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Mystacinidae
__NOTOC__ Mystacinidae is a family of unusual bats, the New Zealand short-tailed bats. There is one living genus, '' Mystacina'', with two species, one of which could have possibly become extinct in the 1960s. They are medium-sized bats, about in length, with grey, velvety fur. Species and range The origins of this family go back to the Late Oligocene of Australia, with the genus '' Icarops''. Several fossil species are also known from the contemporary Saint Bathans Fauna in New Zealand. The oldest unambiguous fossils of the living genus date to the Miocene of New Zealand. A second extinct genus, '' Vulcanops'', lived sympatrically with ''Mystacina'' in New Zealand from the Miocene until its extinction during the Pleistocene. The study describing ''Vulcanops'' also renders ''Icarops'' paraphyletic in regards to the rest of the family. Mystacines appear to have been an old Gondwanan lineage; they diverged from other bat groups within Noctilionoidea (a primarily Gondwanan group o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystacinidae
__NOTOC__ Mystacinidae is a family of unusual bats, the New Zealand short-tailed bats. There is one living genus, '' Mystacina'', with two species, one of which could have possibly become extinct in the 1960s. They are medium-sized bats, about in length, with grey, velvety fur. Species and range The origins of this family go back to the Late Oligocene of Australia, with the genus '' Icarops''. Several fossil species are also known from the contemporary Saint Bathans Fauna in New Zealand. The oldest unambiguous fossils of the living genus date to the Miocene of New Zealand. A second extinct genus, '' Vulcanops'', lived sympatrically with ''Mystacina'' in New Zealand from the Miocene until its extinction during the Pleistocene. The study describing ''Vulcanops'' also renders ''Icarops'' paraphyletic in regards to the rest of the family. Mystacines appear to have been an old Gondwanan lineage; they diverged from other bat groups within Noctilionoidea (a primarily Gondwanan group o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Lesser Short-tailed Bat
The New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (''Mystacina tuberculata'') is a small-sized omnivorous mammal endemic to the islands of New Zealand. It is one of two extant and three overall terrestrial mammal species unique to New Zealand. The NZ lesser short-tailed bat's closest relative, ''M. robusta'', was last seen in 1965 and is presumed extinct due to intense predation from ship rats introduced in the last few centuries. These bats are also commonly referred to as pekapeka, their Te Reo Māori name. Lesser short-tailed bats have unique adaptations that differentiate them from bats found in other parts of the world. For example, they are fully capable of moving along the ground to search for food, and the males sing to attract partners, taking turns to do so. Lesser short-tailed bats are a vulnerable species, so extensive conservation work and research are being done to prevent extinction. Taxonomy and evolution Taxonomic classification ''Mystacina tuberculata'' are members of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vulcanops
''Vulcanops jennyworthyae'' is an extinct species of bat that lived during the Miocene in New Zealand, a large burrowing microchiropteran that probably ate arthropods and plant material around twenty million years before present. It is the type and only described species of the genus ''Vulcanops''. Taxonomy and etymology ''Vulcanops jennyworthyae'' was described in 2018 from fossilized teeth and bone fragments. The new genus and species were placed within the family Mystacinidae, commonly called the burrowing bats. The genus name "''Vulcanops''" is derived from the Roman god of fire and volcanoes, Vulcan. The suffix "-ops" is commonly used for bat genera. "Vulcan" was chosen in homage to the tectonic nature of New Zealand, as well as a historic hotel, Vulcan Hotel, in the mining town of Saint Bathans. The eponym for the specific epithet "''jennyworthyae''" is Jennifer P. Worthy "in recognition of her pivotal role in revealing the diversity of the St Bathans Fauna." Jennifer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icarops
''Icarops'' is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic genus of mystacine bat with three described species. The genus is known from fossils found at Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, Bullock Creek, Northern Territory, and Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area South Australia Australia. The fossils date from the late Oligocene to early Miocene. The name was derived from a figure of Greek mythology, Icarus, who the authors noted, "flew towards the sun, in reference to the ancient mystacinid that flew eastwards from Australia to New Zealand". A study describing the genus ''Vulcanops'' renders ''Icarops'' paraphyletic towards the rest of Mystacinidae, with ''I. paradox'' being closer to New Zealand mystacines than to other Australian mystacines, which form an independent clade. The described species are * ''Icarops'' :*''Icarops aenae'' :*''Icarops breviceps'' :*''Icarops paradox'' Terrestriality Like its modern relatives, the '' Mystacina ''short-tailed bats, ''I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bat Families
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is in length, across the wings and in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox, ''Acerodon jubatus'', reaching a weight of and having a wingspan of . The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats, and the echolocating microbats. But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mystacina
''Mystacina'' is the sole surviving genus of the family Mystacinidae. The New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat is the only member of this group confirmed to survive today, since the closely related New Zealand greater short-tailed bat The New Zealand greater short-tailed bat (''Mystacina robusta'') is one of two species of New Zealand short-tailed bats, a family (Mystacinidae) unique to New Zealand. Larger than the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat, there have been no confi ... possibly went extinct as recently as 1965. A third species, '' Mystacina miocenalis'', is known from the Middle Miocene some 19-16 million years ago. References {{Taxonbar, from= Q368565 Bat genera Mammal genera with one living species Taxa named by John Edward Gray Mystacinidae Mammals of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic mammals of New Zealand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noctilionoidea
