A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and palaeobiology of early bats
Résumé
Fragmentary remains of an Eocene bat are described from the middle Eocene Lülük Member of the Uzunçarşidere Formation on
the Pontide terrane, in what is now north-central Anatolia. The new taxon most closely resembles the palaeochiropterygids
Lapichiropteryx and Stehlinia in terms of its known dental morphology, and it is referred to the stem chiropteran family
Palaeochiropterygidae on this basis. Geological and palaeontological data indicate that the Pontide terrane was an island situated
along the northern margin of Neotethys during the middle Eocene. The presence of a late-surviving stem chiropteran in an island
context potentially illuminates dispersal patterns and capabilities among the earliest bats, which already enjoyed a nearly global
distribution by the early Eocene. Other palaeochiropterygids for which postcranial material is known share little in common with
extant bats that are capable of long-range dispersal across open water. The new Turkish bat taxon is consistent with a hypothetical
dispersal corridor betweenWestern Europe and India via islands on the northern margin of Neotethys and suggests a larger range
of skeletal and locomotor variation within Palaeochiropterygidae than is currently recognised.