Phylogenetic relationships of Island flying fox, Pteropus hypomelanus (chiroptera: Pteropodidae) along the east and west coast of Peninsular Malaysia based on Cytochrome b sequences

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine phylogenetic relationships of Island Flying Fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) along the East and West Coast of the Peninsular Malaysia based on Cytochrome b sequences of mitochondrial DNA and to see the effectiveness of using this region in explaining the relationships among them. There are 29 genetic samples were collected from the several islands includes Dangli Island (Langkawi), Tioman Island (Johor), Tinggi Island (Johor), Redang Island (Terengganu) and Pangkor Island (Perak). Meanwhile, one sequences from the GeneBank represent as outgroup, Pteropus vampyrus to construct a complete phylogenetic tree. Tree topologies were built using the Neighbour Joining (NJ) and Maximum Parsimony (MP) methods. The resulting phylogenetic tree showed a clear separation between (North-West) and (South-East) population supported with 100% bootstrap value. The effectiveness of Cytochrome b has successfully resolved the phylogenetic tree when separating individuals between the populations. This study can contribute to the resolution of taxonomic and systematic problems of Island Flying Fox in Peninsular Malaysia by looking at the effectiveness of Cytochrome b region in explaining the phylogenetic relationships between the populations.