Neotropical bats: 95 possible undescribed lineages in 45 complexes found by DNA analysis

A study in Nature Communications analyzed 12,813 mitochondrial DNA sequences of Neotropical bats from public repositories. It identified 95 lineages that may represent undescribed species within 45 species complexes doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. According to the authors, at least one-fifth of recognized taxa may harbor hidden diversity across the entire evolutionary spectrum doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗.

The work combined molecular species delimitation, phylogenetic inference, ecological niche modelling and spatial conservation analyses doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The lineages are putative: the study does not formally describe new species.

Dataset and approach

The authors constructed 63 phylogenies covering 65 genera. The dataset includes all nine bat families of the region, about 68% of known genera (65 of 95) and about 44% of currently recognized species (191 of 435) doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗.

The Neotropics hold about 30% of recognized bat species. Worldwide, bats comprise more than 1,500 described species, and over the past two decades taxonomists have described more than 300, many of them previously hidden within morphologically similar complexes doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The authors state that at current description rates, formally recognizing the newly identified diversity would take decades doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗.

Habitat loss and hotspots

According to the study, 62% of the complexes face imminent habitat loss, and most are projected to lose over 50% of their suitable habitat by 2070 doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗.

The authors also developed a Hidden Species Richness (HSR) Index. It identifies ten hotspots where undescribed richness coincides with significant human threats and extreme climate vulnerability doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. They describe these regions as the places where research effort is most needed.

The authors argue that the results can guide policymakers, institutions and conservation funding toward taxonomic and geographic priorities. They say that undescribed species are absent from conservation planning and policy frameworks, so some may disappear before they are documented doi.orgNature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗.