Megadermatidae

Megadermatidae, or false vampire bats, are a family of bats found from central Africa, eastwards through southern Asia, and into Australia. They are relatively large bats, ranging from 6.5 cm to 14 cm in head-body length. They have large eyes, very large ears and a prominent nose-leaf. They have a wide membrane between the hind legs, or uropatagium, but no tail. Many species are a drab brown, but some are white, bluish-grey or even olive-green, helping to camouflage them against their preferred roosting environments.

Megadermatidae

Piekfrosch · GFDL · 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
false vampirePBDB
Sits inside
RhinolophoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 33.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 30 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 13 of 30 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 30 occurrencesPleistocene — about 11 of 30 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.2–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–6.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.9–5.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.8–4.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.6–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–1.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.2–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences27.3 Mya129 ka34.6 Mya0 Mya

30 occurrences of Megadermatidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

30 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

4 formations

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EAntonios — 40.50°N, 23.00°EJebel Qatrani — 29.50°N, 30.50°EColombacci — 44.22°N, 11.77°E

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The named rock units Megadermatidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 26 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megadermatidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Megadermatidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

748 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 30 sites for Megadermatidae, 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

26 references

Each of the 30 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. 14 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 content1

Picture of Megadermatidae

Credit
Piekfrosch
Licence
GFDL
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Megadermatidae was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itRhinolophoidea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Allen 1864