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A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and palaeobiology of early bats

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Abstract

Fragmentary remains of an Eocene bat are described from the middle Eocene Lülük Member of the Uzunçarşidere Formation on the Pontide terrane, in what is now north-central Anatolia. The new taxon most closely resembles the palaeochiropterygids Lapichiropteryx and Stehlinia in terms of its known dental morphology, and it is referred to the stem chiropteran family Palaeochiropterygidae on this basis. Geological and palaeontological data indicate that the Pontide terrane was an island situated along the northern margin of Neotethys during the middle Eocene. The presence of a late-surviving stem chiropteran in an island context potentially illuminates dispersal patterns and capabilities among the earliest bats, which already enjoyed a nearly global distribution by the early Eocene. Other palaeochiropterygids for which postcranial material is known share little in common with extant bats that are capable of long-range dispersal across open water. The new Turkish bat taxon is consistent with a hypothetical dispersal corridor between Western Europe and India via islands on the northern margin of Neotethys and suggests a larger range of skeletal and locomotor variation within Palaeochiropterygidae than is currently recognised.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Megan Sims (University of Kansas) and Belkasim Khameiss (Ball State University) for picking and sorting through screen-washed residue from the UCF, Megan Mueller (University of Washington) and Clay Campbell (University of Kansas) for assistance and camaraderie in the field, and Oscar Sanisidro (University of Kansas) for help in compiling the figures. Amy Henrici (Carnegie Museum of Natural History) provided access to comparative specimens of Stehlinia and Xijun Ni (Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology & Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) provided access to specimens of Lapichiropteryx. We thank Suzanne Hand, Thierry Smith, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.

Funding

This study received financial support from National Science Foundation grant EAR-1543684, INSU-2011 CT4 Interrvie, Action Transversale Muséum (2012), the David B. Jones Foundation, and the National Geographic Society.

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  1. Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Matthew F. Jones, Pauline M. C. Coster & K. Christopher Beard

  2. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Matthew F. Jones & K. Christopher Beard

  3. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Alexis Licht

  4. CR2P, Paléobiodiversité et Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207 (CNRS, MNHN, UPMC), Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 75005, Paris, France

    Grégoire Métais

  5. Department of Geological Engineering, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Faruk Ocakoğlu

  6. Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Michael H. Taylor

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Jones, M.F., Coster, P.M.C., Licht, A. et al. A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and palaeobiology of early bats. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 99, 261–269 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0338-z

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