1,772 research outputs found
Early evolution of body size in bats
No full textSize is the single most important factor affecting physiology, locomotion, ecology, and behavior of mammals. Understanding evolution of size is especially important in groups like bats which exhibit many unique or energetically expensive behaviors (e.g., powered flight, echolocation, torpor and hibernation, long-distance migration). In addition, bats have the most diverse array of dietary habits of any mammalian Order. Most bat species are small: the central tendency in size in extant bats, as estimated by the median value, is around 14 g. However, bat size spans three orders of magnitude, with a few species exceeding one kilogram. Variation is not evenly distributed across groups, and there is no specific hypothesis accounting for size variation in bats. In search of evolutionary patterns, we first estimated mass in key Eocene fossils via allometric relationships. Least midshaft diameter of limb bones yielded accurate models of variation in size (body mass) in extant bats at the interspecific level (error <2%), thus providing a solid basis for size estimation in fossils. We then mapped size on current bat phylogenies including Eocene fossils. On these phylogenies, mass decreased along stem chiropteran nodes until a range of 14 -17 g was achieved in the crown clade including Palaeochiropteryx and extant bats (or microbats, depending on the topology). Remarkably, this estimated range includes the median of size for extant bats and was conserved since the Early Eocene along the backbone of all major bat clades with minor variations, strongly suggesting that an efficient combination of factors, including energy expenditure and cost of transport, was achieved at the base of the crown clade and was maintained through the evolutionary history of bats. Departures from this range were reconstructed as nested within bat families and were associated with major changes in diet, particularly carnivory and frugivory.Fil: Giannini, Norberto Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Gunnell, Gregg F.. University of Duke; Estados UnidosFil: Habersetzer, Jorg. Senckenberg Research Institute; AlemaniaFil: Simmons, Nancy B.. American Museum of Natural History; Estados Unido
Alice B. Donahue and Nancy Appleby
No full textPhotograph - Alice B. Donahue and Nancy Appleby, Athabasca, Alberta. Note on back reads: Observing 'flood' water, July 198
Reconstructing the genomic diversity of a widespread Sub-Saharan bat (Pteropodidae: Eidolon helvum) using archival museum collections
No full textO'Toole, Brian, Simmons, Nancy B., Hekkala, Evon (2020): Reconstructing the genomic diversity of a widespread Sub-Saharan bat (Pteropodidae: Eidolon helvum) using archival museum collections. Acta Chiropterologica 22 (2): 227-241, DOI: 10.3161/15081109ACC2020.22.2.00
Nancy Appleby, Alice B. Donahue and Berta Hees
No full textPhotograph - Three women (Nancy Appleby, Alice B. Donahue and Berta Hees) on the beach, Hawai
Artibeus Leach. In B. D. Patterson and R. M. Timm 1821
No full textArtibeus Reliable species identifications within the genus Artibeus as recognized herein (including Dermanura and Koopmania) requires reference to Handley (1987) and Marques Aguiar (1994). Although Lim and Wilson’s (1993) concept of Artibeus jamaicensis differs from ours, their keys are also useful for distinguishing the larger species of Artibeus (subgenus Artibeus) in northern South America.Published as part of Simmons, Nancy B. & Voss, Robert S., 1998, The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana, a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 1, Bats, pp. 1-219 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 237 on page 98, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.454505
Nancy Appleby, Alice B. Donahue, Berta Hees and Ken Suitor
No full textPhotograph - Four people (Nancy Appleby, Alice B. Donahue, Berta Hees and Ken Suitor) sitting on a couch. Athabasca, Albert
FIG. 3. Graph indicating the appropriate K in Reconstructing the genomic diversity of a widespread Sub-Saharan bat (Pteropodidae: Eidolon helvum) using archival museum collections
No full textFIG. 3. Graph indicating the appropriate K value where CV error is lowest from AdmixturePublished as part of O'Toole, Brian, Simmons, Nancy B. & Hekkala, Evon, 2020, Reconstructing the genomic diversity of a widespread Sub-Saharan bat (Pteropodidae: Eidolon helvum) using archival museum collections, pp. 227-241 in Acta Chiropterologica 22 (2) on page 234, DOI: 10.3161/15081109ACC2020.22.2.001, http://zenodo.org/record/782336
Fig. 16. Mystacina tuberculata AMNH 173919 in The Chiropteran Premaxilla: A Reanalysis of Morphological Variation and Its Phylogenetic Interpretation
No full textFig. 16. Mystacina tuberculata AMNH 173919Published as part of GIANNINI, NORBERTO P. & SIMMONS, NANCY B., 2007, The Chiropteran Premaxilla: A Reanalysis of Morphological Variation and Its Phylogenetic Interpretation, pp. 1-44 in American Museum Novitates 3585 on page 16, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3585[1:TCPARO]2.0.CO;2, http://zenodo.org/record/538846
Fig. 20. Carollia perspillata AMNH 266126 in The Chiropteran Premaxilla: A Reanalysis of Morphological Variation and Its Phylogenetic Interpretation
No full textFig. 20. Carollia perspillata AMNH 266126,Published as part of GIANNINI, NORBERTO P. & SIMMONS, NANCY B., 2007, The Chiropteran Premaxilla: A Reanalysis of Morphological Variation and Its Phylogenetic Interpretation, pp. 1-44 in American Museum Novitates 3585 on page 20, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3585[1:TCPARO]2.0.CO;2, http://zenodo.org/record/538846
Fig. 10. Cynopterus brachyotis AMNH 222764 in Element Homology and the Evolution of Dental Formulae in Megachiropteran Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)
No full textFig. 10. Cynopterus brachyotis AMNH 222764Published as part of GIANNINI, NORBERTO P. & SIMMONS, NANCY B., 2007, Element Homology and the Evolution of Dental Formulae in Megachiropteran Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae), pp. 1-28 in American Museum Novitates 3559 (1) on page 11, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0082(2007)3559[1:EHATEO]2.0.CO;2, http://zenodo.org/record/538748
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