NDLI: Fossil Evidence and the Origin of Bats

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Gunnell, Gregg F. Simmons, Nancy B.
Copyright Year	2005
Abstract	The phylogenetic and geographic origins of bats (Chiroptera) remain unknown. The earliest confirmed records of bats date from the early Eocene (approximately 51 Ma) in North America with other early Eocene bat taxa also being represented from Europe, Africa, and Australia. Where known, skeletons of these early taxa indicate that many of the anatomical specializations characteristic of bats had already been achieved by the early Eocene, including forelimb and manus elongation in conjunction with structural changes in the pectoral skeleton, hind limb reorientation, and the presence of rudimentary echolocating abilities. By the middle Eocene, the diversification of bats was well underway with many modern families being represented among fossil forms. A new phylogenetic analysis indicates that several early fossil bats are consecutive sister taxa to the extant crown group (including megabats), and suggests a single origin for the order, at least by the late Paleocene. Although morphological studies have long placed bats in the Grandorder Archonta, (along with primates dermopterans, and tree shrews), recent molecular studies have refuted this hypothesis, instead strongly supporting placement of bats in Laurasiatheria. Primitively, proto-bats were likely insectivorous, under-branch hangers and elementary gliders that exploited terminal branch habitats. Recent work has indicated that a number of other mammalian groups began to exploit similar arboreal, terminal branch habitats in the Paleocene, including multituberculates, eulipotyphlans, dermopterans, and plesiadapiforms. This may offer an ecological explanation for morphological convergences that led to the erroneous inclusion of bats within Archonta: ancestral archontan groups as well as proto-bats apparently were exploiting similar arboreal habitats, which may have led to concurrent development of homoplasic morphological attributes.
Starting Page	209
Ending Page	246
Page Count	38
File Format	PDF
ISSN	10647554
Journal	Journal of Mammalian Evolution
Volume Number	12
Issue Number	1-2
e-ISSN	15737055
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers
Publisher Date	2005-01-01
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	bats phylogeny origins Chiroptera Archonta Lipotyphla Paleocene Human Genetics Evolutionary Biology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
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9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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