Hassianycteris
Appearance
Hassianycteris Temporal range: Early Eocene,
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Specimen of H. messelensis from the Messel Pit of Germany | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Chiroptera |
(unranked): | Microchiropteramorpha |
Family: | †Hassianycterididae |
Genus: | †Hassianycteris Smith & Storch, 1981 |
Species | |
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Hassianycteris is an extinct genus of Early Eocene (Ypresian) to Middle Eocene (Lutetian) bats from the Hassianycterididae with four or five known species: the type (H. messelensis), H. magna, and H. revilliodi, all found in the Messel pit, Germany,[1][2][3] H. kumari, found in the Cambay Shale Formation (Vastan Lignite Mine), India,[4] and the possible fifth species "H." joeli, found in the Kortijk Clay Formation, Belgium,[5] which may instead belong to Onychonycteridae.[3] The Messel bats Palaeochiropteryx and Hassianycteris (alive roughly 48 million years ago) are the first fossil mammals whose colouration has been discovered: both were reddish-brown when alive.[6][7]
References
[edit]- ^ Smith, J.D. Storch, G. (1981): New Middle Eocene bats from “Grube Messel” near Darmstadt, W-Germany. Senckenbergiana biologica, 61 (3/4): 153-167.
- ^ Richter, G. & Storch, G. (1980): Beiträge zur Ernährungsbiologie eozäner Fledermäuse aus der "Grube Messel". Natur und Museum, 110 (12), p. 353-367
- ^ a b Smith, Thierry; Habersetzer, Jörg; Simmons, Nancy B.; Gunnell, Gregg F. (2012), Gunnell, Gregg F.; Simmons, Nancy B. (eds.), "Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats", Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules and Morphology, Cambridge Studies in Morphology and Molecules: New Paradigms in Evolutionary Bio, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 23–66, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139045599.003, ISBN 978-0-521-76824-5, retrieved 2024-01-23
- ^ T. Smith, R. S. Rana, P. Missiaen, K. D. Rose, A. Sahni, H. Singh, and L. Singh. 2007. High bat (Chiroptera) diversity in the Early Eocene of India. Naturwissenschaften 94(12):1003-1009
- ^ T. Smith and R. Smith. 2003. Terrestrial mammals as biostratigraphic indicators in upper Paleocene-lower Eocene marine deposits of the southern North Sea Basin. Geological Society of America Special Paper 369:513-520
- ^ "Paleontologists Determine Original Color of Extinct Bats". SciNews. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
- ^ Colleary, C.; Dolocanc, A.; Gardnerd, J.; Singha, Suresh; Wuttkee, M. (2015). "Chemical, experimental, and morphological evidence for diagenetically altered melanin in exceptionally preserved fossils". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 112 (41): 12592–12597. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11212592C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1509831112. PMC 4611652. PMID 26417094.