Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon REVILLIOD, 1917

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

• bat
• eocene
• messel
• palaeochiropteryx

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. 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.
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.