''Phyllops silvai'', also known as Silva's fig-eating bat, is a recently extinct species of bat from western

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It is a close relative of the living

Cuban fig-eating bat The Cuban fig-eating bat, or white-shouldered bat, (''Phyllops falcatus'') is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae, found only in the Caribbean. It is the sole extant species in the genus ''Phyllops'', although two other species, '' P. ...

Chronology

It lived during the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within ...

. Radiometric date from a sample of long bones of the extinct barn owl '' Tyto noeli'' - directly associated with the type material of ''P. silvai'' - gave an age of 17,406 ± 161 YBP. Calibration of the same sample gave ages from 20,050 to 21,474 YBP.

Diagnosis

''P. silvai'' differs from '' P. falcatus'' and another extinct relative, '' P. vetus'', by a longer skull, wider postorbital width and long facial region. Its rostrum is larger and upturned with nares dorsally directed, higher than wide.

References

Prehistoric bats Pleistocene bats Pleistocene mammals of North America Fossils of Cuba Phyllostomidae {{Paleo-bat-stub