Genetic, Morphology and Echolocation Variations within Family Megadermatidae (Genus: Megaderma) in Malaysia
The Old World Bats from Family Megadermatidae include several genera: Megaderma, Macroderma, Cardioderma, Lavia and Eudiscoderma. They are well-known as false vampire bats as they were originally thought to feed on blood just like the vampire bats do. Despite their massive size and distinctive lo...
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Main Author: | |
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Format: | Final Year Project Report |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS)
2022
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39739/3/Rossyamieza%20%28fulltext%29.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39739/ |
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Summary: | The Old World Bats from Family Megadermatidae include several genera: Megaderma,
Macroderma, Cardioderma, Lavia and Eudiscoderma. They are well-known as false vampire bats
as they were originally thought to feed on blood just like the vampire bats do. Despite their massive
size and distinctive look, little is known about their intrafamilial evolutionary relationships. The
taxonomy of Family Megadermatidae has been debated many times in the past. Recent molecular
studies involving Megaderma lyra and Megaderma spasma had cast doubt on the validity of the
sister group relationship of these two species. Therefore, further genetic analysis was conducted
in order to study the genetic variation among the species of Family Megadermatidae with an
emphasis on Malaysia specimens. Multifaceted approaches used in this study includes molecular,
morphometric (external characteristics) and echolocation to examine the variation within currently
recognized species of false vampire bats in Malaysia. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) as
well as echolocation variation were not enough to prove the distinction between these two species
of Megaderma due to the lack of samples in this study. However, cytochrome oxidase I genes
segment of the mitochondrial DNA from a total of 12 individuals of Megaderma from Borneo and
Peninsula were sequenced successfully. The results obtained have shown a clear separation of
spasma from its congener, lyra with high bootstrap support. Moreover, the emergence of cryptic
yet undescribed species within currently recognized species of Megaderma from Malaysia may
also be considered as supported with the high genetic distance (11.38%) between M. spasma from
Borneo and Peninsular. In conjunction, M. spasma also shown to be more closely related with
other genus of Megaderma compared to its sister species, M. lyra. Interestingly, the genetic
distance between population of M. spasma from Borneo and Indochina was the lowest (0.68%)
indicating the faunal exchange between these two biota in the past. Therefore, these findings
suggest intensive research are needed especially in Peninsular to elucidate better the genetic
relationship among species of Family Megadermatidae in Malaysia. |
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