Ancient giant burrowing bat found in NZ
It’s not big, but it’s the biggest yet described.
Scientists have discovered an ancient giant burrowing bat that is related to NZ’S endemic burrowing bats – and the first new bat genus added to the country’s fauna in 150 years.
The bat’s teeth and bones were discovered in 16-19-million-year-old sediments near the town of St Bathans by an international team led by researchers from the University of NSW.
It was named Vulcanops jennyworthyae after team member Jenny Worth, who discovered the fossils, and Vulcan, the mythological Roman god of fire and volcanoes.
With an estimated weight of just 40 grams Vulcanops is hardly a “giant”, but it is three times the size of living burrowing bats in NZ today, and the largest burrowing bat yet described.
NZ’S burrowing bats are so called because of their distinctly terrestrial lifestyle; they forage for insects, fruits and flowers while running about on all fours, and roosting in small burrows created in leaf litter or logs, or seabird nests.
“Burrowing bats are more closely related to bats living in South America than to others in the southwest Pacific,” says UNSW’S Suzanne Hand.
“They are related to vampire bats, ghost-faced bats, fishing and frog-eating bats, and nectar-feeding bats, and belong to a bat superfamily that once spanned the southern landmasses of Australia, NZ, South America and possibly Antarctica.”
The findings are published in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports.