18-490: The golden bat ( Mimon bennettii ) is a bat species found in Brazil , Colombia , French Guiana , Guyana , Suriname and Venezuela . This article about a leaf-nosed bat is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bat (traditional): (present): Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera ( / k aɪ ˈ r ɒ p t ər ə / ). With their forelimbs adapted as wings , they are
36-523: A natural reservoir of many pathogens , such as rabies ; and since they are highly mobile, social, and long-lived, they can readily spread disease among themselves. If humans interact with bats, these traits become potentially dangerous to humans. Some bats are also predators of mosquitoes , suppressing the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases . Depending on the culture, bats may be symbolically associated with positive traits, such as protection from certain diseases or risks, rebirth, or long life, but in
54-973: A 2005 DNA study. A 2013 phylogenomic study supported the two new proposed suborders. Yangochiroptera (as above) [REDACTED] Pteropodidae (megabats) [REDACTED] Megadermatidae (false vampire bats) [REDACTED] horseshoe bats and allies [REDACTED] The 2003 discovery of an early fossil bat from the 52-million-year-old Green River Formation , Onychonycteris finneyi , indicates that flight evolved before echolocative abilities. Onychonycteris had claws on all five of its fingers, whereas modern bats have at most two claws on two digits of each hand. It also had longer hind legs and shorter forearms, similar to climbing mammals that hang under branches, such as sloths and gibbons . This palm-sized bat had short, broad wings, suggesting that it could not fly as fast or as far as later bat species. Instead of flapping its wings continuously while flying, Onychonycteris probably alternated between flaps and glides in
72-445: A shift from -k- to -t- (to Modern English bat ) influenced by Latin blatta , ' moth, nocturnal insect ' . The word bat was probably first used in the early 1570s. The name Chiroptera derives from Ancient Greek : χείρ – cheir , ' hand ' and πτερόν – pteron , ' wing ' . The delicate skeletons of bats do not fossilise well; it is estimated that only 12% of bat genera that lived have been found in
90-777: A sister taxon to odd-toed ungulates (Perissodactyla). Euarchontoglires (primates, treeshrews, rodents, rabbits) [REDACTED] Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, shrews, moles, solenodons) [REDACTED] Chiroptera (bats) [REDACTED] Pholidota (pangolins) [REDACTED] Carnivora (cats, hyenas, dogs, bears, seals, weasels) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Perissodactyla (horses, tapirs, rhinos) [REDACTED] Cetartiodactyla (camels, ruminants, whales) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The flying primate hypothesis proposed that when adaptations to flight are removed, megabats are allied to primates by anatomical features not shared with microbats and thus flight evolved twice in mammals. Genetic studies have strongly supported
108-1147: Is not believed to originate more than 23 mya. Pteropodidae (megabats) [REDACTED] Megadermatidae (false vampire bats) [REDACTED] Craseonycteridae (Kitti's hog-nosed bat) [REDACTED] Rhinopomatidae (mouse-tailed bats) [REDACTED] Hipposideridae (Old World leaf-nosed bats) [REDACTED] Rhinolophidae (horseshoe bats) [REDACTED] Miniopteridae (long winged bat) [REDACTED] Noctilionidae (fisherman bats) [REDACTED] Mormoopidae ( Pteronotus ) [REDACTED] Mystacinidae (New Zealand short-tailed bats) [REDACTED] Thyropteridae (disc-winged bats) Furipteridae [REDACTED] Mormoopidae ( Mormoops ) [REDACTED] Phyllostomidae (New World leaf-nosed bats) [REDACTED] Molossidae (free-tailed bats) [REDACTED] Emballonuridae (sac-winged bats) [REDACTED] Myzopodidae (sucker-footed bats) Emballonuridae ( Taphozous ) [REDACTED] Natalidae (funnel-eared bats) [REDACTED] Vespertilionidae (vesper bats) [REDACTED] Genetic evidence indicates that megabats originated during
126-399: The echolocating microbats . But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera , with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. Many bats are insectivores , and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example,
144-431: The flying foxes , with the giant golden-crowned flying fox ( Acerodon jubatus ) reaching a weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in). The second largest order of mammals after rodents , bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats , and
