Myotis muricola (Gray, 1846)

Voon-Ching Lim, Rosli Ramli, Subha Bhassu & John-James Wilson, 2017, A checklist of the bats of Peninsular Malaysia and progress towards a DNA barcode reference library, PLoS ONE 12 (7), pp. 1-65 : 52-53

Myotis muricola [Gray, 1846]

Vespertilio muricola Gray, 1846: 4 ; NEPAL (Brian Houghton Hodgson, collector; Type unknown) [ 215].

Myotis muricola [ 8].

Common English name: Asian Whiskered Myotis

Barcode Index Number: DNA barcodes recorded as M. muricola are associated with two BINs, BOLD: AAA 8747 and BOLD: AAA 8748, but there are no DNA barcodes from Peninsular Malaysia. A DNA barcode of M. cf. muricola ( RONP 037-14) from Peninsular Malaysia but is not associated with any BIN due to its short sequence length (<500 bp).

Remarks: Francis and Hill [ 214] commented that M. muricola from localities across Southeast Asia exhibit moderate morphological variation. Wiantoro et al. [ 216] suggested M. muricola was a species complex with 31.5% divergence in cytochrome b mtDNA between (i) M. muricola Western (including DNA sequences from Krakatau, Bali, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Flores Lembata and Pantar) and (ii) M. muricola Eastern (including DNA sequences from Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Phillipines and Asian mainland). M. muricola Eastern exhibited 9.5% divergence in cytochrome b mtDNA within the group whereas M. muricola Western exhibited 8% divergence within the group. M. muricola Western is further segregated into two subgroups with 7.2% divergence in cytochrome b mtDNA: (i) Sumatra-Asian subgroup (consists of DNA sequences from Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Asian mainland) and (ii) Bornean subgroup (consists of DNA sequences from Sarawak, Sabah and Kalimantan).

M. muricola was previously considered to be a subspecies of M. mystacinus [ 23, 213], but Hill [ 217] reviewed the status of M. mystacinus and stated that the form occurring in Peninsular Malaysia represents M. muricola muricola . Similarly, Corbet and Hill [ 9] concluded that M. mystacinus was not present in Malaysia and the taxon occurring in Peninsular Malaysia represents M. muricola . Wiantoro et al. [ 216] reportedthat M. mystacinus and M. muricola Western are 17.1% divergent in cytochrome b mtDNA, while M. mystacinus and M. muricola Eastern showed 26% divergence. After the division of M. muricola and M. mystacinus , M. mystacinus was thought to only occur in Europe until Bates et al. [ 218] recorded the species in Myanmar. Further surveys are required to determine whether the reports of M. mystacinus in Peninsular Malaysia represents M. muricola or whether both species exist sympatrically in Peninsular Malaysia.

The BIN, BOLD:AAA8748 contains DNA barcodes recorded as M. muricola and M. ater (see remarks on M. ater and Fig 6 ). The species were previously considered to be conspecific [ 213] but were later recognised as distinct based on body size variation [ 217] which occurred sympatrically in Malaysia [ 214]. We did not include the DNA barcode recorded as M. cf. muricola (RONP037-14) from Peninsular Malaysia in our NJ analysis due to its short sequence length, but noted that the DNA barcode did not cluster with DNA barcodes of M. muricola on a taxon ID tree generated in BOLD (hence “ cf. muricola ”).

IUCN status: Least Concern

Recorded at: Selangor: Ulu Gombak [ 5, 53, 54], Bukit Kutu Wildlife Reserve [ 51], Air Hitam Forest Reserve [ 55]; Pahang: Krau Wildlife Reserve [ 11]; Negeri Sembilan: Pasoh Forest Reserve [ 45]; Perak: Temengor Forest Reserve [ 46, 47]; Johor: Endau-Kota Tinggi Forest Reserve [ 56]; Kelantan: Air Panas-Gua Musang [ 61], Gunung Stong State Park [ 67].

Recorded as M. mystacinus at: Pulau Pinang: Unspecified [ 23]; Selangor: Air Hitam Forest Reserve [ 40], Ulu Gombak [ 52], Batu Caves [ 219]; Pahang: Krau Wildlife Reserve [ 41], Tasik Chini [ 43].

M. muricola has been reported roosting in small colonies of up to ten individuals at vegetated cave entrances and in tightly rolled central leaves of banana plants, in both forested and agricultural areas [ 11, 14, 23].

Figures

Fig 6. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in family Vespertilionidae reported from Peninsular Malaysia. The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (±70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia,VN = Vietnam, BN = Borneo (including Sabah & Sarawak of East Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan Indonesia), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos, SM = Sumatera Indonesia, JV = Java Indonesia, CH = China, CM = Cambodia. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179555.g006