Chiroptera

Bats are winged mammals, the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, using long, spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and one of the smallest extant mammals, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–33 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in length, 150 mm (5.9 in) across the forearm and 2 g (0.071 oz) in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox reaching a weight of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.6 m.

Chiroptera

PD-USGov, exact author unknown · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
batPBDB
Sits inside
PlacentaliaPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 51 million years on record.

The record covers at least 51.1 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 1707 occurrencesEocene — about 223 of 1707 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 85 of 1707 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 288 of 1707 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 113 of 1707 occurrencesPleistocene — about 750 of 1707 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 5 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 13 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 13 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 13 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 13 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 11 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 12 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 12 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 19 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 22 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 37 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 43 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 21 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 19 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 18 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 14 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 11 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 11 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 8 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 19 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 34 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 34 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 34 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 48 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 33 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 34 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 36 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 71 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 136 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 913 occurrences51.1 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

1,707 occurrences of Chiroptera on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,707 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

139 formations

Villavieja — 3.28°N, 75.20°WVillavieja — 3.32°N, 75.13°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.17°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.14°WPerrière — 44.37°N, 1.73°EPerrière — 44.38°N, 1.43°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EChambi — 35.19°N, 8.65°ECambay Shale — 21.33°N, 72.98°ECambay Shale — 21.40°N, 73.08°EBannockburn — 44.91°S, 169.86°EBannockburn — 44.89°S, 169.84°EKanapoi — 2.37°N, 36.08°ECypress Hills — 50.20°N, 107.60°WCypress Hills — 50.00°N, 107.90°WCypress Hills — 49.57°N, 109.88°WCypress Hills — 49.60°N, 108.80°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 46.10°N, 103.30°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WChadron — 42.75°N, 103.65°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WPerriere — 44.35°N, 1.73°EAshawq — 17.06°N, 54.42°Efacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EValentine — 42.49°N, 98.11°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WLignites de Soissonais — 49.05°N, 4.00°ELignites de Soissonais — 49.08°N, 4.03°ELignites de Soissonais — 43.62°N, 5.75°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.35°S, 74.95°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WColombacci — 44.22°N, 11.77°EWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFriars — 32.94°N, 117.08°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WJebel Qatrani — 29.45°N, 30.58°EJebel Qatrani — 29.50°N, 30.50°EJebel Qatrani — 29.60°N, 30.88°EBirket Qarun — 29.60°N, 30.60°E"Sheep Pass" — 39.00°N, 114.10°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chiroptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 115 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,328 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chiroptera and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Chiroptera and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

4,131 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 710 sites for Chiroptera, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

481 references

Each of the 1,707 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 469 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Chiroptera

Credit
PD-USGov, exact author unknown
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPlacentalia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Blumenbach 1779)