VESPERTILIONIDAE) EVOLUTIONARY AFFINITIES AMONG SOUTHWESTERN LONG-EARED MYOTIS (CHIROPTERA

Species examined included Myotis auriculus, M. evotis, M. milleri and M. thysanodes; M. yumanensis was used as an outgroup. Considerable morphological overlap exists between M. auriculus and M. evotis, but they are distinct from one another genically. M. milleri differs from the other long-eared Myotis in its possession of a smaller skull and dentary. Genically, M. milleri shows close affinities with M. evotis. Cladistic analysis of electrophoretic data supports the idea that those long-eared Myotis examined belong to a monophyletic clade. M. thysanodes probably shared a common ancestor with M. evotis after the divergence of M. auriculus. The high degree of morphological similarity between M. auriculus and M. evotis may be the result of shared primitive characters and ecological similarity. -from Authors

EVOLUTIONARY AFFINITIES AMONG SOUTHWESTERN LONG-EARED MYOTIS (CHIROPTERA, VESPERTILIONIDAE) Academic Article