On the phylogeny of miniopterus schreibersii schreibersii and miniopterus schreibersii pallidus from Asia minor in reference to other miniopterus taxa (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

In this study we investigated phylogenetics of Miniopterus schreibersii schreibersii and M. s. pallidus from Asia Minor by means of two mitochondrial DNA markers, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and cytochrome-b) (Cytb). The average genetic divergence between reciprocally monophyletic M. s. schreibersii and M. s. pallidus was 5.6% on ND2 and 3.5% on Cytb. In all phylogenetic trees, the clade with M. s. schreibersii and M. s. pallidus was placed within Palearctic-Ethiopian Miniopterus taxa. There was a considerable genetic divergence (ca. 8% in Cytb) between M. s. pallidus from Israel and M. s. pallidus from Turkey, Iran, and Nagorno-Karabakh, indicating that they probably are not the same taxon. Time to the most recent common ancestor of M. s. schreibersii and M. s. pallidus was estimated to be between 1.98 to 0.60 Myr BP (ND2 data) and between 1.95 to 0.45 Myr BP (Cytb data).