Project 246: G. F. Gunnell, N. B. Simmons. 2005. Fossil Evidence and the Origin of Bats. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 12 (1/2):209-246.
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.Read the article »
Project DOI: 10.7934/P246, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P246
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 5249 Total media associated with cells: 0 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 204 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 499 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:204/0 |
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MorphoBank Project 246
MorphoBank Project 246
- Creation Date:
24 February 2009 - Publication Date:
17 November 2011 - Project views: 38023
- Media downloads: 1
- Matrix downloads: 29
Authors' Institutions
- University of Michigan
- American Museum of Natural History
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | media notes | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||||||
Nancy Simmons Project Administrator | 39 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 204 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5249 (5069, 0, 180) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M631' (35 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] Tupaia Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 14 | 169 | 169 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[2] Cynocephalus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 18 | 171 | 171 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[3] Erinaceus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 94 | 91 | 91 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[4] Sus Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 97 | 89 | 89 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[5] Felis Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 51 | 131 | 131 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[6] New green river bat Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 155 | 49 | 48 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[7] Icaronycteris Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 127 | 77 | 76 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[8] Pteropodidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 1 | 205 | 200 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[9] Archaeonycteris Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 139 | 64 | 64 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[10] Tanzanycteris Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 181 | 26 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[11] Hassianycteris Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 138 | 66 | 65 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[12] Palaeochiropteryx Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 122 | 81 | 81 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[13] Emballonuridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 13 | 192 | 186 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[14] Rhinopomatidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 23 | 179 | 178 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[15] Craseonycteridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 71 | 128 | 128 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[16] Nycteridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 22 | 178 | 177 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[17] Megadermatidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 15 | 187 | 187 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[18] Rhinolophidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 17 | 188 | 183 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[19] Hipposideridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 20 | 192 | 180 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[20] Phyllostomidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 0 | 205 | 200 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[21] Mormoopidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 22 | 181 | 179 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[22] Noctilionidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 13 | 186 | 186 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[23] Mystacinidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 63 | 140 | 139 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[24] Myzopodidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 70 | 131 | 131 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[25] Thyropteridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 34 | 168 | 167 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[26] Furipteridae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 61 | 142 | 141 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[27] Natalidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 29 | 173 | 173 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[28] Antrozoidae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 50 | 153 | 152 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[29] Tomopeatinae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 72 | 129 | 129 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[30] Molossinae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 5 | 200 | 197 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[31] Vespertilioninae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 8 | 196 | 193 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[32] Minopterinae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 53 | 146 | 146 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[33] Myotinae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 12 | 190 | 190 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[34] Murininae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 67 | 133 | 133 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
[35] Kerivoulinae Last Modified in 12/05/13 | 68 | 133 | 133 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 38023 | |
Project overview | 3713 | |
Matrix views | 2721 | Matrix landing page (2326 views); Simmons & Gunnell (2005) (395 views); |
Media views | 6736 | Media search (5694 views); M95839 (1042 views); |
Taxon list | 18291 | |
Specimen list | 3447 | |
Bibliography | 3108 | |
Documents list | 7 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 387 | |
Matrix downloads | 29 | Simmons & Gunnell (2005) (29 downloads); |
Project downloads | 357 | |
Media downloads | 1 | M95839 (1 download); |