Eptesicus

Eptesicus is a genus of bats, commonly called house bats or serotine bats, in the family Vespertilionidae. The genus name is likely derived from the Greek words ptetikos 'able to fly' or petomai 'house flier', although this is not certain.

Eptesicus

Mnolf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
house batPBDB
Sits inside
VespertilionidaePBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Vespertilionidae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 16.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 11 of 83 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 8 of 83 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 52 of 83 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.8–9.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.9–4.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 50 occurrences16.9 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

83 occurrences of Eptesicus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

83 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°ESeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EQuiburis — 32.50°N, 110.60°WVille — 50.90°N, 6.45°EBrackwater Molasse — 48.48°N, 10.10°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°E

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The named rock units Eptesicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 71 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eptesicus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Eptesicus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,923 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 76 sites for Eptesicus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

57 references

Each of the 83 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 45 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Eptesicus

Credit
Mnolf
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Eptesicus fuscus · ummz:mammals:110760

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itVespertilionidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1820