Miniopterus

Miniopterus, known as the bent-winged or long winged bats, is the sole genus of the family Miniopteridae. They are small flying insectivorous mammals, micro-bats of the order Chiroptera, with wings over twice the length of the body. The genus had been placed in its own subfamily among the vespertilionid bats, as Miniopterinae, but is now classified as its own family.

Miniopterus

Andrew Smith · Public Domain · 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
bend-winged batPBDB
Sits inside
MiniopteridaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Chiroptera
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera

Time the record covers

At least 12 million years on record.

The record covers at least 12.75 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 13.82 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 3 of 38 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 38 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 24 of 38 occurrencesPleistocene14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences10–9.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.5–9.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences9.1–8.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.6–8.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.1–7.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.6–7.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.2–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.3–4.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences4.8–4.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.3–3.8 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.3–2.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.9–2.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.4–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.4–955 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences955 ka–477 ka Mya — about 5 occurrences477 ka–0 Mya — about 18 occurrences12.75 Mya11.7 ka14.3 Mya0 Mya

38 occurrences of Miniopterus 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

38 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

1 formation

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Miniopterus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Miniopterus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Miniopterus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

811 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 35 sites for Miniopterus, 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

28 references

Each of the 38 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. 16 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 content2

Picture of Miniopterus

Credit
Andrew Smith
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Miniopterus australis paululus · UMMZ:mammals:160356

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 itMiniopteridae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1837