Microchiroptera

Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera (bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera and other features; molecular evidence suggests a somewhat different subdivision, as the microbats have been shown to be a paraphyletic group.

Microchiroptera

Dave Bunnell / Under Earth Images · CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
Sits inside
MicrochiropteramorphaPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Chiroptera
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 45.9 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 0 of 24 occurrencesEocene — about 14 of 24 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 24 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 24 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 24 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 24 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 4 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences45.9 Mya129 ka57 Mya0 Mya

24 occurrences of Microchiroptera on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

24 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

14 formations

Creechbarrow Limestone — 50.65°N, 2.12°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WPozo — 7.35°S, 74.95°W"Sheep Pass" — 39.00°N, 114.10°WAycross — 43.70°N, 108.70°WTepee Trail — 43.20°N, 108.20°WChadron — 42.00°N, 104.20°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WGrange Burn — 37.70°S, 141.95°ESagantole — 10.52°N, 40.47°EAshawq — 17.06°N, 54.42°EHouldjin — 42.00°N, 112.00°EUlan Gocho — 42.63°N, 111.35°EHedi — 34.80°N, 111.91°E

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The named rock units Microchiroptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Microchiroptera and its relatives

Eocene

Where Microchiroptera and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

648 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Microchiroptera, and this reads all 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

16 references

Each of the 24 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. 4 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 content1

Picture of Microchiroptera

Credit
Dave Bunnell / Under Earth Images
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Microchiroptera was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itMicrochiropteramorpha through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Dobson 1875