Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-81). / Phenotypic analyses of sibling species provide the opportunity to examine divergence that is caused by adaptation rather than phylogenetic history. Rhinolophus capensis and Rhinolophus swinnyi diverged from a common ancestor between 15 and 20 million years ago. The Fynbos biome of the south-western Cape (South Africa) arose around the same time, and its distribution is coincident with that of R. capensis. Since this event probably influenced the speciation of these species, I examine differences in the ecomorphology of these bats in their current distributions. R. capensis is bigger than R. swinnyi, with corresponding differences in echolocation call signatures and wing morphology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/6109 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Kelly, Elizabeth Jane |
| Contributors | Jacobs, David S |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Science, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSc |
| Format | application/pdf |
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