Project 4407: S. J. Hand, J. Maugoust, R. M. Beck, M. J. Orliac. 2023. A 50-million-year-old, three-dimensionally preserved bat skull supports an early origin for modern echolocation. Current Biology. epub ahead of print:none yet.
Abstract
Bats are among the most recognizable, numerous, and widespread of all mammals. But much of their fossil record is missing, and bat origins remain poorly understood, as do the relationships of early to modern bats. Here, we describe a new early Eocene bat that helps bridge the gap between archaic stem bats and the hyperdiverse modern bat radiation of more than 1,460 living species. Recovered from ∼50 million-year-old cave sediments in the Quercy Phosphorites of southwestern France, Vielasia sigei’s remains include a near-complete, three-dimensionally preserved skull—the oldest uncrushed bat cranium yet found. Phylogenetic analyses of a 2,665 craniodental character matrix, with and without 36.8 kb of DNA sequence data, place Vielasia outside modern bats, with total evidence tip-dating placing it sister to the crown clade. Vielasia retains the archaic dentition and skeletal features typical of early Eocene bats, but its inner ear shows specializations found in modern echolocating bats. These features, which include a petrosal only loosely attached to the basicranium, an expanded cochlea representing ∼25% basicranial width, and a long basilar membrane, collectively suggest that the kind of laryngeal echolocation used by most modern bats predates the crown radiation. At least 23 individuals of V. sigei are preserved together in a limestone cave deposit, indicating that cave roosting behavior had evolved in bats by the end of the early Eocene; this period saw the beginning of significant global climate cooling that may have been an evolutionary driver for bats to first congregate in caves.Read the article »
Article DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.043
Project DOI: 10.7934/P4407, http://dx.doi.org/10.7934/P4407
This project contains | Matrices |
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Download Project SDD File | Total scored cells: 43428 Total media associated with cells: 0 Total labels associated with cell media: 0 |
Characters | |
Total characters: 2665 Total characters with associated media: 0 Total characters with media with labels: 0 Total character states: 6207 Total character states with associated media: 0 Total character states with media with labels:0 Total unordered/ordered characters:2665/0 |
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MorphoBank Project 4407
MorphoBank Project 4407
- Creation Date:
15 September 2022 - Publication Date:
18 October 2023 - Project views: 1886
- Matrix downloads: 8
Authors' Institutions
- Universite de Montpellier
- University of New South Wales
- University of Salford
Members
member name | taxa | specimens | media | chars | character
| cell scorings (scored, NPA, "-") | cell
| rules | ||||||
Robin Beck Project Administrator | 30 | 0 | 0 | 2665 | 0 | 0 | 43428 (30271, 0, 13157) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Suzanne Hand Full membership | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (0, 0, 0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Taxonomic Overview for Matrix 'M28978' (30 Taxa)
taxon | unscored cells |
scored cells |
no cell support |
NPA cells |
"-" cells | cell images | labels on cell images |
member access |
[1] Maelestes gobiensis Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 896 | 1321 | 1319 | 0 | 450 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[2] Ukhaatherium nessovi Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1006 | 1206 | 1205 | 0 | 454 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[3] Zalambdalestes lechei Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 679 | 1530 | 1524 | 0 | 462 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[4] Solenodon paradoxus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 28 | 1883 | 1866 | 0 | 771 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[5] Erinaceus europaeus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 34 | 1814 | 1809 | 0 | 822 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[6] Sorex araneus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 54 | 1530 | 1528 | 0 | 1083 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[7] Protungulatum donnae Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1540 | 870 | 870 | 0 | 255 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[8] Vulpavus profectus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 836 | 1382 | 1379 | 0 | 450 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[9] Pteropus giganteus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 33 | 1370 | 1369 | 0 | 1263 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[10] Rhinopoma hardwickii Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 315 | 1542 | 1540 | 0 | 810 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[11] Saccopteryx bilineata Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 324 | 1575 | 1574 | 0 | 767 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[12] Nycteris thebaica Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 320 | 1495 | 1495 | 0 | 850 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[13] Myotis lucifugus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 269 | 1509 | 1508 | 0 | 888 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[14] Pteronotus parnellii Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 425 | 1544 | 1541 | 0 | 699 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[15] Icaronycteris index Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1019 | 1231 | 1226 | 0 | 420 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[16] Onychonycteris finneyi Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1317 | 973 | 963 | 0 | 385 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[17] Vielasia sigei Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 802 | 1373 | 1366 | 0 | 497 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[18] Archaeonycteris trigonodon Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1579 | 837 | 833 | 0 | 253 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[19] Archaeonycteris brailloni Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2037 | 482 | 476 | 0 | 152 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[20] Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1519 | 887 | 883 | 0 | 263 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[21] Hassianycteris messelensis Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1645 | 772 | 768 | 0 | 252 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[22] Honrovits tsuwape Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 1858 | 562 | 557 | 0 | 250 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[23] Ageina tobieni Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2167 | 397 | 394 | 0 | 104 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[24] Honrovits joeli Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2429 | 173 | 171 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[25] Eppsinycteris anglica Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2169 | 388 | 385 | 0 | 111 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[26] Microchiropteryx foliae Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2488 | 151 | 151 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[27] Protonycteris gunnelli Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2172 | 397 | 392 | 0 | 101 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[28] Cambaya complexus Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2200 | 367 | 367 | 0 | 98 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[29] Icaronycteris sigei Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2157 | 414 | 407 | 0 | 101 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
[30] Archaeonycteris storchi Last Modified in 09/15/22 | 2324 | 296 | 286 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Project views
type | number of views | Individual items viewed (where applicable) |
Total project views | 1886 | |
Project overview | 192 | |
Media views | 403 | Media search (346 views); M892533 (57 views); |
Matrix views | 125 | Matrix landing page (111 views); Morphological matrix from "A 50-million-year-old, three-dimensionally preserved bat skull supports an early origin for modern echolocation" (14 views); |
Views for media list | 122 | |
Specimen list | 195 | |
Taxon list | 774 | |
Bibliography | 72 | |
Documents list | 3 |
Project downloads
type | number of downloads | Individual items downloaded (where applicable) |
Total downloads from project | 9 | |
Project downloads | 1 | |
Matrix downloads | 8 | Morphological matrix from "A 50-million-year-old, three-dimensionally preserved bat skull supports an early origin for modern echolocation" (8 downloads); |