Data_Sheet_2_How to Accurately Delineate Morphologically Conserved Taxa and Diagnose Their Phenotypic Disparities: Species Delimitation in Cryptic Rhinolophidae (Chiroptera).CSV

Systematics and taxonomy are the backbone of all components of biology and ecology, yet cryptic species present a major challenge for accurate species identification. This is especially problematic as they represent a substantial portion of undiscovered biodiversity, and have implications for not only species conservation, but even assaying potential risk of zoonotic spillover. Here, we use integrative approaches to delineate potential cryptic species in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae), evaluate the phenotypic disparities between cryptic species, and identify key traits for their identification. We tested the use of multispecies coalescent models (MSC) using Bayesian Phylogenetic and Phylogeography (BPP) and found that BPP was useful in delineating potential cryptic species, and consistent with acoustic traits. Our results show that around 40% of Asian rhinolophid species are potentially cryptic and have not been formally described. In order to avoid potential misidentification and allow species to be accurately identified, we identified quantitative noseleaf sella and acoustic characters as the most informative traits in delineating between potential cryptic species in Rhinolophidae. This highlights the physical differences between cryptic species that are apparent in noseleaf traits which often only qualitatively described but rarely measured. Each part of the noseleaf including the sella, lateral lappets, and lancet furrows, play roles in focusing acoustic beams and thus, provide useful characteristics to identify cryptic Rhinolophus species. Finally, species delimitation for cryptic species cannot rely on genetic data alone, but such data should be complemented by other evidence, including phenotypic, acoustic data, and geographic distributions to ensure accurate species identification and delineation.

系统学和分类学构成了生物学与生态学各个组成部分的基石，然而，隐秘物种的存在给物种的准确鉴定带来了重大挑战。这一问题尤为棘手，因为它们构成了未发现生物多样性的重要部分，并对物种保护乃至评估潜在的动物源性传播风险具有重要意义。在本研究中，我们采用综合方法来界定马蹄蝠（Rhinolophidae）中的潜在隐秘物种，评估隐秘物种间的表型差异，并识别其鉴定的关键特征。我们测试了多物种融合模型（MSC）在贝叶斯系统发育和地理学（BPP）中的应用，发现BPP在界定潜在隐秘物种方面具有效用，且与声学特征一致。我们的结果表明，约40%的亚洲马蹄蝠物种可能为隐秘物种，尚未得到正式描述。为了避免潜在的误鉴定，并确保物种能够被准确鉴定，我们确定了定量鼻叶窝和声学特征是区分潜在隐秘物种在马蹄蝠科中的最有信息量的特征。这突显了隐秘物种在鼻叶特征上的物理差异，这些特征通常仅被定性描述，而很少被测量。鼻叶的每一部分，包括窝、侧翼瓣和刀片状沟槽，都在聚焦声束中发挥作用，从而为识别隐秘的马蹄蝠物种提供了有用的特征。最后，隐秘物种的物种界定不能仅依赖于遗传数据，而应辅以其他证据，包括表型、声学数据和地理分布，以确保物种鉴定和界定的准确性。