Cranial Morphological Patterns are Independent from Abiotic Ecological Requirements in Neotropical Glossophaginae Bat Species

Abstract

Recent molecular and morphometric studies have found that what was originally described as a single species, Glossophaga soricina (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), is indeed a cryptic species complex formed from at least four different lineages with non-overlapping geographic distributions and molecular differentiation. Morphological differences have been reported between continental species G. mutica and G. soricina, while insular G. mutica and G. antillarum and the continental species G. valens present identical shape and size. In the present study, we conducted ecological niche model analyses to characterize the abiotic requirements of these recently recognized species, and to assess whether their niches could be a factor behind their morphological divergence patterns. Mainland species presented the highest niche overlap values regardless of their morphological differentiation, while the insular groups proved to be ecologically distinct. Therefore, the variation in the shape of these groups must be driven by factors not considered in this study which are most likely related to their Eltonian rather than Grinnellian ecological niches. The non-suitability regions that separate the distributions of the continental species explain the barrier to the genetic flux that could be behind their divergence and add evidence of them being separately evolving lineages.