MSGID: 1:317/3 6438d6e7   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Oldest bat skeletons ever found described from Wyoming fossils    
    52-million-year-old fossils support idea that bats diversified rapidly on   
   multiple continents during the Eocene    
      
     Date:   
         April 13, 2023   
     Source:   
         American Museum of Natural History   
     Summary:   
         Scientists have described a new species of bat based on the oldest   
         bat skeletons ever recovered. The study on the extinct bat, which   
         lived in Wyoming about 52 million years ago, supports the idea that   
         bats diversified rapidly on multiple continents during this time.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Scientists have described a new species of bat based on the oldest   
   bat skeletons ever recovered. The study on the extinct bat, which   
   lived in Wyoming about 52 million years ago, supports the idea that   
   bats diversified rapidly on multiple continents during this time. Led   
   by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History and Naturalis   
   Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, the study is published today in   
   the journal PLOS ONE.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   There are more than 1,460 living species of bats found in nearly every   
   part of the world, with the exception of the polar regions and a few   
   remote islands. In the Green River Formation of Wyoming -- a remarkable   
   fossil deposit from the early Eocene -- scientists have uncovered over   
   30 bat fossils in the last 60 years, but until now they were all thought   
   represent the same two species.   
      
   "Eocene bats have been known from the Green River Formation since   
   the 1960s.   
      
   But interestingly, most specimens that have come out of that formation   
   were identified as representing a single species, Icaronycteris index,   
   up until about 20 years ago, when a second bat species belonging to   
   another genus was discovered," said study co-author Nancy Simmons,   
   curator-in-charge of the Museum's Department of Mammalogy, who helped   
   describe that second species in 2008. "I always suspected that there   
   must be even more species there."  In recent years, scientists from the   
   Naturalis Biodiversity Center started looking closely at Icaronycteris   
   index by collecting measurements and other data from museum specimens.   
      
   "Paleontologists have collected so many bats that have been identified   
   as Icaronycteris index, and we wondered if there were actually multiple   
   species among these specimens," said Tim Rietbergen, an evolutionary   
   biologist at Naturalis. "Then we learned about a new skeleton that   
   diverted our attention."  The exceptionally well-preserved skeleton was   
   collected by a private collector in 2017 and purchased by the Museum. When   
   researchers compared the fossil to Rietbergen's expansive dataset, it   
   clearly stood out as a new species. A second fossil skeleton discovered   
   in the same quarry in 1994 and in the collections of the Royal Ontario   
   Museum was also identified as this new species. The researchers gave   
   these fossils the species name Icaronycteris gunnelliin honor of Gregg   
   Gunnell, a Duke University paleontologist who died in 2017 and made   
   extensive contributions to the understanding of fossil bats and evolution.   
      
   Although there are fossil bat teeth from Asia that are slightly older,   
   the two I. gunnelli fossils represent the oldest bat skeletons ever found.   
      
   "The Fossil Lake deposits of the Green River Formation are simply amazing   
   because the conditions that created the paper-thin limestone layers also   
   preserved nearly everything that settled to the lake's bottom," said Arvid   
   Aase, park manager and curator at the Fossil Butte National Monument,   
   in Wyoming. "One of these bat specimens was found lower in the section   
   than all other bats, making this species older than any of the other bat   
   species recovered from this deposit."  While the I. gunnelli skeletons are   
   the oldest bat fossils from this site, they are not the most primitive,   
   supporting the idea that Green River bats evolved separately from other   
   Eocene bats around the world.   
      
   "This is a step forward in understanding what happened in terms of   
   evolution and diversity back in the early days of bats," Simmons said.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # New_Species # Endangered_Animals # Evolutionary_Biology   
                   # Wild_Animals   
             o Fossils_&_Ruins   
                   # Fossils # Ancient_DNA # Evolution # Paleontology   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Bat o Homo_(genus) o Ichthyosaur o Mammoth o   
             Endangered_species o Homo_habilis o Rodent o Dinosaur   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   American_Museum_of_Natural_History. Note: Content may be edited for   
   style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Tim B. Rietbergen, Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende, Arvid Aase,   
      Matthew F.   
      
         Jones, Edward D. Medeiros, Nancy B. Simmons. The oldest known   
         bat skeletons and their implications for Eocene chiropteran   
         diversification.   
      
         PLOS ONE, 2023; 18 (4): e0283505 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283505   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230413011801.htm   
      
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