On the systematic position of the horseshoe bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Lesotho

Abstract The monophyletic Afro-Palaearctic clade of the horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus) comprises several species groups whose representatives can be morphologically similar to each other across groups. The only Rhinolophus species that occurs in Lesotho was traditionally attributed to the broadly distributed African desert- and savanna-dwelling bat, Rhinolophus clivosus, a member of the ferrumequinum group. In this study, we investigated the horseshoe bats from Lesotho with the help of molecular genetic and morphometric analyses to find their position within the group and the clade as well. The genetic analysis resulted in phylogenetic trees with two different topologies, although in both trees the Lesotho bats were a part of the fumigatus group instead of the ferrumequinum group. In the mitochondrial tree, the Lesotho bats were mixed with Rhinolophus damarensis. On the contrary, the Lesotho bats formed a single distinct lineage on the nuclear tree, closely related to Rhinolophus darlingi, R. fumigatus, and R. damarensis (in a single lineage each). These results indicate introgressions of mtDNA from the Lesotho bats to R. damarensis. Morphologically, the Lesotho bats grouped distinctly from other species of the fumigatus and ferrumequinum groups. We thus consider the Lesotho horseshoe bats to be a new separate species that is here described.