Macronycteris besaoka

Macronycteris besaoka is an extinct leaf-nosed bat from Madagascar, in the genus Macronycteris of the family Hipposideridae. It is known from numerous jaws and teeth that a team led by the biologist David Burney collected in 1996 from a cave at Anjohibe in northwestern Madagascar, and Karen Samonds described it as a new species in 2007 under the name Hipposideros besaoka. The material is about 10,000 years old or younger. The name besaoka is Malagasy for big chin: the species had broader upper molars and a more robust lower jaw than the living Commerson's leaf-nosed bat, and it was the largest insectivorous bat of Madagascar. A cladistic analysis using morphological data suggests that it is most closely related to the mainland African bats Hipposideros gigas and Hipposideros vittatus, and somewhat more distantly to Hipposideros commersoni.