A new species of Eumops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from southeastern Brazil and Bolivia

Abstract

Eumops is the most speciose and morphologically diverse genus of Neotropical molossid bats presently encompassing 16 species. Here were described a new species in the genus based on three specimens from southeastern Bolivia and Brazil. A combined phylogenetic analysis using Cytochrome b gene sequences and morphological data revealed that the specimens form a sister-group of Eumops perotis + Eumops trumbulli and are 7.9% diverged from E. perotis at Cytochrome b. Three morphological autapomorphies, the shape of rostrum and the position and size of first upper premolar, distinguish new species from E. perotis and E. trumbulli. The combination of morphological and molecular characters justifies the description of a new species.