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Mystacinidae is a family of unusual
bats, the New Zealand short-tailed bats. There is one living
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
, ''
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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, 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
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 ...
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
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
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
Noctilionoidea is a Taxonomic rank, superfamily of bats containing seven families: Thyropteridae, Furipteridae, Noctilionidae, Mormoopidae, Phyllostomidae, Myzopodidae, and Mystacinidae.
It is one of three superfamilies in the suborder Yangochir ...
(a primarily Gondwanan group otherwise including
Noctilionidae,
Phyllostomidae and
Mormoopidae) around 51-41 million years ago.
Description
Mystacinids have some unusual characteristics compared to other bats. They spend much of the time on the ground, instead of flying, and are unique in having the ability to fold their wings into a leathery membrane when not in use. Another distinctive feature of the group is an additional projection on some of the claws, which may aid in digging or climbing. They are
omnivorous, eating fruit and carrion in addition to ground-dwelling
arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
s. They also eat pollen and nectar, which they are able to collect with their extensible
tongues. They sometimes chew out burrows in rotting wood, but can also roost in rock crevices or the burrows of seabirds.
Many old sources refer to the terrestriality of these bats as a trait acquired due to island endemism, assumed to have evolved due to the absence of terrestrial mammals in New Zealand. However, ''
Icarops'', a mainland Australian genus, shows adaptations to terrestriality, suggesting that it evolved prior to the colonisation of New Zealand, in an environment dominated by terrestrial mammals such as
marsupials and
monotremes. Furthermore, the Saint Bathans fossil species co-existed with the
Saint Bathans mammal, suggesting that New Zealand wasn't devoid of land mammals when these bats first arrived.
They give birth once each summer, to a single young. They are able to
hibernate during the winter.
In 2010 the Department of Conservation discovered a
feral cat that was responsible for killing over 100 short-tailed bats over a seven-day period in a forested area on the southern slope of
Mount Ruapehu
Mount Ruapehu (; English ) is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the TaupÅ Volcanic Zone and North Island North Island Volcanic Plateau, volcanic plateau in New Zealand. It is northeast of Ohakune and southwest of the southern s ...
.
References
Further reading
*Daniel. M. (1985).
New Zealand's unique burrowing bats are endangered. ''Bats Magazine'' 2 (3).
*
*
External links
Images and videos of the lesser short-tailed bat ''(Mystacina tuberculata)''at
ARKive
{{Authority control
Bat families
Extant Miocene first appearances
Taxa named by George Edward Dobson
Endemic mammals of New Zealand
Endemic fauna of New Zealand
Bats of New Zealand