Validating the relationships: which species of Myotis "nattereri" group (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) actually inhabits the Caucasus

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Due to their conservative morphology, the complexity of the taxonomic composition of the Myotis "nattereri" species complex was highly underestimated until recently. In recent studies, the form inhabiting the Caucasus region was allocated to the species Myotis tschuliensis. However, no molecular data was available from its type territory in Turkmenistan. We successfully isolated DNA from two paratypes of M. tschuliensis stored in the Zoological museum of Moscow State University and obtained partial sequences of the mitochondrial gene ND1. The analysis of the DNA showed that the specimens from the Caucasus and Turkmenistan undoubtedly belong to the same genetic lineage. However, morphometric analysis of cranial and dental features showed that the Caucasus and Turkmenistan populations differ from each other approximately to the same extent as M. tschuliensis from M. nattereri. It is possible that there is a still undescribed geographical race in the Caucasus. However, final clarification of the taxonomic status of this population requires more extensive studies, both genetic and morphological.