Abstract:
Although important advances have been made in recent years in the taxonomy of different families and subfamilies
of Malagasy bats, those belonging to the Vespertilioninae remain partially unresolved. Herein using a mitochondrial
marker (cytochrome b) as the point of departure for 76 specimens of Malagasy vespers and appropriate African
taxa, we diagnose the six taxa of this subfamily on the island by overlaying different morphological and bioacoustic
characters on the clade structure of sequenced animals. The species include: endemic Neoromicia matroka, which
is sister to African N. capensis; endemics N. malagasyensis and N. robertsi, which form sister species; a member
of the genus Hypsugo, which is sister to African H. anchietae and described herein as new to science; Pipistrellus
hesperidus for which Madagascar animals are genetically close but distinct from African populations of the same
species; and endemic P. raceyi, which shows segregation of eastern (mesic) and western (dry) populations and its
sister species relationships are unresolved. While the external and craniodental measurements, as well as bioacoustics variables, allow only partial differentiation of these six species of Vespertilioninae, molecular characters provide
definitive separation of the taxa, as do male bacular morphology.
