Onychonycteris

Onychonycteris Temporal range: 52.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Early Eocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Onychonycteridae
Genus:	Onychonycteris
Species:	O. finneyi
Binomial name
Onychonycteris finneyi Simmons, Seymour, Habersetzer, and Gunnell 2008

Onychonycteris is the most primitive of the two oldest known monospecific genera of bat, having lived in the area that is current day Wyoming during the Eocene period, 52.5 million years ago.

History and description

Two specimens of Onychonycteris were found in the Green River Formation in 2003, and placed in a new family when the discovery was published in Nature, in February 2008.^[1] Onychonycteris occurs alongside Icaronycteris index, previously thought to be the most primitive known bat species.^[2] Onychonycteris was unique among bats in that it had claws on all five fingers, as opposed to two or three in all other known species,^[3] hence Onychonycteris meaning "clawed bat". The specific epithet is a tribute to the fossil prospector and preparator who discovered it, Bonnie Finney.^[1]

Flight vs. echolocation

Onychonycteris finneyi was the strongest evidence so far in the debate on whether bats developed echolocation before or after they evolved the ability to fly. O. finneyi had well-developed wings, and could clearly fly, but lacked the enlarged cochlea of all extant echolocating bats, closer resembling the old world fruit bats which do not echolocate.^[1] This indicates that early bats could fly before they could echolocate.^[4]

However, a study in 2010 has also uncovered evidence for other bone structures indicative of laryngeal echolocation, opposing the conclusions of the previous study by showing that Onychonycteris finneyi did possess the ability to echolocate after all.^[5] They did acknowledge that the fossil itself has been flattened by the fossilization process (a 'pancake fossil'), and thus it was difficult to ascertain the exact bone structure and configuration, a fact that still casts a degree of uncertainty on the results of both studies.^[6]

It is unknown whether Onychonycteris had the large eyes of most nocturnal animals as specimens with intact eye sockets have yet to be found.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Nancy B. Simmons; Kevin L. Seymour; Jorg Habersetzer; Gregg F. Gunnell (2008). "Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation". Nature 451 (7180): 818–21. doi:10.1038/nature06549. PMID 18270539. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7180/abs/nature06549.html. 
2. ^ Editors Summary (14 February 2008). "Flight First". Nature 451 (7180). http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7180/edsumm/e080214-01.html. 
3. ^ Chang, Kenneth (February 14, 2008). "Primitive Bats Took to the Wing, but They Didn’t Have That Ping". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/science/earth/14bats.html?ref=science. Retrieved 2009-06-11. 
4. ^ Moskowitz, Clara (February 22, 2008). "Early Bats Flew Without Navigation". LiveScience. http://www.livescience.com/animals/080213-first-bat.html. Retrieved 2009-06-11. 
5. ^ Nina Veselka, David D. McErlain, David W. Holdsworth, Judith L. Eger, Rethy K. Chhem, Matthew J. Mason, Kirsty L. Brain, Paul A. Faure & M. Brock Fenton (2010). "A bony connection signals laryngeal echolocation in bats". Nature (Nature Publishing Group) 463 (7283): 939–942. doi:10.1038/nature08737. ISSN 0028-0836. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7283/full/nature08737.html. Retrieved May 17, 2011. 
6. ^ Cristen Conger (May 14, 2010). "Researchers battle over bats’ ability to ‘see’". Discovery News. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156174/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/researchers-battle-over-bats-ability-see/. Retrieved May 17, 2011. 

Paleontology portal