Background: Key innovations have facilitated novel niche utilization, such as the movement of the algal predecessors of land plants into terrestrial habitats where drastic fluctuations in light intensity, ultraviolet radiation and water limitation required a number of adaptations. The NDH (NADH dehydrogenase-like) complex of Viridiplantae plastids participates in adapting the photosynthetic response to environmental stress, suggesting its involvement in the transition to terrestrial habitats. Although relatively rare, the loss or pseudogenization of plastid NDH genes...

Cases of geographically restricted co-occurring sister taxa are rare and may point to potential divergence with gene flow. The two bat species Murina gracilis and M. recondita are both endemic to Taiwan and are putative sister species. To test for non-allopatric divergence and gene flow in these taxa, we generated sequences using Sanger and Next Generation Sequencing, and combined these with microsatellite data for coalescent-based analyses. MtDNA phylogenies supported the reciprocally monophyletic sister relationship between...