Same species, different sizes: Rare evolution in action spotted in island bats
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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. Parallel evolution is when different populations living in similar environments evolve similar features independently.
The smaller bat, Hipposideros diadema, is found across its six main islands and many smaller islands. It is also common in South East Asia, Papua New Guinea and parts of northern Australia. The much larger bats were named in 1905 as H. dinops, or Fierce Leaf-Nosed Bat, and are found only in the Solomon Islands. The two sizes live together on most islands, which all have similar forested habitat.
