Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation.

Bats (Chiroptera) represent one of the largest and most diverse radiations of mammals, accounting for one-fifth of extant species. Although recent studies unambiguously support bat monophyly and consensus is rapidly emerging about evolutionary relationships among extant lineages, the fossil record of bats extends over 50 million years, and early evolution of the group remains poorly understood. Here we describe a new bat from the Early Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming, USA, with features that are more primitive than seen in any previously known bat. The evolutionary pathways that led to flapping flight and echolocation in bats have been in dispute, and until now fossils have been of limited use in documenting...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Nature, Nature Publishing Group, Wyoming, animal physiology, chiroptera, All tags... cochlea, echolocation, extremities, flight, fossils, phylogeny, Fewer tags