MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC-VARIATION IN AETHALOPS-ALECTO (CHIROPTERA, PTEROPODIDAE) FROM JAVA, BALI AND LOMBOK IS, INDONESIA

Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of skull and external morphology of Aethalops alecto from high mountains in Java (10 specim ens), Bali I. (7) and Lombok I. (20) reveal little or no sexual dimorp hism. However, measurements of the majority of the 35 skull and 19 ext ernal characters differ significantly between these populations. Analy ses of skull, and to a lesser extent external characters, indicate tha t the Javan population is separate in discriminant function space from the Bali and Lombok populations (which are close together). These pop ulations of Aethalops alecto are distinct from Aethalops aequalis from Sabah, Borneo. Protein electrophoresis reveals that populations of Ae thalops show levels of genetic variation that are near the mammalian a verage. Genetic differentiation of populations is low. Thus, despite t he fact that Aethalops populations are restricted to high mountains th ey do not appear to have low effective populations sizes nor are they distinctly genetically isolated. The Bali/Lombok populations are descr ibed herein as Aethalops alecto boeadii subsp. nov.