Phenotypic evolution and biogeography of the fruit bats of subtribe Vampyressina (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

Abstract

Subtribe Vampyressina is one of the most diverse clades among fruit bats of subfamily Stenodermatinae, with seven genera classified in 42 species. Previous studies have suggested the existence of niche partitioning among the species of Vampyressina that occur in the same area, as up to 12 species of the seven genera of the subtribe can occur in sympatry. This hypothesis is partially strengthened by the existence of a wide morphological diversity among the members of the clade. One of the ways to verify the role of interspecific competition in the morphological divergence of the group is to infer phylogenetic structure of the communities. Another evidence that would give support to this hypothesis is the biogeographic history of the group. Besides these sources of evidence, phenotypic evolution analyses may reveal the mode of evolution of phenotypic characters in the group's phylogeny, being possible to identify chronologically when morphological divergence occurred. A prerequisite for these analyses is a dated phylogeny including most of the known species. From the exposed, the objectives of this projet are (a) to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among the species of Vampyressina using a species-dense sample; (b) to study the patterns of phenotypic evolution in the subtribe, using data obtained from micro CT-scan; (c) to infer the biogeographic history of Vampyressina; (d) to verify the phylogenetic structuring of Neotropical frugivorous bats. The results obtained will help in understanding the evolution and structure of the Neotropical biota and will also offer subsides for an updated classification of Vampyressina. (AU)