This study demonstrates for the first time the presence of marine-associated mites in the Andaman Sea and Strait of Malacca and reveals a relatively high diversity of these taxa with six species from two different families: Selenoribatidae and Fortuyniidae. Indopacifica, a new genus of Selenoribatidae, is described from Thailand and Malaysia, with two new species, Indopacifica pantai n. sp. and Indopacifica parva n. sp. The genus is characterized by the unique combination of following characters: lacking lamellar ridges, incomplete dorsosejugal suture, fourteen pairs of notogastral setae, and presence of epimeral foveae. A phylogenetic reconstruction based on 18S ribosomal RNA sequences clearly confirms the distinctness of the new genus Indopacifica and places it close to the genus Rhizophobates. The lack of molecular genetic data of possible relatives impedes a clear assessment, and hence, we emphasize the need for further combined approaches using morphological and molecular genetic sequence data. All species show wide distribution areas within this geographic region suggesting that these taxa are good dispersers despite their minute size and wingless body. Molecular genetic data demonstrate recent gene flow between far distant populations of I. pantai n. sp. from the coasts of Thailand and two islands of Malaysia and hence confirm this assumption. The seasonally changing surface currents within this geographic area may favor hydrochorous dispersal and hence genetic exchange. Nevertheless, morphometric data show a slight trend to morphological divergence among the studied populations, whereas this variation is suggested to be a result of genetic drift but also of habitat differences in one population of Alismobates pseudoreticulatus.
The bat family Nycteridae contains only the genus Nycteris, which comprises 13 currently recognized species from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, one species from Madagascar, and two species restricted to Malaysia and Indonesia in South-East Asia. We investigated genetic variation, clade membership, and phylogenetic relationships in Nycteridae with broad sampling across Africa for most clades. We sequenced mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and four independent nuclear introns (2,166 bp) from 253 individuals. Although our samples did not include all recognized species, we recovered at least 16 deeply divergent monophyletic lineages using independent mitochondrial and multilocus nuclear datasets in both gene tree and species tree analyses. Mean pairwise uncorrected genetic distances among species-ranked Nycteris clades (17% for cytb and 4% for concatenated introns) suggest high levels of phylogenetic diversity in Nycteridae. We found a large number of designated clades whose members are distributed wholly or partly in East Africa (10 of 16 clades), indicating that Nycteris diversity has been historically underestimated and raising the possibility that additional unsampled and/or undescribed Nycteris species occur in more poorly sampled Central and West Africa. Well-resolved mitochondrial, concatenated nuclear, and species trees strongly supported African ancestry for SE Asian species. Species tree analyses strongly support two deeply diverged subclades that have not previously been recognized, and these clades may warrant recognition as subgenera. Our analyses also strongly support four traditionally recognized species groups of Nycteris. Mitonuclear discordance regarding geographic population structure in Nycteris thebaica appears to result from male-biased dispersal in this species. Our analyses, almost wholly based on museum voucher specimens, serve to identify species-rank clades that can be tested with independent datasets, such as morphology, vocalizations, distributions, and ectoparasites. Our analyses highlight the need for a comprehensive revision of Nycteridae.