List of fruit bats

Further information: List of bats
Chiroptera
Cladogram showing the position of Pteropodidae (fruit bats) within Yinpterochiroptera[1][2]

Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes or megabats, are the 197 species of bats that make up the suborder Megachiroptera, found throughout the tropics of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, of which 186 are extant. The suborder is part of the order Chiroptera (bats), and contains a single family, Pteropodidae. The family is divided into between two and six subfamilies, with recent phylogenetic analysis suggesting a different classification structure of the known species than before. Bats have been traditionally thought to be a monophyletic group; according to this model, all living fruit bats and microbats (Microchiroptera) are descendants of a common ancestor species that was already capable of flight.[3]

However, there are alternate hypotheses which conclude that bats are polyphyletic. The flying primate hypothesis was created in the 1980s stating that, based on morphological evidence, the Megachiroptera evolved flight separately from the Microchiroptera, although genetic evidence supports the monophyly of bats. This model states that fruit bats and primates share several anatomical features not seen in microbats, and are thus more closely related; for example, their brains show a number of advanced characteristics that link them to primates.[4][5]

The Yinpterochiroptera is a proposed suborder of the Chiroptera based on molecular evidence consisting of the fruit bats and five other microbat families: Rhinopomatidae, Rhinolophidae, Hipposideridae, Craseonycteridae, and Megadermatidae. This model also challenges the view that the Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera are monophyletic. The other suborder consisting of the other bat species would be the Yangochiroptera.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Eick, G. N.; Jacobs, D. S.; Matthee, C. A. (2005). "A Nuclear DNA Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Echolocation and Historical Biogeography of Extant Bats (Chiroptera)". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (9): 1869–1886. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi180. PMID 15930153.
  2. ^ a b Tsagkogeorga, G.; Parker, J.; Stupka, E.; Cotton, J. A.; Rossiter, S. J. (2013). "Phylogenomic analyses elucidate the evolutionary relationships of bats". Current Biology. 23 (22): 2262–2267. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.09.014. PMID 24184098.
  3. ^ Simmons, Nancy B.; Seymour, Kevin L.; Habersetzer, Jörg; Gunnell, Gregg F. (2008). "Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation" (PDF). Nature. 451 (7180): 818–21. Bibcode:2008Natur.451..818S. doi:10.1038/nature06549. hdl:2027.42/62816. PMID 18270539. S2CID 4356708.
  4. ^ Simmons, N. B.; Seymour, K. L.; Habersetzer, J.; Gunnell, G. F. (2008). "Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation" (PDF). Nature. 451 (7180): 818–821. Bibcode:2008Natur.451..818S. doi:10.1038/nature06549. hdl:2027.42/62816. PMID 18270539. S2CID 4356708.
  5. ^ Pettigrew, J. D.; Maseko, B. C.; Manger, P.R. (2008). "Primate-like retinotectal decussation in an echolocating megabat, Rousettus aegyptiacus". Neuroscience. 153 (1): 226–31. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.02.019. PMID 18367343. S2CID 30649196.