Macroderma (bat)
Macroderma is a genus of microbats, present in the fossil record and as one extant species. They have existed in Australia since the early Miocene.
| Macroderma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Megadermatidae |
| Genus: | Macroderma Miller 1906[1] |
| Type species | |
| Megaderma gigas Dobson, 1880 | |
Taxonomy
The description to the genus was published in a revision of chiropterans by Gerrit Smith Miller in 1906, separating the type species from it placement in the genus Megaderma.[1] The taxonomic placement is to family Megadermatidae of the suborder Microchiroptera.[2]
The name Macroderma combines the Greek words macros (large) and derma (skin), due to the large size of their partially conjoined ears.[3]
- Macroderma gigas Dobson, 1880[4] the only living species, a large predatory carnivore referred to as the Australian false vampyre or ghost bat
- Macroderma godthelpi, a fossil taxon describing the earliest and smallest species
- Macroderma koppa Hand, Dawson & Augee, 1988.[5] a fossil species that existed in the Pliocene epoch.[6]
- Macroderma malugara S. J. Hand, 1996.[7][6]
The genus describes an extant and fossil species that are endemic to Australian and known to have existed in the early Miocene. Descriptions of new species have emerged from excavations of specimens in caves at the southern part of the continent, along with sub-fossil remains at several sites. The extensive fossil record of the Riversleigh fauna has provided the most material and sequential evidence of Macroderma species, including their middens and associations with other bats, although this is restricted to the fossiliferous karst systems of the Riversleigh research area.
References
- Miller, G.S. (1906). "Twelve new genera of bats". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 19: 83–85.
- Hudson W.S.; Wilson D.E (1986). "Macroderma gigas" (PDF). Mammalian Species. 260 (260): 1–4. doi:10.2307/3503920. JSTOR 3503920. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-16.
- Richards, G.C.; Hall, L.S.; Parish, S. (photography) (2012). A natural history of Australian bats : working the night shift. CSIRO Pub. p. 56. ISBN 9780643103740.
- Dobson, G.E. (1880). "On some new or rare species of Chiroptera in the collection of the Göttingen Museum". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1880: 461–465. ISSN 0370-2774.
- Hand, S.J.; Dawson, L.; Augee, M. (31 December 1988). "Macroderma koppa, a new Tertiary species of false vampire bat (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae) from Wellington Caves, New South Wales" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 40 (6): 343–351. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.40.1988.160.
- Long, J.A.; Archer, M. (2002). Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. UNSW Press. p. 189. ISBN 9780868404356.
- Hand, S.J. (1 January 1996). "New miocene and pliocene megadermatids (Mammalia, Microchiroptera) from Australia, with comments on broader aspects of megadermatid evolution". Geobios. 29 (3): 365–377. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(96)80038-6. ISSN 0016-6995.