On the Distribution of Greater Antillean Bats

Compilation and analysis of geographic distributions of Antillean bat species reveal two overall distribution patterns in Greater Antillean bats. In the first, found among most of the earliest known bat colonizers of the Antilles, Cuban and Hispaniolan bats have a close taxonomic relationship, where...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biotropica 1988-09, Vol.20 (3), p.240-251
Main Authors: Griffiths, Thomas A., Klingener, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archipelagos
Bats
Biological and medical sciences
Biological taxonomies
Chiroptera
Fossils
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geology
Mammalia
Mammals
Plate tectonics
Sea level
Taxa
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
Zoogeography
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Summary:Compilation and analysis of geographic distributions of Antillean bat species reveal two overall distribution patterns in Greater Antillean bats. In the first, found among most of the earliest known bat colonizers of the Antilles, Cuban and Hispaniolan bats have a close taxonomic relationship, whereas Jamaican and Puerto Rican bats are more distantly related. This pattern supports a limited vicariance model for early Antillean colonizers, or possibly a dispersal model modified to take into account mid-Tertiary geography. In the second, found among more recent bat colonizers, species accumulate in the western Antillean islands of Cuba and Jamaica, with limited dispersal eastward. The second pattern supports a dispersal model modified to take into account Pleistocene climatic cycles.
ISSN:0006-3606
1744-7429
DOI:10.2307/2388240