Abstract
There has so far been no record of the frosted Myotis, Myotis pruinosus in Kumamoto Prefecture. We confirmed their inhabitation by capturing these bats at their tunnels in Yamato-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture on 30 September 2007, 27 July and 24 August 2008, and on 27 November 2011. In some bats, the fur was not blackish but dark or grayish brown, and the tips of the guard hairs on the back had no silver metallic luster, unlike those of M. pruinosus. However, the plagiopatagium of the bats was inserted in the base of the first toe, unlike in M. macrodactylus. The bat’s blood vessels formed a straight line in the tail membrane, while those of the closely related M. ikonnikovi formed a curve. Therefore, we identified them as M. pruinosus. This was supported by phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial gene (Cyt b) sequences, and genetic and geographical variations were suggested in this species. Forearm and tibia lengths in Kyushu were significantly larger than those in Honshu and Shikoku. In the skull characters in Kyushu, CBL was short, and ZW and BCW were large as compared with those in Honshu and Shikoku. These results were further supported by principal component analysis.
