Uncovering the diversity of dog-faced bats of the genus Cynomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae), with the redescription of C. milleri and the description of two new species

Abstract

Until recently the genus Cynomops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) comprised six species of fast flying, aerial insectivorous bats distributed throughout the Neotropics. However, our revisionary study have shown that the diversity of this taxon was underestimated as molecular and morphological data supported the recognition of C. milleri as a full species and revealed two previously unrecognized small species of Cynomops. These newly recognized taxa are Cynomops freemani sp. nov. from the Canal Zone region, Panama, sister taxon to C. mexicanus, and Cynomops tonkigui sp. nov. from the eastern Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, sister taxon of C. milleri. We also describe the calls of Cynomops freemani sp. nov. that may be useful for the recognition of this species during field inventories based on ultrasonic recording techniques. We elevate the currently known diversity of Cynomops to eight species, as we also revalidate C. milleri providing an emended diagnosis and a redescription of this taxon.