Geographic variation in select species of the bat genus Platyrrhinus
Code and data of "Geographic variation in select species of the bat genus Platyrrhinus" by Velazco, Ly, McAllister and Esquivel. THERYA, 2023, Vol 14(1):121-130. DOI:10.12933/therya-23-2208
This study evaluates the variation in cranial shape and size based on geometric morphometric analyses of Platyrrhinus dorsalis and P. umbratus. 2D geometric morphometric data was used to evaluate whether the populations of P. dorsalis and P. umbratus deserve subspecific recognition or that the external and craniodental morphological differences between the populations of these two species is the result of an altitudinal or latitudinal cline.
We analyzed dorsal and ventral views of the skulls of Platyrrhinus dorsalis (with populations assigned to dorsalis and chocoensis) and P. umbratus (with populations assigned to nigellus and umbratus).
We performed analyses in four data sets:
- Platyrrhinus dorsalis: dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views of the skull.
- Platyrrhinus umbratus: dorsal (3) and ventral (4) views of the skull.
For each data set we provide two files:
- Script for all the analyses.
- RData file containing the tps (landmark coordinates from all specimens) and classifiers (sex and population) files.
Our analyses did not support the recognition of subspecies in either species. The difference in skull size and shape between populations of P. dorsalis is associated with elevation, suggesting that this species exhibits an altitudinal clinal variation, with individuals being larger in the lower elevation and smaller in higher elevations. In P. umbratus the difference in skull size and shape between populations is associated with a latitudinal cline, with individuals tending to be larger in the northern part of their range. Our analyses did not reveal the existence of secondary sexual variation in P. dorsalis nor in P. umbratus.