Noctilionoidea is a superfamily of bats containing seven families: Thyropteridae, Furipteridae, Noctilionidae, Mormoopidae, Phyllostomidae, Myzopodidae, and Mystacinidae. It is one of three superfamilies in the suborder Yangochiroptera, the others being Vespertilionoidea and Emballonuroidea. The inclusion of Myzopodidae ''Myzopoda'', which has two described species, is the only genus in the bat family Myzopodidae. Myzopodidae is unique as the only family of bats presently endemic to Madagascar. However, fossil discoveries indicate that the family has an ancie ... has been questioned, as other studies have placed it outside the superfamily as a sister group to Vespertilionoidea, sister group to Emballonuroidea, or within Emballonuroidea as part of Nycteridae. References {{taxonbar, from=Q1492660 Bat taxonomy Taxa named by John Edward Gray Mammal superfamilies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Bathans Fauna
The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) period, with an age range of 19–16 million years ago. The layer in which the fossils are found derives from littoral zone sediments deposited in a shallow, freshwater lake, with an area of 5600 km2 from present day Central Otago to Bannockburn and the Nevis Valley in the west; to Naseby in the east; and from the Waitaki Valley in the north to Ranfurly in the south. The lake was bordered by an extensive floodplain containing herbaceous and grassy wetland habitats with peat-forming swamp–woodland. At that time the climate was warm with a distinctly subtropical Australian climate and the surrounding vegetation was characterised by casuarinas, eucalypts and palms as well as podocarps, araucarias and southern beeches. The fossilifero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Bathans Mammal
The Saint Bathans mammal is a currently unnamed extinct primitive mammal from the Early Miocene (Altonian) of New Zealand. A member of the Saint Bathans fauna, it is notable for being a late-surviving "archaic" mammal species, neither a placental nor a marsupial. It also provides evidence that flightless fully terrestrial mammals did in fact once live in Zealandia. This is in contrast to modern New Zealand, where bats, cetaceans and seals are the only non-introduced mammals in the otherwise bird-dominated faunas. Discovery The Saint Bathans mammal is currently represented by three specimens in Te Papa: NMNZ S.40958, NMNZ S.41866, and NMNZ S.42214, composed of two lower jaw fragments and a femur respectively. It was part of an assemblage of fossils recovered in Saint Bathans in 1978, in what would later be understood to be the Bannockburn Formation (Manuherikia Group), and first described in 2006. Description Like most small mammal fossils, the Saint Bathans mammal material is ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cats In New Zealand
Cats are a popular pet in New Zealand. Cat ownership is occasionally raised as a controversial conservation issue due to the predation of endangered species, such as birds and lizards, by feral cats. Domesticated cats The domestic cat (''Felis catus'') first arrived at New Zealand on Captain James Cook's ship ''HMS Endeavour'' in the mid-18th century, but were established by European settlers a century later. , there are an estimated 1.419 million domestic cats in New Zealand, with almost half of all households owning at least one and an average of 1.8 cats per household. Because of the effects of predation on New Zealand wildlife, domestic cat ownership is sometimes a contentious issue. Since the 1990s, cat-free subdivisions have occasionally been established to prevent predation occurring within nearby natural areas by domestic cats. In 1996 a cat-free subdivision was established at Waihi Beach, a landmark decision by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. It was so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsupials
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a pouch. Marsupials include opossums, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies, bandicoots, and the extinct thylacine. Marsupials represent the clade originating from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, the group containing all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. They give birth to relatively undeveloped young that often reside in a pouch located on their mothers' abdomen for a certain amount of time. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur on the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). The remaining 30% are found in the Americas—primarily in South America, thirteen in Central America, and one species, the Virginia opossum, in North America, nor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotremes
Monotremes () are prototherian mammals of the order Monotremata. They are one of the three groups of living mammals, along with placentals (Eutheria), and marsupials (Metatheria). Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts, compared to the more common mammalian types. In addition, they lay eggs rather than bearing live young, but, like all mammals, the female monotremes nurse their young with milk. Monotremes have been considered members of Australosphenida, a clade that contains extinct mammals from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of Madagascar, South America, and Australia, though this is disputed. The only surviving examples of monotremes are all indigenous to Australia and New Guinea, although there is evidence that they were once more widespread, as ''Monotrematum'' is known from the Paleocene of South America. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and four species of echidnas. There ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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