title: Multiple colonisations of the western Indian Ocean by Pteropus fruit bats (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae): the furthest islands were colonised first.
abstract: We investigate the genetic relationships between purported island species of Pteropus fruit bat (Megachiroptera) from the western Indian Ocean islands using mitochondrial DNA sequencing in order to infer the pattern of colonisation of this biogeographic region. Most significantly, our genetic data questions the current taxonomic assignment based on morphology of many of the island species and subspecies, suggesting instead that many of the western Indian Ocean islands harbour 'races' of P. giganteus from mainland India. Our results strongly argue against a single colonisation event from mainland Asia. Evidence is presented for three colonisation events; the first to the western-most extremity of their range (Comoros and Pemba Island), the second to Rodrigues Island; and a third giving rise to the remaining extant island taxa, the latter two events occurring relatively recently and rapidly.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Environmental Science, Education and Research Centre West, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. johnob@ucd.ie
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Link
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Ludovic
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Say
authors.forename: Anne D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Yoder
authors.forename: Tom J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hayden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D007195:Indian Ocean Islands; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial