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Mystacinid bats (Microchiroptera) from the Australian Tertiary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

S. J. Hand ,
P. Murray ,
D. Megirian ,
M. Archer  and
H. Godthelp
S. J. Hand
Affiliation:
1School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
P. Murray
Affiliation:
2Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, GPO Box 2109, Alice Springs, Northern Territory 0871, Australia
D. Megirian
Affiliation:
3Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, PO Box 4646, Darwin, Northern Territory 0801, Australia
M. Archer
Affiliation:
1School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
H. Godthelp
Affiliation:
1School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
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Abstract

A new genus and three new species of the microchiropteran family Mystacinidae are described from Miocene freshwater limestones in northern Australia. The type species, Icarops breviceps new genus and species, is from the middle Miocene Bullock Creek deposit, Northern Territory; I. aenae new species and I. paradox new species are from the slightly older (early Miocene) Wayne's Wok and Neville's Garden Sites at Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Fossil mystacinids are rare in each deposit and represented so far only by lower teeth and dentary fragments. They are characterized by a suite of apomorphies shared only with Quaternary mystacinids endemic to New Zealand. The family Mystacinidae has no pre-Pleistocene record and its relationships to other groups of bats remain unclear. Possible sister-groups include South American noctilionoids and the cosmopolitan molossoids and/or vespertilionoids. The presence of plesiomorphic mystacinids in the Australian Tertiary suggests an Australian origin for the family.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , May 1998 , pp. 538 - 545
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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