New bat and bird species discovered by DNA research

From LiveScience:

Freaky New Bats Found by DNA Barcoding

By Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer

posted: 18 February 2007

Most species on Earth, including a number of bats, still fly under the radar of scientists, but a high-tech method that identifies animal species based on a snippet of DNA is starting to weed out concealed organisms.

Two studies detailed in the current issue of the journal Molecular Ecology Notes found the method, called DNA barcoding, can reveal entire assemblages of species, including new genetically distinct bird and bat species.

One of the newly discovered bat species feasts on frogs. All of them are freakish looking in that uniquely bat way.

…

The bat profiles revealed six new species, while the bird barcodes showed 15 genetically distinct flyers.

The approach even unmasked look-alikes of the solitary sandpiper, a shorebird thought to comprise just one species.

The DNA digits revealed the group as two separate species.

See also here.