What the Hell is Onychonycteris?!

[@JohnDrummondPhoto]

I was thinking the same thing as your wife. We know fossilization takes very special circumstances and it's likely that only a very small percentage of all life that ever existed left fossil remains. But the lack of any evidence of transitional proto-bats is kinda frustrating.

[@cameronwilsey9334]

It's especially rough for things like bats because they'll have smaller, less dense bones

[@toddbennett7157]

That perfect specimen of said proto-bat showing the fluid transition could be discovered tomorrow morning!

[@martakeczek6476]

Same for pterosaurs; we still lack that sweet proto-pterosaur that could show a less developed wing and less of a beak

[@RobertGotschall]

Fruit eating bats often fly in daylight. Much less selective advantage for echolocation. I would have thought that small insectivorous mammals might use echolocation even before plausiblly evolving into bats.

[@QUIRK1019]

Hey perfect animal to study for Halloween! I also love that their evolution is still mysterious. I hope to actually see their lineage more clearly understood in my lifetime

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

Now I know what is a prehsitoric bat,so that's pretty dope

[@MrGreensweightHist]

"It falls somewhere between..." For any creationists listening, that means it is a transitional fossil.

[@yoursotruly]

All fossils are transitional fossils, change is continuous. They generally fall between fossils we've already identified because the tree is basically complete, filling in is what happens all the time but until you show them the transitional fossil between you and your grandfather, they won't be satisfied.

[@MrGreensweightHist]

@@yoursotruly Wile that is true, when they say "Transnational" the are specifically referring to ones that show distinct morphological mediums between two other verified points, and opposed to the more board, and accurate, statement that any creature that lived long enough to bear young is a transition to some degree.

[@ProfezorSnayp]

Creationists will never admit transitional forms exist. They claim these are just 'mosaic species'.

[@Dkthearn]

Well we'll know when we know

[@MrGreensweightHist]

@@Dkthearn We already know. Creationists are just a bit slower on accepting that fact

[@robrice7246]

1:42 Would a good analogue be either the Florida Everglades or the regions of Southeast Asia (mostly Java, Indonesia) as a possible representation of what Green River was like back then?

[@juggala]

I grew up like ten miles from fossil butte and it was pretty damn awesome. I have many fossils from the green river formation

[@RaptorChatter]

I wish I had something that close growing up that I knew about. I actually found some fossils less than 5 minutes from my parents house where I went to highschool. Hopefully I'll be presenting at a conference in March.

[@alexw.7097]

I wish I had a place to look for fossils, maybe I would have spent a lot more time outside growing up XD

[@holemajora598]

Hey good news, KZbin is starting to share your videos. I’m happy I clicked on this one! New subscriber keep up the good work

[@RaptorChatter]

Thanks for subscribing!

[@citizenschallengeYT]

Have you thought about doing a video features an overview of Bat DNA studies? Thanks for this video, Happy Halloween

[@robrice7246]

10:24 Bats are more closely related to the Eulipotyphlans, aka the current Inscetivorans (True shrews, true moles, hedgehogs, solenodons, etc...). They're not related to rodents and primates. Although since they're part of Laurasiatheria, that means they're also (very distantly) related to whales and dolphins since they have similar echolocation/sonar abilities. Although it's mostly the result of convergence.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

For the longest time scientist did think bats were related to primates because of similar skull morphology. Obviously they don't now and have correctly classified them with the taxa you mentioned.

[@keegancrocker4587]

Bats are the mammalian analog of pterosaurs in so many ways. From thier likely evolutionary roots to their (for the most part) ecological roles and membrane wings. 50 million years into pterosaur evolution they were mostly small and insectivorous and fruit hadnt even shown up yet eleminating that possibility. I wonder how many if any the small insectivor pterosaurs were nocturnal as well it would lend insight to the question of wither bats were forced into a nocturnal lifestyle by the already established birds having sight as thier dominant sense and the need to nitch partition like we see with similar animals sharing habitats today.

[@RaptorChatter]

So there were at least some pterosaurs that were probably nocturnal and insectivorous. the Anurognathids being the most well supported example. They disappear in the middle Cretaceous though, so there is a chance some earlier bats were flying around in parts of the latest Cretaceous, and we just may not have those fossils. Most genetic studies suggest they split from other groups at right around this time, so until there's those fossils, it's up in the air.

[@robrice7246]

8:42/9:18 But did it? Cause I do remember hearing (mostly from PBS Eons & Moth Light Media) that this bat was unable to echolocate, and that its skull was partially crushed.

[@reneeglover4819]

Same here but from a lecture on this bat....can't remember the name though :p

[@BuckROCKGROIN]

That's adaptive radation for you.

[@aceundead4750]

For some reason the words "Green River" keeps making the song Green Hell pop into my head

[@kennyhagan5781]

The algorithm brought me, cute cat meme. The video quality is very good.

[@mspicer3262]

I bought a fossil, and named her Trillian, she's my Emotional-Support Trilobite...

[@williamblansett5786]

There are some bats that eat relatively large, compared to the bat, mammals, reptiles & birds as well as parasites, i.e. vampire (blood-lapping) bats.

[@robertgotschall1246]

It sounds like they are assuming that echolocation is an adaptation for flight. I would think that any nocturnal animal would find a selective advantage for echolocation, either on the ground but especially living in a tree.

[@TheSamknu]

Preparators... Preparers?

[@TempladoRex]

Thank you for such informative videos!

[@billorarson-andersson497]

It could also be that Megabats are the most basal forms of bats, and Microbats are more derived. Onychonycteris could be a transitional form from Megabat to Microbat.

[@RobertGotschall]

While plausible, I think square cube scaling would favor a smaller version getting the power to weight ratio correct for flight.

[@robrice7246]

10:14 I do know that PBS Eons also went into this subject. 10:28/10:30 Now for me, it's kind of the mammalian version of Mark Witton's flying pterosaur hypothesis.

[@wcdeich4]

Strangely, PBS Eons said Onychonycteris could not echo-locate.

[@RaptorChatter]

Oh yeah, I totally misread one of my sources. I just mixed up two of the early bats and so made the mistake there. The rest of the info is still good though.

[@wcdeich4]

@@RaptorChatter That's cool, happens to everyone.

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

The Jamaican fruit bat is a microchiropteran though. Megachiropterans only live in the old world and Australia-Oceania.

[@RaptorChatter]

Yeah, there are a few odd microchiropterans which are also fruit eaters, but the handful of them isn't really comparable to the larger number of megachiropterans which are fruit eaters.

[@obiwahndagobah9543]

@@RaptorChatter That's right. The thing I ment though was, that in your slide at 0:24 about megachiropterans and microchiropterans, you did put the Jamaican fruit bat in the megachiropteran box.

[@maxberardi2146]

da ROM comin thru

[@owenwildish331]

Love bats

[@toddbennett7157]

What sane person DOESN'T??!!

[@jerseyboyce1]

ive dug fossils at fossil butte its awesome

[@mathughsyoutubeworld2655]

It’s the annoying frick in caves who keeps giving me rabies.

[@peterchristmas1113]

If bats have always had echolocation when did it evolve because I thought it was a complicated type of navigation and that would’ve taken millions of years to evolve

[@ANTSEMUT1]

We are still missing fossils for the basal forms of bats that haven't developed flight yet, so far the fossils of bats we've discovered already had developed flight. So sometime during their pre flight evolution.

[@patrick_j_lee]

I've seen the holotype at the R.O.M.

[@maozilla9149]

great video

[@varotsip]

According to Nancy Simmons who described Onychonycteris, it could NOT echolocate, where does your information come from?

[@RaptorChatter]

Yeah, I messed that up. I was writing this very quickly and right after getting back from the field, so just miss read the caption on the figure. Whoops. I do think with the other bat's from around that time it does help to show that they still did evolve echolocation shortly after flying, though distinctly afterwards.

[@varotsip]

Then maybe you should correct it as it is material to bat evolution

[@raphlvlogs271]

why are there no omnivorous bats?

[@toddbennett7157]

It's possible that some of the larger phyllostomid bats actually are!

[@yoursotruly]

Africa: Birthplace of humanity Mesopotamia: Birthplace of civilization United States: Birthplace of bats

[@raphlvlogs271]

bats are that successful because they adapt really well to foreign environments.

[@gabr.7878]

Cool

[@wynnnnnnn5227]

3,288th

[@Bobsry16]

This isn't evolution we have seen a reduction in gene diversity. Change is within the information that bats always had! Fruit bats are interesting vegetarian (omnivore) critters!