162-542: The monophyly of bats and the single origin of mammal flight. An independent molecular analysis trying to establish the dates when bat ectoparasites ( bedbugs ) evolved came to the conclusion that bedbugs similar to those known today (all major extant lineages, all of which feed primarily on bats) had already diversified and become established over 100 mya (i.e., long before the oldest records for bats, 52 mya), suggesting that they initially all evolved on non-bat hosts and "bats were colonized several times independently, unless
180-469: The vampire bats feed on blood . Most bats are nocturnal , and many roost in caves or other refuges; it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators . Bats are present throughout the world, with the exception of extremely cold regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds; many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services. Bats provide humans with some direct benefits, at
198-492: The West, bats are popularly associated with darkness, malevolence, witchcraft, vampires , and death. An older English name for bats is flittermouse , which matches their name in other Germanic languages (for example German Fledermaus and Swedish fladdermus ), related to the fluttering of wings. Middle English had bakke , most likely cognate with Old Swedish natbakka ( ' night-bat ' ), which may have undergone
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#1732782533449216-614: The air. This suggests that this bat did not fly as much as modern bats, but flew from tree to tree and spent most of its time climbing or hanging on branches. The distinctive features of the Onychonycteris fossil also support the hypothesis that mammalian flight most likely evolved in arboreal locomotors, rather than terrestrial runners. This model of flight development, commonly known as the "trees-down" theory, holds that bats first flew by taking advantage of height and gravity to drop down on to prey, rather than running fast enough for
234-563: The cost of some disadvantages. Bat dung has been mined as guano from caves and used as fertiliser. Bats consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides and other insect management measures. They are sometimes numerous enough and close enough to human settlements to serve as tourist attractions, and they are used as food across Asia and the Pacific Rim . However, fruit bats are frequently considered pests by fruit growers. Due to their physiology, bats are one type of animal that acts as
252-483: The early Eocene , and belong within the four major lines of microbats. Two new suborders have been proposed; Yinpterochiroptera includes the Pteropodidae , or megabat family, as well as the families Rhinolophidae , Hipposideridae , Craseonycteridae , Megadermatidae , and Rhinopomatidae . Yangochiroptera includes the other families of bats (all of which use laryngeal echolocation), a conclusion supported by
270-546: The evolutionary origin of bats has been grossly underestimated." Fleas , as a group, are quite old (most flea families formed around the end of the Cretaceous ), but no analyses have provided estimates for the age of the flea lineages associated with bats. The oldest known members of a different lineage of bat ectoparasites ( bat flies ), however, are from roughly 20 mya, well after the origin of bats. The bat-ectoparasitic earwig family Arixeniidae has no fossil record, but
288-491: The first fossil mammals whose colouration has been discovered: both were reddish-brown. Bats were formerly grouped in the superorder Archonta , along with the treeshrews (Scandentia), colugos (Dermoptera), and primates . Modern genetic evidence now places bats in the superorder Laurasiatheria , with its sister taxon as Ferungulata , which includes carnivorans , pangolins , odd-toed ungulates , even-toed ungulates , and cetaceans . One study places Chiroptera as
306-636: The fossil record. Most of the oldest known bat fossils were already very similar to modern microbats, such as Archaeopteropus (32 million years ago). The oldest known bat fossils include Archaeonycteris praecursor and Altaynycteris aurora (55-56 million years ago), both known only from isolated teeth. The oldest complete bat skeleton is Icaronycteris gunnelli (52 million years ago), known from two skeletons discovered in Wyoming. The extinct bats Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and Hassianycteris kumari , both of which lived 48 million years ago, are
324-446: The only mammals capable of true and sustained flight . Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium . The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal , is Kitti's hog-nosed bat , which is 29–34 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in length, 150 mm (5.9 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g (0.071–0.092 oz) in mass. The largest bats are
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