生物谷综合:来自中国科学院动物研究所,中国华东师范大学生命科学学院,清华大学,广东昆虫研究所,英国布里斯托大学(University of Bristol)等处的研究人员确定了一个哺乳动物纲翼手目(蝙蝠)新种,并将其命名为北京宽耳蝠(Barbastella beijingensis)。该成果发表在近日出版的《哺乳动物学杂志》(Journal of Mammalogy)上。
领导这一研究的是中国华东师范大学生命科学学院教授张树义,第一作者是中国科学院动物研究所博士研究生张劲硕,参与研究还有韩乃坚等人。
宽耳蝠是翼手目蝙蝠科中一个很小的属,以前被认为只有两个种,即欧洲宽耳蝠和亚洲宽耳蝠。张树义带领的研究团队通过Cytb和ND1基因的比较,发现分布在北京西南郊区的宽耳蝠与另两种宽耳蝠都达到了不同种的水平。形态学研究发现:北京宽耳蝠比另外两种宽耳蝠体型大;耳朵外缘的耳突呈拱形突起,而欧洲宽耳蝠的耳突呈纽扣状,亚洲宽耳蝠则没有耳突;牙齿方面,北京宽耳蝠上齿列的第二前臼齿几乎与其第一臼齿等大、甚至稍宽,比欧洲和亚洲宽耳蝠的第二前臼齿要大且强壮;回声定位叫声方面,北京宽耳蝠的超声波主频比其他两种略低。经过分子生物学、形态学和声学的综合比较,他们证实北京宽耳蝠为一个独立的新种。
据初步统计,中国人迄今为止命名并得到国际承认的哺乳动物只有十余种,而其中部分种类目前还存在争议。在发现和命名北京宽耳蝠之前,在全世界被发现的1100多种蝙蝠中,还没有中国人命名的种类。
张树义带领的研究团队近十年来致力于蝙蝠的研究,在全国范围内广泛考察了蝙蝠的种类和分布。迄今为止,他们仅在北京房山区的洞穴和隧道内发现北京宽耳蝠,有北京宽耳蝠存在的洞穴数量很少,即便有通常也只是一群,而每一群只有三五只。因此,他们估计北京宽耳蝠的种群数量十分稀少。他们建议北京市政府能为北京宽耳蝠,以及前几年在此发现的食鱼蝙蝠——大足鼠耳蝠成立一个自然保护区,以保护珍稀濒危蝙蝠及其栖息地,特别是将有该物种分布的洞穴保护起来。
原始出处:
Journal of Mammalogy
Article: pp. 1393–1403 | Full Text | PDF (5.00M)
A NEW SPECIES OF BARBASTELLA (CHIROPTERA: VESPERTILIONIDAE) FROM NORTH CHINA
Jin-Shuo Zhang1, Nai-Jian Han1, Gareth Jones2, Liang-Kong Lin3, Jun-Peng Zhang1, Guan-Jian Zhu4, Da-Wei Huang1, and Shu-Yi Zhang5
1. Institute of Zoology, and Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China (J-SZ, N-JH, J-PZ, D-WH), 2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, United Kingdom (GJ), 3. Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung, 40704, Taiwan, China (L-KL), 4. Guangdong Entomological Institute, Guangzhou, 510260, Guangdong, China (G-JZ), 5. School of Life Science, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China (S-YZ)
A new species of Barbastella is described, originally discovered in 2001 in Beijing, northern China. The description of the new species is based on both morphological and molecular data. The morphology of the skull and ears of the new bat is more similar to that of the Egyptian barbastelle (B. leucomelas) and B. barbastellus distributed in Europe than to B. leucomelas found in southern China and Taiwan. Projections and notches occur along the posterior margin of each ear, and a small lobe (vaulted process) protrudes from the middle outer edge of each pinna. The skull and body size of the new species are larger than in B. leucomelas. Echolocation calls were of 2 types, a brief frequency-modulated call that was alternated with longer calls with a convex frequency–time course. The calls were very similar to those of B. barbastellus recorded in Europe, although they may be slightly lower in frequency. Molecular phylogenies were reconstructed from cytochrome-b (Cytb) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) gene sequences. Cladograms of ND1 indicated that barbastelles from the Beijing area form a monophyletic group, which is the sister to B. leucomelas from Egypt. The clade including the new species and Egyptian barbastelle clusters with B. barbastellus, but not with B. leucomelas from Sichuan, Taiwan, and Japan. The genetic distances (corrected Kimura 2-parameter) between Barbastella sp. nov. and most bats from other localities (including all B. barbastellus) were 14.31–17.69% at the ND1 gene and 15.01–17.36% at the Cytb gene. However, ND1 divergence is 12.79% between Barbastella sp. nov. and B. leucomelas from Egypt. All these results support the hypothesis that the barbastelle from Beijing is a new species. Additionally, because Egypt is the type locality of B. leucomelas, the paraphyletic nature of B. leucomelas suggests that barbastelles from Sichuan, Taiwan, and Japan—which are currently classified as B. leucomelas darjelingensis—should not be considered conspecific with B. leucomelas.
Keywords: Barbastella, China, molecular phylogeny, morphology, new species
Submitted: 16 April 2007; Accepted: 6 August 2007
DOI: 10.1644/07-MAMM-A-114R2.1
Journal of Mammalogy 2007;88:1393–1403