The systematic status of Southeast Asian Nycteris (Chiroptera : Nycteridae) by V. VAN CAKENBERGHE and F. DE VREE Dept. Biology, University of Antwerp (UIA) Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerpen (Wilrijk), Belgium Summary. - Based on multi- and univariate statistical analyses on 233 Southeast Asian Nycteris specimens, two species are recognized: Nycteris javanica and Nycteris tragata. They represent the single, separate Nycteris javanica group, which is distinct from the four African species groups: the hispida, thebaica, macrotis and arge groups. Résumé. - Par des analyses statistiques multi- et univariées sur 233 spécimens provenant du sud-est de l'Asie, deux espèces de Nycteris sont reconnues: Nycteris javanica et Nycteris tragata. Ces deux especes représentent un seul groupe: le groupe Nycteris javanica, qui se dis- tingue des quatre groupes d'espèces africaines : les groupes hispida, thebaica, macrotis et arge. INTRODUCTION Based on a number of morphological characters, such as the size of the second lower premolar, the shape of the upper incisors and the shape of the tragus, Andersen (1912) subdivided the genus Nycteris Geoffroy and Cuvier, 1795 into four species groups: the javanica group, the hispida group, the aethiopica group (now known as the macrotis group) and the thebaica group. He included both Southeast Asian species – N. javanica Geoffroy, 1813 and N. tragata Andersen, 1912 – into one group, toge- ther with the African N. arge, N. nana and N. major, pointing out that the upper inci- sors may be either bi- or tricuspid. All of the species belonging to the javanica group possess a small tragus, which has a constriction near the middle of its height, and a large second lower premolar, reaching higher than half the height of the first one, whe- reas all other species groups are characterized in having a different shape of tragus and a small premolar. However, Aellen (1959) separated N. javanica from all other Nycteris species, because the latter have either bi- or tricuspid teeth, whereas only the former shows a combination of both conditions. Aellen (1959) arranged N. tragata together with N. arge, N. nana and N. major in a new group, which he named the arge group. According to Koopman (1975) the variability of the shape of the upper incisors is not an important character. Consequently he placed both Southeast Asian species, toge- ther with the African N. arge, N. nana and N. major, into the javanica group. The den- tal variability was already observed by Davis (1962), Medway (1965) and Legakul and McNeely (1977), who regard N. tragata as a subspecies of N. javanica. _________ Mammalia, t. 57, n° 2, 1993.