Abstract
The taxonomic status of the Arizona myotis (Myotis occultus) is uncertain. Although the taxon was described as a distinct species and currently is regarded as such by some authors, others have noted what they interpreted as intergradation with the little brown bat (M. lucifugus carissima) near the Colorado-New Mexico state line. In this study, we used protein electrophoresis to compare bats of these nominal taxa. We examined 20 loci from 142 specimens referable to M. occultus and M. lucifugus from New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Nine of the 20 loci were polymorphic. Results show that there were high similarities among samples, no fixed alleles, and minor divergence from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Our results suggest that the two nominal taxa represent only one species and that M. occultus should be regarded as a subspecies of M. lucifugus.
Document Type
Article
Source Publication
Journal of Mammalogy
Version
Published Version
DOI
Publication Date
1-1-1999
Volume
80
Issue
2
First Page
545
Last Page
552
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Recommended Citation
Ernest W. Valdez, Jerry R. Choate, Michael A. Bogan, Terry L. Yates, Taxonomic Status of Myotis occultus, Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 80, Issue 2, 20 May 1999, Pages 545–552, https://doi.org/10.2307/1383300
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