Aethalops aequalis G. M. Allen 1938

FAISAL ALI ANWARALI KHAN, VICKI J. SWIER, SERGIO SOLARI, PETER A. LARSEN, BESAR KETOL, WAHAP MARNI, SIVANATHAN ELLAGUPILLAY, MAKLARIN LAKIM, MOHAMMAD TAJUDDIN ABDULLAH & ROBERT J. BAKER, 2008, USING GENETICS AND MORPHOLOGY TO EXAMINE SPECIES DIVERSITY OF OLD WORLD BATS: REPORT OF A RECENT COLLECTION FROM MALAYSIA, Occasional Papers of the Museum 281, pp. 1-30 : 5

Aethalops aequalis G. M. Allen 1938

Borneo Fruit Bat (Cecadu Bukit)

Specimens examined (5).— Mt. Penrisen: TTU 108348 ( GenBank EU521595 ), TTU 108352 , TTU 108357 , TTU 108409 , TTU 108381 .

Type locality.— Malaysia (Borneo), Sabah, Mount Kinabalu .

Malaysian distribution.—Recorded from highlands in Sabah and Sarawak. Specimens were collected from Mt. Penrisen in this study.

Remarks.— Aethalops aequalis is commonly found at higher elevations in hill and mountain forests ( Payne et al. 1985). This species was caught using mist nets across small streams. Compared to other fruit bats, A. aequalis is fragile and requires careful handling and quick release if it is not to be prepared as a voucher specimen. This species was previously recognized as Aethalops alecto ( Payne et al. 1985) . Studies (Kitchener et al. 1993) suggest that only Peninsular Malaysia populations, as well as Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok populations, should be recognized as alecto (Pygmy Fruit Bat) whereas Borneo populations are referable to aequalis . Although morphological characters differentiate aequalis from alecto , allozymic variation between them is low (see Kitchener et al. 1993). Cytochrome- b gene sequences within our sample from Borneo averaged 0.2%. Pending genetic data from Peninsular Malaysia populations as well as specimens from Sabah, we follow Kitchener et al. (1993) for geographic boundaries of A. alecto and A. aequalis .