Intraspecific evolution of Canary Island Plecotine bats, based on mtDNA sequences

Abstract

Island differentiation and relationships with congenerics were investigated in the endemic Canary Island bat Plecotus teneriffae, based on approximately 1 kb of mtDNA from the 16S rRNA and cytochrome b genes. P. teneriffae had closer affinities with P. austriacus than with P. auritus. Levels of differentiation between Canary Islands were quite high relative to Pipistrelle-like bats, consistent with philopatric behaviour in the Plecotus genus. Cladogenesis within P. teneriffae appears to have occurred after the emergence of the islands of El Hierro and La Palma during the Pleistocene. An intraspecific network shows that haplotypes from the younger islands of La Palma and El Hierro are connected to the Tenerife haplotype by a similarly large number of mutational steps. This suggests that they were both colonised at a similar time from the much older island of Tenerife. The other Plecotine bat species, Barbastellus barbastellus shows close affinities with B. barbastellus from mainland Spain, with levels of mtDNA divergence being comparable with intraspecific variation within other mammal species.