title: A cryptic new species of Miniopterus from south-eastern Africa based on molecular and morphological characters.
abstract: Resolving species limits within the genus Miniopterus has traditionally been complicated by the presence of cryptic species with overlapping morphological features. We use molecular techniques, cranio-dental characters and tragus shape to describe a new species of Miniopterus from Mozambique, M. mossambicus. Miniopterus mossambicus shows &gt; 12% divergence in cytochrome-b sequence from its nearest congeners (the Malagasy M. gleni and M. griveaudi) and &gt; 15% divergence from the morphologically similar M. natalensis, M. fraterculus and M. minor (all of which occur in southern and eastern Africa). There is considerable overlap in cranio-dental characters of the southern African species, particularly M. natalensis and M. mossambicus. However, tragus shape and multivariate comparisons of skull measurements can be used to separate these species. Based on morphological comparisons of museum specimens, this species may also be present in neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe, suggesting that it is probably distributed widely in south-central Africa.
authors.affiliation: All Out Africa Research Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Swaziland, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, Swaziland Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag 20, Hatfield 0028, Pretoria, South Africa; Email: ara@uniswa.sz.
authors.forename: Ara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monadjem
authors.affiliation: Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA.; Email: sgoodman@fieldmuseum.org.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA.; Email: wstanley@fieldmuseum.org.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria, 3216 and Department of Genetics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Email: belinda.appleton@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Appleton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D045303:Cytochromes b; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009073:Mozambique; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D045303:Cytochromes b