A new species of Long-eared Brown Bat of the genus Histiotus (Chiroptera) and the revalidation of Histiotus colombiae

Abstract

The South American bats of the genus Histiotus comprise between four and eight species, but their taxonomy has been controversial and the limits between species and their distribution are not well understood. In Colombia, Histiotus humboldti and H. montanus colombiae have been recorded, but undescribed species has been suggested. We evaluated the species richness and distribution of Colombian Histiotus using morphological, molecular, and acoustic traits. Our results evidence three species in Colombia, the two previously recorded taxa and a new species from the Cordillera Central of Colombia and northern Ecuador that we describe here. We also revalidated H. colombiae as a full species. H. humboldti is widely distributed in the Colombian and Ecuadorean Andes and can be sympatric with the other two species. H. colombiae is restricted to the Colombian Cordillera Oriental. Finally, we highlight the potential hidden diversity within Histiotus in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, the need to resolve the evolutionary relationships of the genus, and its implications to the understanding of the processes that have structured the Andean mammal fauna.