The discovery of highly divergent lineages of hantaviruses (family Hantaviridae) in shrews, moles, and bats of multiple species raises the possibility that non-rodent hosts may have played a significant role in their evolutionary history. To further investigate this prospect, total RNA was extracted from RNAlater^®-preserved lung tissues of 277 bats (representing five families, 14 genera and 40 species), captured in Myanmar and Vietnam during 2013–2016. Hantavirus RNA was detected in two of 15 black-bearded tomb bats (Taphozous melanopogon) and two of 26 Pomona roundleaf bats (Hipposideros pomona) in Myanmar, and in three of six ashy leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros cineraceus) in Vietnam. Pair-wise alignment and comparison of coding regions of the S, M, and L segments of hantaviruses from Taphozous and Hipposideros bats revealed high nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities to prototype Láibīn virus (LAIV) and Xuân Sơn virus (XSV), respectively. Phylogenetic analyses, generated by maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods, showed a geographic clustering of LAIV strains from China and Myanmar, but not of XSV strains from China and Vietnam. These findings confirm that the black-bearded tomb bat is the natural reservoir of LAIV, and that more than one species of Hipposideros bats can host XSV.

Hantaviruses are harbored by multiple small mammal species in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. To ascertain the geographic distribution and virus-host relationships of rodent-borne hantaviruses in Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Madagascar, RNAlater™-preserved lung tissues of 981 rodents representing 40 species, collected in 2011–2017, were analyzed for hantavirus RNA by RT-PCR. Our data showed Hantaan orthohantavirus Da Bie Shan strain in the Chinese white-bellied rat (Niviventer confucianus) in Vietnam, Thailand; orthohantavirus Anjo strain in the black rat (Rattus rattus) in Madagascar; and Puumala orthohantavirus Hokkaido strain in the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) in Japan. The Hokkaido strain of Puumala virus was also detected in the large Japanese field mouse (Apodemus speciosus) and small Japanese field mouse (Apodemus argenteus), with evidence of host-switching as determined by co-phylogeny mapping.

Yellow house bats (Scotophilus) have been known for centuries as a widespread genus of vesper bats in the Indomalayan Region. Despite this, their taxonomic status and phylogeographical patterns remain unclear due to differing criteria employed by early taxonomists and inconsistencies between morphological and molecular assessments. To address these issues, we undertook a comparative phylogeographic analysis of Asian Scotophilus spp. using integrated genetic and morphological analyses of samples collected across the region. These demonstrate that yellow house bats in Asia can be classified into just two widespread species, namely the smaller S. kuhlii (e.g., FA ≤ 53.1 mm, GLS ≤ 20.18 mm) and the larger S. heathii (e.g., FA ≥ 53.4 mm, GLS ≥ 20.85 mm), which occur in sympatry in different parts of the Indomalayan Region. Although these two sympatric species share similar eco‐ethological preferences, they differ considerably in their geographic distributions and intraspecific variation in mtDNA sequences and morphological traits. These disparities were likely misinterpreted as indicating potential cryptic diversity in previous studies, whereas we suggest they are related to interspecific differences in sex‐biased gene flow and phenotypic plasticity to adapt to varying environments. Our study highlights the importance of using multiple datasets to resolve taxonomic uncertainties and reconstruct demographic and phylogeographic histories of sympatric species.