Abstract
The Common Mustached Bat (Pteronotus parnellii) is a mormoopid bat living in cavesin lowland rainforests throughout the north and eastern Neotropics, including severalCaribbean islands. Recent studies have shown that this taxon is certainly a composite ofseveral cryptic species, especially in the western part of the Guiana Shield, wheremolecular reconstructions and bioacoustics point to the presence of at least two crypticspecies that may not be related to genuine P. parnellii, native of Jamaica. The currenttaxonomy of this species complex is therefore confused. We examined here over 200bioacoustically identified individuals to show that two phonic types live in sympatry inFrench Guiana with no overlap in frequencies of echolocation calls. Morphologicvariation showed consistent and significant differences between the two phonic types,but external measurements were unable to discriminate all bats. Two mitochondrialmarkers analyzed in a selection of each of these phonic types were further used toevidence that they represent two genetically discrete groups, and to assign them to theexisting molecular clades described elsewhere. Molecular comparisons with referencespecimens sampled near the type localities of P. parnellii and P. rubiginosus furthersuggest that the 53 kHz phonic type found in French Guiana and Amapa (Brazil) shouldbe assigned to the later species, while the 59 kHz phonic type represents an undescribedspecies.