Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Phylogenies, fossils and functional genes: the evolution of echolocation in bats
- 2 Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats
- 3 Shoulder joint and inner ear of Tachypteron franzeni, an emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel
- 4 Evolutionary history of the Neotropical Chiroptera: the fossil record
- 5 New basal noctilionoid bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Oligocene of subtropical North America
- 6 Necromantis Weithofer, 1887, large carnivorous Middle and Late Eocene bats from the French Quercy Phosphorites: new data and unresolved relationships
- 7 African Vespertilionoidea (Chiroptera) and the antiquity of Myotinae
- 8 Evolutionary and ecological correlates of population genetic structure in bats
- 9 A bird? A plane? No, it's a bat: an introduction to the biomechanics of bat flight
- 10 Toward an integrative theory on the origin of bat flight
- 11 Molecular time scale of diversification of feeding strategy and morphology in New World Leaf-Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae): a phylogenetic perspective
- 12 Why tribosphenic? On variation and constraint in developmental dynamics of chiropteran molars*
- 13 Necromantodonty, the primitive condition of lower molars among bats
- 14 Echolocation, evo-devo and the evolution of bat crania
- 15 Vertebral fusion in bats: phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships
- 16 Early evolution of body size in bats
- Index
- Plate section
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Phylogenies, fossils and functional genes: the evolution of echolocation in bats
- 2 Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats
- 3 Shoulder joint and inner ear of Tachypteron franzeni, an emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel
- 4 Evolutionary history of the Neotropical Chiroptera: the fossil record
- 5 New basal noctilionoid bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Oligocene of subtropical North America
- 6 Necromantis Weithofer, 1887, large carnivorous Middle and Late Eocene bats from the French Quercy Phosphorites: new data and unresolved relationships
- 7 African Vespertilionoidea (Chiroptera) and the antiquity of Myotinae
- 8 Evolutionary and ecological correlates of population genetic structure in bats
- 9 A bird? A plane? No, it's a bat: an introduction to the biomechanics of bat flight
- 10 Toward an integrative theory on the origin of bat flight
- 11 Molecular time scale of diversification of feeding strategy and morphology in New World Leaf-Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae): a phylogenetic perspective
- 12 Why tribosphenic? On variation and constraint in developmental dynamics of chiropteran molars*
- 13 Necromantodonty, the primitive condition of lower molars among bats
- 14 Echolocation, evo-devo and the evolution of bat crania
- 15 Vertebral fusion in bats: phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships
- 16 Early evolution of body size in bats
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
Preface
In 2007, the editors (Gregg F. Gunnell and Nancy B. Simmons), along with graduate student Thomas P. Eiting, organized a symposium for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Austin, TX. This symposium was designed to explore bat evolution by using both morphological and molecular data, and to better elucidate where results gleaned from different data and methodologies agreed and disagreed. It was (and is) our contention that both sets of data are essential to fully understanding the evolutionary history of any group of organisms, and we set out to demonstrate this at the Austin meeting. The symposium was very successful and several participants expressed an interest in contributing to a symposium volume.
During this same time frame, one of the editors (GFG) was aiding in the development of a book series for Cambridge University Press that emphasizes the importance of both molecular and morphological data, and it was decided that a book on bat evolution would be appropriate for the series. Many species of bats have been sampled genetically, and bats have a long history of morphological study because of their unique ability to fly and to navigate by echolocation. Bats also have a rich fossil record extending back over 50 million years, and a geographic distribution that spans most of the globe. Several studies have explored the genetics and morphology of bats and have found much common ground (unlike in some other groups of organisms where there has been more contention than compatibility). These facts, and the enthusiastic support of our authors, led us to propose this volume.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Evolutionary History of BatsFossils, Molecules and Morphology, pp. xi - xiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012