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  • Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon REVILLIOD, 1917


    Images:

    oilshale

    Taxonomy

    Bat

    Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
    Class: Mammalia
    Order: Chiroptera Blumenbach 1779
    Family: Archaeonycteridae Revilliod 1917
    Genus: Palaeochiropteryx
    Species: Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon
    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: 6 cm

    Location

    Grube Messel
    Messel near Darmstadt
    Hessia
    Germany

    Comments

    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.)

    Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon with partly preserved wing membrane and fur.
    As far as I know, four bat genera with a total of 8 species are known from Messel: Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and P. spiegeliArchaeonycteris trigonodon and A. pollexTrachypteron 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.
    Diagnosis from Russel & Sigé 1969, p. 124 (translated from French by oilshale): Diagnosis: size smaller than Palaeochiropteryx spiegeli. P3 relatively longer and narrower; protocortid high and acute; tubercles of lower molars higher and more acute; trigonid of M1 more compressed anteroposteriorly; talonid of M3 wider and higher relative to trigonid. Upper canine relatively taller, narrower and more pointed posteriorly at its base; heel of P³ narrower lingually, with its posterior margin oblique anterolingually; on M'-M², notch between mesostyle and parastyle deeper.

    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.




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    Kristin Hoffpauer

    Posted

    Wow! That is gorgeous!

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    wow is that nice! I didnt think the Messel material was available!

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    10 hours ago, JimB88 said:

    ...I didnt think the Messel material was available!

    This is all "old stuff" from the end of the 60ties and 70ties (of the last century). Oil shale was actively mined starting in 1859 - mining ceased in 1971. In 1967, I started to collect in Messel at age of 15 (when I was still in school). At that time, even though the pit and the abundant fossils were well known to science for more than 100 years, nobody was really interested in fossils from Messel. Reason for this was: The slate there contains around 40% water - when the water evaporates, the shale and the fossils become very unstable and start to crumble. Prepping Messel stuff was very difficult. Fossils had to be kept either constantly wet or had to be submersed in glycol or glycerin for several month to slowly exchange the water against these non volatile liquids.

    The transfer method solved this problem. But when I showed a near perfect Messel bat with complete wing membrane and preserved ears to the curator of the "Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt", the bluntly told me: "This bat is now worthless for science - you destroyed an important fossil. Anyway, it is not worth to collect there - all the species in Messel are already known. Nothing new to find there"

    It was possible to legally collect fossils in Messel till 1974, when the state of Hessia began preparing the site for garbage disposal. Fortunately these plans were stopped due to massive protests and in 1995, this site was finally declared a UNESCO world heritage site.

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    FossilDudeCO

    Posted

    WoW Thomas....

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