''Icarops'' is an extinct, possibly paraphyletic

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

mystacine __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 ...

bat 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 ...

with three described species. The genus is known from fossils found at Riversleigh, north-western

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Bullock Creek,

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

, and

Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area __NOTOC__ The Lake Ngapakaldi to Lake Palankarinna Fossil Area is a group of fossil sites located in the Australian state of South Australia within the Tirari Desert in the north-eastern part of the state's Far North region. The group has an ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Australia. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s date from the late Oligocene to early

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

. 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 ''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 ...

'' 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, ''Icarops'' shows adaptations to foraging on the ground. This is in spite of occurring alongside various terrestrial tetrapods, including other mammals such as

marsupial 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 ...

s and monotremes. This shows that the terrestrial habits of

s did not evolve due to lack of competition with other mammals in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, predating the island's colonisation and having evolved on mainland Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5985076 Miocene mammals of Australia Miocene bats Oligocene bats Prehistoric bat genera Mystacinidae Riversleigh fauna Mammals of New Zealand