The Small-Scale Landscape Genetics of Hipposideros armiger in the Mountain Area of Southern Anhui Province, China

In line with the new coronavirus occurrence, bats are an important carrier of viruses, which are extremely important to public safety. Hipposideros armiger is a large bat species with a wingspan of approximately 50–60 cm. A comparatively large body and wingspread lead to a greater dispersal ability, which in turn leads to a wider habitat. In this study, we employed the CYTB gene sequence (1117 bp) derived from H. armiger within five caves of southern Anhui province to undertake the landscape genetics research across the mountainous region. Our study revealed the relatively low genetic variation observed in all five populations. Two clades were distinguished within the phylogenetic tree of 7 haplotypes, and significant population differentiation (F ST) was detected among all populations by AMOVA. In terms of the geographical distance, the group from the Caihuadong cave (CHD) exhibits a relatively close distance to the group from the Longkoudong cave (LKD) but shows the largest genetic distance. Additionally, both show a relatively independent clustering pattern based on haplotypes, particularly CHD (H1, H2). The bats from the Yanzidong cave (YZD) shares a common haplotype (H3) with all other populations and lowest genetic diversity, suggesting the formation of this population might have been influenced by the founder effect. The mantel test between geographical and genetic distances indicates a relatively weak correlation among H. armiger populations at a small scale, further suggesting their robust dispersal capabilities, which also is supported by the AMOVA results. In population demography, only CHD shows a significant population expansion, which corresponds to its geographic environment being suitable for the survival of H. armiger, consistent with network analysis. This study provides an initial analysis of the landscape genetic structure of H. armiger, offering a foundational reference for larger scale population genetics in this species.