Palaeochiropteryx spiegeli Revilliod 1917

Taxonomy

Bat

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata Haeckel 1874
Class: Mammalia Linnaeus 1758
Order: Chiroptera Blumenbach 1779
Family: Archaeonycteridae Revilliod 1917
Genus: Palaeochiropteryx
Species: Palaeochiropteryx spiegeli
Author Citation Revilliod 1917

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Paleogene
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Eocene
International Age: Lutetian

Stratigraphy

Messel Formation

Provenance

Collector: T. Bastelberger
Date Collected: 06/01/1970
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Length: 7.5 cm

Location

Messel Pit
Darmstadt-Dieburg District
Hessia
Germany

• bat
• chiroptera
• lutetian
• messel
• palaeochiropteryx
• spiegeli
• tff-oilshale-ch1027
• tupaiodon

Comments

Taxonomy from Fossilworks.org.
Prepped by transfer method (Toombs, Harry; A.E. Rixon (1950). "The use of plastics in the "transfer method" of preparing fossils". The museums journal. 50: 105–107.) 

As far as I know, four bat genera with a total of 8 species are known from Messel: Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and P. spiegeli, Archaeonycteris trigonodon and A. pollex, Trachypteron franzeni, Hassianycteris messelense, H. magna and Hassianycteris? revilliodi. The genus Palaeochiropteryx is the most common and smallest bat from Messel with a wingspan of around 26 to 29cm. Archaeonycteris is rarer and somewhat larger - the wingspan is about 37cm. The largest bat in Messel is Hassianycteris magna with a wingspan of almost 50cm.
Bat with partially preserved flight skin and ears.
What is peculiar about this piece is that the bones show fractures. The forearm bones (ulna and radius) on both sides are broken in exactly the same place. Additionally, one of the lower legs may have been broken as well.
Diagnosis from Russel & Sigé p. 124 (translated from French by oilshale): "larger size than Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon. P₃ relatively wider and shorter; protoconid lower; tubercles of lower molars less high and less acute; trigonid of M₁ forming a more equilateral triangle; talonid of M₃ notably narrow, and lower relative to trigonid. Upper canine relatively shorter and broader at its base than that of P. tupaiodon; its horizontal outline less acute posteriorly; talon of P³ broader lingually, with its posterior margin more transverse to the dental series; on M¹-M², notch between mesostyle and parastyle less deep."

Identified by Dr. G. Storch, Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt a. M. Germany.

References:
Revilliod, P. (1917): Fledermäuse aus der Braunkohle von Messel bei Darmstadt. Abhandlungen der Großherzoglichen Hessischen Geologischen Landesanstalt zu Darmstadt, 7 (2), 162-201.
Richter, G. & Storch, G. (1980): Beiträge zur Ernährungsbiologie eozäner Fledermäuse aus der "Grube Messel". Natur und Museum, 110 (12), p. 353-367.
Russell, D. E. & Sigé, B. (1969) REVISION DES CHIROPTÈRES LUTÊTIENS DE MESSEL (HESSE, ALLEMAGNE). Palæovertebrata, Montpellier, 3 : 83-182, 29 fig., 6 pl.
Simmons, N.B. & Geisler, J.H. (1998): Phylogenetic relationships of Icaronycteris, Archaeonycteris, Hassianycteris and Palaeochiropteryx to extant bat lineages, with comments on the Evolution of echolocation and foraging strategies in Microchiroptera. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 235: 1-182.