Phylogenetics and Morphology of the Genus Dyacopterus from Borneo

Dyacopterus is also known as Dayak fruit bats, and they can be found in the sub-canopy and above-canopy areas of tropical rainforests which are rich with their food source. Genus Dyacopterus which consist of three species of medium-sized fruit bats are distributed throughout Southeast Asia. Two species can be found in Malaysia which are Dyacopterus spadiceus and Dyacopterus brooksi. The lack of genetic studies on genus Dyacopterus which cause difficulty to differentiate between species is the main problem of this research. The objective of this research is to determine the genetic and morphological variation in currently recognized Dyacopterus sp. in Malaysia. Two approaches were used in this study which are molecular and morphometric (external character) to study the variation within currently recognized Dyacopterus sp. in Borneo. The morphology of the species was observed by using morphometric parameters and the nucleotide sequences of Dyacopterus sp. in Borneo. The genetic variation and structure of Dyacopterus sp. were examined by using 11 sequences of the 1232 bp cytochrome b (cyt b) which is one of the common genetic markers used for phylogenetic studies. Out of 11 sequences, five sequences were generated from this study while the remaining six were obtained from GenBank. Result indicates that all samples obtained were Dyacopterus spadiceus and according to phylogenetic tree only one sequence have been misidentified. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) also resulted in clear distinction between the species. This distinction was supported by high value of genetic distance for Eastern and Western Dyacopterus sp. of Sarawak region (K2P = 5.7%). As for Dyacopterus brooksi no sample had been found in Sarawak region. This study has successfully examined the genetic and morphological variation within Dyacopterus sp. in Borneo