Archaeonycteridae (formerly spelled Archaeonycterididae) is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). 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 birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s. It was originally erected by the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Pierre Revilliod Pierre Revilliod (1883–1954) was a Swiss naturalist. From 1927–1953 Revilliod was a curator and researcher at the Natural History Museum of Geneva. He is best known for his work on fossil bats Bats are flying mammals of the orde ...

as Archaeonycterididae to hold the genus '' Archaeonycteris''. It was formerly classified under the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Icaronycteroidea (disused) by Kurten and Anderson in 1980. In 2007, the spelling was corrected to Archaeonycteridae and it was reclassified to the unranked

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

Microchiropteramorpha by Smith ''et al.''. The family

Palaeochiropterygidae Palaeochiropterygidae is a family of extinct bats. It was originally erected by the Swiss naturalist Pierre Revilliod in 1917 after discoveries of ''Palaeochiropteryx'' fossils from the Messel Pit of Germany. Palaeochiropterygidae was merged into ...

was also merged into Archaeonycteridae by Kurten and Anderson, but modern authorities specializing in bat fossils maintain the distinction between the two. They existed from the

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

to the

Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage (stratigraphy), stage or age (geology), age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it ...

ages of the Middle

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

(55.8 to 40.4 million years ago). The family is known to closely resemble modern bat species from the well preserved specimens found in the

Messel Pit Fossil Site The Messel Formation is a geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlies crystalline Variscan basement and i ...

in Germany. Other discoveries were made in Europe and other areas of the Northern Hemisphere that restricted the known distribution range to sites associated with the Laurasian land mass. This range of the family was extended to include a species found in 1990 at the Murgon fossil site on the Australian continent, and they appear to have become globally dispersed during the early Miocene.

Genera

It contains five

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. The following list may be incomplete or inaccurate: *'' Archaeonycteris'' Revilliod, 1917 **'' Archaeonycteris trigonodon'' Revilliod, 1917 -

Messel Pit The Messel Formation is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Hesse, central Germany, dating back to the Eocene Epoch (geology), epoch (about 47 Ma). Its geographic range is restricted to the Messel pit. There it unconformably overlie ...

(

), Germany **'' Archaeonycteris pollex'' Storch & Habersetzer, 1988 - Messel Pit (Lutetian), Germany **'' Archaeonycteris brailloni'' Russell ''et al.'', 1973 - Avenay quarry (

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

**'' Archaeonycteris storchi'' Smith ''et al.'', 2007 - Vastan Lignite Mines (Ypresian),

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

*''

Australonycteris ''Australonycteris'' is an extinct and monotypic genus of microchiropteran bat with the single species ''Australonycteris clarkae''. The species is known from fragmentary remains found at the Murgon fossil site, in south-eastern Queensland, dat ...

'' Hand, Novacek, Godthelp & Archer, 1994 **'' Australonycteris clarkae'' Hand, Novacek, Godthelp & Archer, 1994 - Murgon fossil site (Ypresian),

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 ...

*'' Matthesia'' Smith and Storch 1981 **'' Matthesia germanica'' **'' Matthesia insolita'' *'' Protonycteris'' Smith ''et al.'', 2007 **'' Protonycteris gunnelli'' Smith ''et al.'', 2007 - Vastan Lignite Mine (Ypresian), India *'' Xylonycteris'' Hand & Sigé, 2017 **'' Xylonycteris stenodon'' Hand & Sigé, 2017 - Ypresian, France

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4785518 Eocene bats Bat families Ypresian first appearances Lutetian extinctions