Phyllostomidae

The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are bats found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. Both the scientific and common names derive from their often large, lance-shaped noses, though this is greatly reduced in some of the nectar- and pollen-feeders. Because these bats echolocate nasally, this "nose-leaf" is thought to serve some role in modifying and directing the echolocation call. Similar nose leaves are found in some other groups of bats, most notably the Old World leaf-nosed bats.

Phyllostomidae

Leyo · CC BY 2.5 · 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
leaf-nosed batPBDB
Sits inside
NoctilionoideaPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera

Time the record covers

At least 29 million years on record.

The record covers at least 29.5 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 0 of 156 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 156 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 15 of 156 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 156 occurrencesPleistocene — about 93 of 156 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 5 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–1.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 129 occurrences29.5 Mya11.7 ka38.5 Mya0 Mya

156 occurrences of Phyllostomidae 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

156 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

Villavieja — 3.28°N, 75.20°WVillavieja — 3.32°N, 75.13°WVillavieja — 3.25°N, 75.17°WMR Caliente — 34.30°N, 119.00°WBranch Canyon — 34.90°N, 119.50°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WCucaracha — 9.05°N, 79.67°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.95°WSarmiento — 45.67°S, 68.71°WViens Marl — 43.93°N, 5.68°E

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The named rock units Phyllostomidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 140 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phyllostomidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Phyllostomidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,080 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 60 sites for Phyllostomidae, 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

45 references

Each of the 156 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. 33 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 Phyllostomidae

Credit
Leyo
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itNoctilionoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825