''Macroderma malugara'' is a species of bat known from fossil material found in Australia. The name describes a 'good killer' in the local language, and was similar in size and probably habits of the modern ''

Macroderma gigas The ghost bat (''Macroderma gigas'') is a species of bat found in northern Australia. The species is the only Australian bat that preys on large vertebrates – birds, reptiles and other mammals – which they detect using acute sight and heari ...

'' (known as the ghost bat). They ate a wide variety of animals in their rainforest environment, including birds, turtles, small crocodiles and other bats.

Taxonomy

''Macroderma malugara'' was described by the Australian palaeontologist Suzanne Hand in 1996. The author placed the new species in the genus '' Macroderma'', recognising an affinity with the only extant species ''

'' (ghost bat). The type location is the Gotham City Site at the

Riversleigh World Heritage Area Riversleigh World Heritage Area is Australia's most famous fossil location, recognised for the series of well preserved fossils deposited from the Late Oligocene to more recent geological periods. The fossiliferous limestone system is located n ...

. The specific epithet ''malugara'' is derived from the indigenous

Wanyi language Waanyi, also spelt Wanyi, Wanji or Waanji, is an endangered Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Waanyi people of the lower gulf area of Northern Queensland, Australia. Although earlier thought to be extinct, as of the 2016 Australi ...

and means 'good killer'. The species is megadermatid of the suborder Microchiroptera within superfamily

Rhinolophoidea Rhinolophoidea is a superfamily (taxonomy), superfamily of bats. It contains the following families: Craseonycteridae, Hipposideridae, Megadermatidae, Rhinolophidae, Rhinonycteridae, and Rhinopomatidae. It is one of two superfamilies that compris ...

Description

The species is a member of the family

Megadermatidae Megadermatidae, or false vampire bats, are a family of bats found from central Africa, eastwards through southern Asia, and into Australia. They are relatively large bats, ranging from 6.5 cm to 14 cm in head-body length. They have lar ...

, carnivorous microchiropterans known as false vampire bats whose prey includes vertebrate animals. ''Macroderma malugara'' was around the size of the modern species, ''Macroderma gigas'', but distinguished by characteristics that include the dentition. They appear to exhibit less shortening of the face, a trend that is discernible in the megadermatids that occur from the Oligo-Miocene until the present at Riversleigh sites; the change in the structure of the snout allowed greater pressure to be exerted by the jaws.

Distribution

Specimens have been found in the Riversleigh fossil-bearing formations, at sites classified as

middle Miocene The Middle Miocene is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), epoch made up of two Stage (stratigraphy), stages: the Langhian and Serravallian stages. The Middle Miocene is preceded by the Early Miocene. The sub-epoch lasted from 15.97 ± 0. ...

(Faunal Zone C). The site of its discovery contains fossilised fragments of local fauna, which in analysis are consistent with a midden created the modern species. The species recorded at the former floor of the Gotham City site are a diverse assemblage of remains, and included animals that are only recorded at other sites, indicating they were captured some distance away and returned to what was its feeding roost.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21327435 Riversleigh fauna Megadermatidae Mammals described in 1996 Bats of Australia