Same species, different sizes: Rare evolution in action spotted in island bats

A University of Melbourne researcher has spotted a rare evolutionary phenomenon happening rapidly in real time in bats living in the Solomon Islands. Dr. Tyrone Lavery reports in a paper published in Evolution that two groups of leaf-nosed bats with vastly different body sizes that were thought to be separate species are an example of a rare type of parallel evolution. "Although they are very different sizes, the bats' DNA is very similar. They use very different sonar frequencies, they probably eat different food, and even when they live in the same cave together they don't interbreed. That is why no one has ever really questioned whether they were different species," Dr. Lavery said. "When we created family trees using the bats' DNA, we found that what we thought was just one species of large bat in the Solomon Islands was actually a case where bigger bats had evolved from the smaller species multiple times across different islands." "Something very strong is pushing or selecting for these big bats, and it is strong enough for it to happen multiple times on different islands. We think these larger bats might be evolving to take advantage of prey that the smaller bats aren't eating. Although they could probably interbreed, they don't for some reason," he said. More information: Tyrone H Lavery et al, Parallel evolution in an island archipelago revealed by genomic sequencing of Hipposideros leaf-nosed bats, Evolution. Citation: Same species, different sizes: Rare evolution in action spotted in island bats retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-04-species-sizes-rare-evolution-action.