SYSTEMATIC REVISION OF AUSTRALIAN SCOTEANAX AND SCOTEREPENS (CHIROPTERA VESPERTILIONADAE), WITH REMARKS ON RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHER NYCTICEIINI

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract: Classical and numerical taxonomic approaches based on morphology and utilising electrophoretic information have been applied to clarify the status of Australian species hitherto placed in the genus Nycticeius. Eight named forms have been reduced to five species; these are placed in existing genera: Scateanax (rueppellii) and Scatarepens (arian, balstani, sanbarni and greyii).

Phylogenetic analysis of species representative of other Nycticeiini genera, and of geographic groupings of these Australian species, provides additional support for the above generic conclusions.

Indicators of gross morphology (skull, radius and lower tooth row lengths) in Scatarepens spp. vary in relation to their sex, and to latitude, longitude and several climatic variables, particularly average minimum temperatures in July.