Morphometric and Phylogenetic Analysis of Short-Nosed Fruit Bat Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797) Captured from FATA Regions, Pakistan

During the present survey, extending from the May 2015 to November 2016 the short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx (n = 4) was captured from Frontier Region Kohat and Shublan, Kurram Agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The morphometry and cranial characteristics of the captured specimens were compared with literature. C. sphinx is being reported form the study area for first time. Morphometry of all captured C. sphinx showed that head and body length was 77.13 mm, ear length 19.51 mm, forearm length 65.49 mm, length of tibia 26.61 mm, length of hind foot 17.95 mm and length of tail 7.35 mm. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the bases of CO1 gene sequences. The mean intraspecific divergences of C. sphinx were 0.011%. The nucleotide composition of the sequences showed higher concentration of A+T as compared to G+C. The A+T contents were 53.1% and C+G were 46.8%. In phylogenetic tree the sequences of C. sphinx clustered together with 100% bootstrap support. The relationship between C. sphinx and C. horsefield was supported by 83% bootstrap value. The relationship between C. titthaecheilus and C. horsefield was supported by 98% bootstrap value. These analyses confirm the utility of the COI gene sequence of C. sphinx, obtained in the present study for species level identification and phylogenetic relationships.

Automated summary

The study captured short-nosed fruit bat C. sphinx from specific regions for the first time, comparing their morphometry and genetic sequences with literature data. The research confirmed genetic differences within C. sphinx populations and demonstrated the utility of the COI gene sequence for species identification and phylogenetic relationships.