Biogeography and taxonomic status of Myotis keaysi pilosatibialis LaVal 1973 (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) .

We document the first confirmed Colombian records of Myotis keaysi pilosatibialis LaVal, 1973 from various localities on the Colombian Caribbean and the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes. These records confirm geographic overlap between M. k. pilosatibialis and the nominate subspecies M. k. keaysi J. A. Allen, 1914, in northeastern Colombia, questioning the subspecific status of M. k. pilosatibialis. Models of potential distribution, produced for the two taxa by the application of the Maxent algorithm, show a potential geographic overlap in the northeastern portion of the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela. In order to clarify the taxonomic status of putative M. keaysi variants, we analyzed the variation of Colombian representatives of M. keaysi through a Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and a Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) performed on 18 cranio-dental measurements, as well as the analysis of discrete characters. The morphological independence between M. k. keaysi and M. k. pilosatibialis was supported statistically in our PCA and DFA, as well as by the presence of unique discrete characters, lending support to the recognition of M. k. pilosatibialis as full species. Herein, we include new discrete characters setting apart M. pilosatibialis from the morphologically similar species M. keaysi.