Icarops

Icarops is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic genus of mystacine bat with three described species. The genus is known from fossils found at Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, and Bullock Creek, Northern Territories, Australia. The fossils date from the late Oligocene to early Miocene.[1]

Icarops
Temporal range: Late Oligocene to Early Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Mystacinidae
Genus: †Icarops
Hand et al., 1998[1]
Type species
Icarops paradox
Species
  • Icarops aenae
  • Icarops breviceps
  • Icarops paradox [2]

The name was derived from a figure of Greek mythology, Icarus, who the authors noted, "flew towards the sun, in reference to the ancient mystacinid that flew eastwards from Australia to New Zealand".[1]

A study describing the genus Vulcanops renders Icarops paraphyletic towards the rest of Mystacinidae, with I. paradox being closer to New Zealand mystacines than to other Australian mystacines, which form an independent clade.[3]

The described species are

  • Icarops
  • Icarops aenae
  • Icarops breviceps
  • Icarops paradox

Terrestriality

Like its modern relatives, the Mystacina short-tailed bats, Icarops shows adaptations to foraging on the ground. This is in spite of occurring alongside various terrestrial tetrapods, including other mammals such as marsupials and monotremes. This shows that the terrestrial habits of mystacines did not evolve due to lack of competition with other mammals in New Zealand, predating the island's colonisation and having evolved on mainland Australia.[4]

References
  1. Hand, S.J.; et al. (1998). "Mystacinid Bats (Microchiroptera) from the Australian Tertiary". Journal of Paleontology. 72 (3): 538–545. JSTOR 1306652.
  2. Mikko's Phylogeny Archive Yangochiroptera. Accessed 2008-01-11
  3. Hand, Suzanne J.; Beck, Robin M. D.; Archer, Michael; Simmons, Nancy B.; Gunnell, Gregg F.; Scofield, R. Paul; Tennyson, Alan J. D.; De Pietri, Vanesa L.; Salisbury, Steven W.; Worthy, Trevor H. (10 January 2018). "A new, large-bodied omnivorous bat (Noctilionoidea: Mystacinidae) reveals lost morphological and ecological diversity since the Miocene in New Zealand". Scientific Reports. 8 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18403-w. PMC 5762892. PMID 29321543.
  4. Hand, Suzanne J; Weisbecker, Vera; Beck, Robin MD; Archer, Michael; Godthelp, Henk; Tennyson, Alan JD; Worthy, Trevor H (2009). "Bats that walk: a new evolutionary hypothesis for the terrestrial behaviour of New Zealand's endemic mystacinids". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 9 (1): 169. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-169.


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