Karyotypic data and attendant systematic implications for the bats of southern Africa

Abstract

The standard karyotypic properties of 60 of the 73 species of bats known to occur in southern Africa, are reviewed. The karyotypes of 23 microchiropteran species are described for the first time; our results on a further 14 species are compared with earlier reports for those taxa. The previously published chromosomal information pertaining to 23 species for which we had no information, are cited. Systematic implications of observed patterns of karyotypic variation are briefly discussed. In particular, we conclude that the taxon Cistugo (currently recognised as a subgenus oiMyotis) should be afforded full generic rank; hypothesise that the karyotypes of the two species - M. (C.) seabrai and M. (C.) lesueuri - in Cistugo are probably ancestral for all vespertilionids; and question the wisdom of redefining the taxonomic limits of the genera Eptesicus and Pipistrellus until molecular data are available to resolve the dilemma posed by conflicting morphological and cytogenetic data suites.