Archaeonycteridae
| Archaeonycteridae Temporal range: Ypresian to Lutetian (Middle Eocene) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Archaeonycteris fossil from the Natural History Museum of Milan | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| (unranked): | Microchiropteramorpha |
| Family: | †Archaeonycteridae (Revilliod, 1917) |
| Type genus | |
| †Archaeonycteris Revilliod, 1917 | |
| Genera[1] | |
|
See text. | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Archaeonycterididae Revilliod, 1917 | |
Archaeonycteridae (formerly spelled Archaeonycterididae) is a family of extinct bats. It was originally erected by the Swiss naturalist Pierre Revilliod as Archaeonycterididae to hold the genus Archaeonycteris. It was formerly classified under the superfamily Icaronycteroidea (disused) by Kurten and Anderson in 1980. In 2007, the spelling was corrected to Archaeonycteridae and it was reclassified to the unranked clade Microchiropteramorpha by Smith et al..[1][2] The family Palaeochiropterygidae was also merged into Archaeonycteridae by Kurten and Anderson, but modern authorities specializing in bat fossils maintain the distinction between the two.[3][4]
They existed from the Ypresian to the Lutetian ages of the Middle Eocene epoch (55.8 to 40.4 million years ago).[1]
Genera
It contains four genera. The following list may be incomplete or inaccurate:[1]
- †Archaeonycteris Revilliod, 1917
- †Archaeonycteris trigonodon Revilliod, 1917 - Messel Pit (Lutetian), Germany
- †Archaeonycteris pollex Storch & Habersetzer, 1988 - Messel Pit (Lutetian), Germany
- †Archaeonycteris brailloni Russell et al., 1973 - Avenay quarry (Ypresian), France
- †Archaeonycteris storchi Smith et al., 2007 - Vastan Lignite Mines (Ypresian), India
- †Australonycteris Hand, Novacek, Godthelp & Archer, 1994
- †Australonycteris clarkae Hand, Novacek, Godthelp & Archer, 1994 - Murgon fossil site (Ypresian), Australia
- †Matthesia Smith and Storch 1981
- †Protonycteris Smith et al., 2007
- †Protonycteris gunnelli Smith et al., 2007 - Vastan Lignite Mine (Ypresian), India
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Archaeonycteridae". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
- ↑ Nancy B. Simmons & Tenley Conway (1998). "Higher-level Classification of Bats". Tree of Life web project. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ↑ "Palaeochiropterygidae". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ↑ Thierry Smith, Rajendra S. Rana, Pieter Missiaen, Kenneth D. Rose, Ashok Sahni, Hukam Singh, & Lachham Singh (2007). "High bat (Chiroptera) diversity in the Early Eocene of India". Naturwissenschaften (Springer-Verlag) 94: 1003–1009. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0280-9. PMID 17671774. Retrieved May 19, 2011.