Brevipalatus mcculloughi is an extinct bat of the early Miocene, allied to the hipposiderid family of Old World leaf-nosed bats and known from the Bitesantennary Site in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Australia. Suzanne Hand and Mike Archer described it in 2005 and set it apart from other hipposiderids in a new genus, Brevipalatus, a name from Latin for the shortness of its palate. The holotype is part of a skull with some intact molars. The epithet honours Ron McCullough, then mayor of Mount Isa in Queensland, for his support of Riversleigh research. Its teeth, ear and rostrum suggest it caught nocturnal insects such as moths in flight; its weight is estimated at about 8 grams and its forearm at 45 to 50 millimetres. It lived in rainforest and probably shared roosts with other bats, and the living orange leaf-nosed bat is thought to be a close relative.
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Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Conservation Status Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Brevipalatus (Wikipedia)
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Source Brevipalatus (Wikipedia)Lead, where it livesQuote, Lead, where it lives
It was discovered at a fossil deposit of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.
Sources
1. Brevipalatus (Wikipedia)
Lead
Brevipalatus mcculloughi is a species of bat that existed in the early Miocene.
Description
indicate they also consumed nocturnal insects like moths that were caught in flight.
Lead, where it lives
It was discovered at a fossil deposit of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.
Article text, habitat
This site was a cave within a limestone formation that was occupied by B. mcculloughi during the early Miocene, classified in Riversleigh research as Faunal Zone B. The species foraged in an area that was dominated by rainforest and probably cohabited with other species of bats at its daytime roosts.
Child Taxon Of: Hipposideridae, Taxonomy
separated from other bats of the hipposiderid family by a new genus
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