Researchers have unearthed the oldest known bat skeletons.
, which show all the animals’ bones in lifelike positions, are from limestone rocks that accumulated as lake sediments about 52.5 million years ago, vertebrate paleontologist Tim Rietbergen and colleagues report April 12 ingenus, found in the same limestones, called the Green River Formation, were preserved at least 40 centimeters above the new fossils — and are thus younger.
But it’s difficult to estimate just how much younger those fossils are because researchers don’t know how rapidly sediments accumulated over time, says Rietbergen, of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands.is the runt of its genus. The species has a wingspan, typically estimated from the length of forearm bones, that is almost 7 percent smaller than that of the bat’s closest known cousin, Rietbergen and colleagues say. During its lifetime,weighed somewhere between 22.5 and 28.
These skeletons “are a great discovery,” says Zhe-Xi Luo, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the study. The arrangement of bones in’s feet suggest that it, like many modern bats, hung upside down when roosting, he says. Because the skeletons are so much like those of some modern bats, “we’re not any closer to knowing what type of creatures bats evolved from,” says Brock Fenton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, who also was not involved with the work. The world’s oldest known bats lived about 56 million years ago, but the fossils of those species are mostly isolated teeth, not entire skeletons.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Newfound asteroid is a long-term 'quasi-moon' of Earth2023 FW13 has been in Earth's vicinity since 100 B.C. and will stay until at least A.D. 3700.
Consulte Mais informação »
Wyoming Defends ‘Legitimacy’ of Its Crypto Charter Framework in Custodia LawsuitWyoming’s attorney general is looking to get involved in custodiabank’s suit against the Fed partly to defend against “perceived inadequacies in Wyoming’s laws and regulations” for state-chartered banks. cheyenneligon reports
Consulte Mais informação »
US gives final nod to huge power line from Wyoming to NevadaU.S. officials on Tuesday gave final approval for a company owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz to begin building a massive transmission line that will deliver wind energy from blustery Wyoming to power-hungry California.
Consulte Mais informação »
Wyoming defends crypto-friendly bank charter regime in Custodia Bank's lawsuit with FedWyoming AG Bridget Hill filed a motion to “intervene in the defense” of the state’s regulation of SPDIs, pushing back against claims the Fed made in filings with Custodia Bank.
Consulte Mais informação »
52 million-year-old bat skeleton is the oldest ever found and belongs to a never-before-seen speciesThe bat skeletons unearthed in southwest Wyoming are the oldest ever found, and their discovery has sparked a reshuffle in the bat family tree.
Consulte Mais informação »
A look inside the newly constructed Saratoga Springs LDS templeThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing for public tours of their newly built temple in Saratoga Springs.
Consulte Mais informação »