Xueling Yi, PhD candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences at UW-Milwaukee, will present a talk about her research, entitled ‘Molecular Evolution, Diversity, and Biogeography of the New World Bats in the Genus Eptesicus.’

Biodiversity is the key to evolution and conservation yet is underestimated in many taxa, and the mechanisms generating biodiversity are often unclear. Bats (Order Chiroptera) are the second largest mammalian Order with >1,400 species but many groups remain under-studied. For example, the cosmopolitan bat genus Eptesicus has been found paraphyletic, with the New World species more closely related to a South American endemic genus Histiotusthan to the Old World Eptesicus species, but systematics and genetic diversity within the New World group remain unresolved. To better understand diversity and evolution of the New World Eptesicus/Histiotus bats, here we studied their phylogeny, phylogeography, and population genetics using extensive taxonomic and geographic sampling and high-resolution genomic markers from next-generation sequencing. We found for the first time that Histiotus is more closely related to E. fuscus than their sympatric Neotropical Eptesicus. Cryptic diversity was indicated in the Neotropics but not the Nearctic, where E. fuscus as the single Eptesicus species living north of Mexico has maintained widespread gene flow possibly due to range fluctuations throughout Pleistocene glaciation cycles. Together, our studies identify a Neotropical origin of the New World Eptesicus/Histiotus, supporting trans-Atlantic colonization and climate-triggered diversification.

The presentation will begin at 4:00 PM in Lapham N101 and via Microsoft Teams, preceded by an informal Q&A from 3:45 – 4:00 PM. If you aren’t able to join in person, you can click here to join via Teams.