Bats are evolved mysteries. This fossil can fill a part of the puzzle

Bats are evolved mysteries. This fossil can fill a part of the puzzle


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The bats of bats, 52 million years ago, found in the ancient lake beds in Wyoming, are the oldest bats that have been discovered so far. And they reveal new species.

Tim Rite Bargen, an evolutionary biologist at Naturis Biological Diversity in Leiden, the Netherlands, has previously identified unknown bat species when measuring and other data from a museum specimen.

“This new study is one step ahead to understand what happened from the evolution and diversity perspective in the early days of bats,” he said.

Today, more than 1,400 living bat species have been found around the world, except for polar land. However, how the creatures have evolved are not well understood because they are the only mammals that can fly driven.

Born’s fossil records were spots, and the two fossils specified as new species were lucky discoveries. It is very well preserved and clarifies the complete skeleton of animals containing teeth.

“Bats’ skeletons are small, light and vulnerable, and are not very good for fossilization processes. They just save them well.”

The newly discovered extinct bat species — Icaronycteris Gunnelli- was not so different from the bats that flew today. The teeth revealed that they live in insect meals. It was small, weighed only 25 grams (0.88 oz).

“If it folds his wings next to the body, it will easily fit in your hands. The wings are relatively short, spacious, and reflect a blurred flight style,” says RieTbergen. Say.

This specific bat lived when the weather was warm and the humidity was high. The two skeletons studied by Rietbergen have survived a long life because the creatures fell into the lake, placed in a place where the predator is out of reach, and put them in an environment that further promotes fossilization. Ancient lake beds are part of the green river layer of the Wyoming, creating many bat fossils.

One of the two fossils was collected by a private collector in 2017 and purchased by the American Natural History Museum. The other belonged to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and was discovered in 1994.

This study was published in Scientific Journal Plos ONE on wednesday.

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