A new archaic bat (Chiroptera: Archaeonycteridae) from an Early Eocene forest in the Paris Basin

AbstractA new Early Eocene bat is described from dental remains recovered from the locality of Premontre in the Paris Basin, northern France. It is referred to the extinct family Archaeonycteridae, whose members are among the oldest and dentally most plesiomorphic bats. The new archaeonycterid is part of the diverse Premontre mammal fauna of the late Ypresian (MP10; 50 Ma) which includes a suite of archaic mammals as well as early representatives of modern mammal families. Like other archaeonycterids, this bat may have been an insectivorous perch hunter in paratropical forests that extended into high latitudes during the Early and Middle Eocene. Archaeonycterids disappear from the fossil record after the Middle Eocene, along with many other archaic mammal groups, probably in response to significant changes in climate and habitats as well as competition from crown group bats possibly better adapted to less predictable conditions.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:194C2A09-77A6-460C-93E2-017362FD0DC3