Evidences on the migratory movements of the nectar-feeding bat Leptonycteris curasoae in Mexico using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

We examined the genetic relatedness of six populations of Leptonycteris curasoae in Mexico using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). L. curasoae is a migratory bat species that pollinates columnar cacti in north-western Mexico, southern Arizona, and south-western New Mexico but may have non-migratory populations in Mexico. We collected 137 samples from six sites: two in north, one in the west, and three in south-central Mexico. The RAPD banding pattern of the bats from each site were used to calculate the proportion of polymorphic loci. The average of polymorphic bands for the south-central population was 65% and for the north-west population was 53%. AMOVA was used to obtain the variance between (VA=60.84%) and within sites (VB=39.16%), meaning that the greater variation is contained among sites and lesser variation inside them. The correlation between geographic and genetic distances was analyzed with a Mantel non-parametric test (r=0.72), suggesting a structured population for this species. Our results indicate the presence of two well differentiated populations of L. curasoae, one in south-central Mexico and the other along the Pacific coast ranging from northern Mexico, including Baja California, Sonora, and Jalisco.