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. 2017 Jul 25;12(7):e0179555.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179555. eCollection 2017.

A checklist of the bats of Peninsular Malaysia and progress towards a DNA barcode reference library

Voon-Ching Lim  1 , Rosli Ramli  1 , Subha Bhassu  1 , John-James Wilson  2
Affiliations

A checklist of the bats of Peninsular Malaysia and progress towards a DNA barcode reference library

Voon-Ching Lim et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Several published checklists of bat species have covered Peninsular Malaysia as part of a broader region and/or in combination with other mammal groups. Other researchers have produced comprehensive checklists for specific localities within the peninsula. To our knowledge, a comprehensive checklist of bats specifically for the entire geopolitical region of Peninsular Malaysia has never been published, yet knowing which species are present in Peninsular Malaysia and their distributions across the region are crucial in developing suitable conservation plans. Our literature search revealed that 110 bat species have been documented in Peninsular Malaysia; 105 species have precise locality records while five species lack recent and/or precise locality records. We retrieved 18 species from records dated before the year 2000 and seven species have only ever been recorded once. Our search of Barcode of Life Datasystems (BOLD) found that 86 (of the 110) species have public records of which 48 species have public DNA barcodes available from bats sampled in Peninsular Malaysia. Based on Neighbour-Joining tree analyses and the allocation of DNA barcodes to Barcode Index Number system (BINs) by BOLD, several DNA barcodes recorded under the same species name are likely to represent distinct taxa. We discuss these cases in detail and highlight the importance of further surveys to determine the occurences and resolve the taxonomy of particular bat species in Peninsular Malaysia, with implications for conservation priorities.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Bat species with recent (dated during or after the year 2000) and old (dated before year 2000) records from Peninsular Malaysia.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in family Pteropodidae reported from Peninsular Malaysia.
The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (≥70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia, VN = Vietnam, JV = Java, Indonesia, BN = Borneo (including Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in families Emballonuridae, Megadermatidae, Molossidae and Nycteridae reported from Peninsular Malaysia.
The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (≥70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia, VN = Vietnam, BN = Borneo (including Sabah & Sarawak of East Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan Indonesia), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos, SM = Sumatera Indonesia, CH = China.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in family Hipposideridae reported from Peninsular Malaysia.
The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (≥70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia, VN = Vietnam, BN = Borneo (including Sabah & Sarawak of East Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan Indonesia), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos, SM = Sumatera Indonesia, CH = China, CM = Cambodia.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in family Rhinolophidae reported from Peninsular Malaysia.
The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (≥70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia, VN = Vietnam, BN = Borneo (including Sabah & Sarawak of East Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan Indonesia), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos, SM = Sumatera Indonesia, JV = Java Indonesia, IND = India, CH = China, CM = Cambodia, MN = Myanmar.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Neighbour-joining tree showing all available DNA barcodes for species in family Vespertilionidae reported from Peninsular Malaysia.
The percentage of pseudoreplicate trees (≥70%) in which the DNA barcodes clustered together in the bootstrap test (500 pseudoreplicates) are shown above the branches. Abbreviation as follows: PM = Peninsular Malaysia, VN = Vietnam, BN = Borneo (including Sabah & Sarawak of East Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan Indonesia), TH = Thailand, LA = Laos, SM = Sumatera Indonesia, JV = Java Indonesia, CH = China, CM = Cambodia.
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