfamily: Macroglossinae) were analysed using 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA gene (total length of 1321 base pairs including gaps). Phylogenetic analysis using neighbour-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods in both genes did not support the monophyly of the rousettine, cynopterine and macroglossine groups of the family Pteropodidae as proposed by Andersen (1912). However, molecular data indicated that the taxonomic revision of some section might be necessary particularly for the rousettine and cynopterine groUP hiS study also supports the two morphologically similar Cynopterus species; C. brachyotis I and C. brachyotis II are indeed phylogenetically distinct from each other and that C. brachyotis I need further investigations on it current taxonomic status. As for the genera Cynopterus, Megaerops, Dyacopterus, Aetha!ops, Chironax, Balionycteris and Penthetor, although they are morphologically grouped within the same group namely, Cynopterini, the phylogenetic results refuted their classification as the .­ monophyletic grou . Results also revealed two significant findings for the C. brachyotis I; (1) the Borneo C. brachyotis I are distinct lineage of the C. brachyotis I from Malay Peninsula and (2) v the existence of two lineage of the C. brachyotis I from Sarawak. Examination of 1140 base pairs ofthe mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene from 108 individuals of C. horsfieldi was done and revealed that this species was belonged to the genus Cynopterus (subfamily: Pteropodinae), a species ofthe fruit bat known to inhabit Southeast Asia region. Samples were taken from various locations throughout Sarawak, Sabah and Malay Peninsula, which include two individuals from southern Thailand. Nucleotide and protein coding sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analyses by using NJ, MP and ML methods. The high genetic divergence between the C. horsfieldi from the Sabah population and Malay Peninsula populations (~3.6%) showed Sabah as the most isolated region with little or no connection with mainland. The results also suggested that the least far genetic relationship between the C. horsfieldi from the southern Sarawak and all the Malay Peninsula populations, revealed the disconnection of the two regions during the last Pleistocene periods. In general, the sequencing analysis of the 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA and partial cytochrome b mitochondrial region are useful in resolving phylogenetic relationship among fruit bats in Malaysia. Complete sequencing of the cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA region is useful to resolve the phylogenetic relationships and proven to be useful as model species in illustrating the biogeographical history of Cynopterus species Malaysia. Overall, this result was proven to be able to provide a significant contribution to the understanding of phylogenetic and biogeographical relationships of Pteropodidae in Malaysia.