The Long and Short of It: Branch Lengths and the Problem of Placing the New Zealand Short-Tailed Bat, Mystacina

Martyn Kennedy; Adrian M Paterson; Juan Carlos Morales; Stuart Parsons; Andrew P Winnington; Hamish G Spencer

doi:10.1006/mpev.1999.0660

Back

The Long and Short of It: Branch Lengths and the Problem of Placing the New Zealand Short-Tailed Bat, Mystacina

Journal article

Peer reviewed

The Long and Short of It: Branch Lengths and the Problem of Placing the New Zealand Short-Tailed Bat, Mystacina

Martyn Kennedy, Adrian M Paterson, Juan Carlos Morales, Stuart Parsons, Andrew P Winnington and Hamish G Spencer

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Vol.13(2), pp.405-416

1999

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.1999.0660

PMID: 10603267

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.1999.0660View

Published Version

Abstract

animals

base sequence

Chiropetera - classification

Chiroptera - genetics

molecular sequence data

New Zealand

phylogeny

sequence alignment

sequence analysis - DNA

sequence homology, nucleic acid

time factors

The taxonomic position of the endemic New Zealand bat genus Mystacina has vexed systematists ever since its erection in 1843. Over the years the genus has been linked with many microchiropteran families and superfamilies. Most recent classifications place it in the Vespertilionoidea, although some immunological evidence links it with the Noctilionoidea (=Phyllostomoidea). We have sequenced 402 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene for M. tuberculata (Gray in Dieffenbach, 1843), and using both our own and published DNA sequences for taxa in both superfamilies, we applied different tree reconstruction methods to find the appropriate phylogeny and different methods of estimating confidence in the parts of the tree. All methods strongly support the classification of Mystacina in the Noctilionoidea. Spectral analysis suggests that parsimony analysis may be misleading for Mystacina's precise placement within the Noctilionoidea because of its long terminal branch. Analyses not susceptible to long-branch attraction suggest that the Mystacinidae is a sister family to the Phyllostomidae. Dating the divergence times between the different taxa suggests that the extant chiropteran families radiated around and shortly after the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary. We discuss the biogeographical implications of classifying Mystacina within the Noctilionoidea and contrast our result with those classifications placing Mystacina in the Vespertilionoidea, concluding that evidence for the latter is weak.

Details

Title: The Long and Short of It: Branch Lengths and the Problem of Placing the New Zealand Short-Tailed Bat, Mystacina
Authors: Martyn Kennedy (Author) - University of Otago
Adrian M Paterson (Author) - Lincoln University
Juan Carlos Morales (Author) - Columbia University
Stuart Parsons (Author) - University of Otago
Andrew P Winnington (Author) - University of Otago
Hamish G Spencer (Author) - University of Otago
Publication details: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Vol.13(2), pp.405-416
Publisher: Academic Press
DOI: 10.1006/mpev.1999.0660
ISSN: 1095-9513
PMID: 10603267
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99576206702621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

7 Record Views

36 Times Cited - Web of Science

See more details

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Evolutionary Biology; Genetics & Heredity

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites