{"id":2421,"date":"2026-10-01T01:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-10-01-bat-europe-origin-en\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T01:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:45:14","slug":"2026-10-01-bat-europe-origin-en","status":"publish","type":"briefing","link":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-10-01-bat-europe-origin-en\/","title":{"rendered":"The most likely bat origin shifts to Europe 65\u201360 million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-10-01 01:20 KST<\/strong><\/p>\n

An international team combined genomes from all 21 living bat families with fossil evidence and reconstructed Europe as the most likely origin of bats.<\/p>\n

The estimate of roughly 65\u201360 million years ago is a model result, not physical proof that alternative origins in Africa, Asia or North America are impossible.<\/p>\n

Why the dataset changed the tree<\/h2>\n

The study used chromosome-level genomes from 103 species, including 42 new assemblies. It added 699 anatomical characters across 65 living and extinct species and 44 pre-Quaternary fossils.<\/p>\n

When flight and echolocation appeared<\/h2>\n

Placing the roughly 50-million-year-old French fossil Vielasia in an early branch suggests laryngeal echolocation predated the major diversification of crown bats. Flight and echolocation may therefore have evolved close together early on.<\/p>\n

\"The
This AI-generated image explains the topic; it is not a photograph of an actual event, observation or field site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The limit of a European origin<\/h2>\n

The fossil record is geographically uneven and incomplete. The location comes from statistical models combining genomes, anatomy, dispersal and extinction\u2014not simply from the oldest bone yet discovered.<\/p>\n

What the new tree enables<\/h2>\n

Researchers can now compare longevity, disease resistance and flight on a firmer family tree. Older fossils and gaps in Africa and Asia could still shift the estimated place or date.<\/p>\n

Primary source and independent checks<\/h2>\n

Primary source: Nature \uc6d0 \ub17c\ubb38<\/a><\/p>\n

Institutional explanation: University College Dublin \uc5f0\uad6c \uc124\uba85<\/a><\/p>\n

Independent check: Euronews \ub3c5\ub9bd \ud655\uc778<\/a><\/p>\n

Read in other languages<\/h2>\n

\ud55c\uad6d\uc5b4<\/a> \u00b7 English<\/a> \u00b7 Espa\u00f1ol<\/a> \u00b7 \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e<\/a> \u00b7 Ti\u1ebfng Vi\u1ec7t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A model combining 103 living-species genomes and 44 fossils places bats and mammalian powered flight in late-Paleocene Europe. It does not mean researchers found the literal first bat fossil there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-2421","briefing","type-briefing","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing\/2421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/briefing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}