Fossils of ‘giant’ bat discovered in Central Otago
A ‘‘giant’’ prehistoric bat that roamed Central Otago more than 16 million years ago belonged to a ‘‘bat superfamily’’ that once spanned several continents.
Fossilized teeth and bones of an extinct bat nearly three times the size of its average living descendant have been recovered near St Bathans by an international team of scientists.
The species, named Vulcanops jennyworthyae after researcher Jenny Worthy who discovered the remains, is the first bat genus to be added to New Zealand’s fauna in more than 150 years.
The fossils showed ‘‘the prehistoric aviary that was New Zealand also included a surprising diversity of furry critters’’, study coauthor and Flinders University professor Trevor Worthy said.
Vulcanops weighed about 40 grams, making them the largest known burrowing bat.
They could fly, but also scurried about the forest floor on all fours, foraging for animals and plants to eat.
The Vulcanops’ large teeth suggest it also ate small vertebrate animals, a trait not seen in Australasian bats today.
University of New South Wales and study author professor Sue Hand said the Volcanops were ‘‘more closely related to bats living in South America than to others in the southwest Pacific’’.
Related to vampire bats and ghost-faced bats, they ‘‘belong to a bat superfamily that once spanned the southern landmasses of Australia, New Zealand, South America and possibly Antarctica’’, Hand said.
Canterbury Museum senior curator professor Paul Scofield said the Volcanops remains provided insight into the ‘‘complex community’’ of their time.
The bats lived in a semi-tropical climate among other extinct New Zealand species of crocodiles, land turtles and flamingo-like birds.
These species died off as global climate change brought colder and drier conditions.
The study’s authors said it was likely the environmental change drove the ‘‘overall loss in bat diversity’’ in New Zealand, where two native bat species remain today.