Norberto P. Giannini and Paúl M. VelazcoThe superfamily Noctilionoidea comprises more than 230 species in 68 genera and is one of the most ecologically diverse groups of mammals, as its species consume almost the entire dietary spectrum known for terrestrial mammals, including insectivorous, omnivorous, carnivorous, piscivorous, nectarivorous, hematopagous, and frugivorous species. Here we 1) revisit the relationships of the superfamily with other groups of bats, and the family-level phylogenetic relationships within the group; 2) review the historical biogeography of the superfamily on the basis of phylogenies and the fossil record of the constituent noctilionoid families; and 3) provide an overview of the ecology of members of noctilionoid families, which collectively compose the most inclusive outgroup to the Phyllostomidae. Finally, we interpret the historical and ecological grounds and evolutionary context from which the Phyllostomidae diversified.
0 Comments
Theodore H. FlemingI review changes in the climate, geology, and biota of the New World tropics and subtropics over the past 30 million years to understand the physical and biological opportunities and constraints phyllostomid bats faced during their adaptive radiation. This radiation occurred during a period of decreasing atmospheric CO2 levels, decreasing global air and sea temperatures, and increasing climatic seasonality that have led to the evolution of a great diversity of vegetation types, including tropical dry forests, montane forests, savannas, and deserts. Reinforcing the effects of temperature changes was the uplift of the major mountains in western North America, Central America, and western South America. Most of the extant diversity of New World noctilionoids is found on the Neotropical mainland in lowland forested habitats, which have existed in one form or another throughout the Americas since the late Cretaceous. A minority of species has evolved in more recent dry or arid habitats, in the mountains, or in the West Indies. Early phyllostomids were gleaning insectivores whose diets differed from those of other families of insectivorous bats. This foraging mode was a key adaptation that led to the radiation of later lineages into several novel (for the New World) dietary niches, including blood-feeding, vertebrate carnivory, nectarivory, and frugivory. Dietary overlap is low between plant-visiting phyllostomids and their avian and mammalian ecological counterparts, reflecting the outcome of coevolution between these bats and their food plants over the past 20 million years.
Theodore H. Fleming, Liliana M. Dávalos, and Marco A. R. MelloThis book discusses in detail the adaptive radiation of American leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae), the most diverse family morphologically, behaviorally, and trophically of all bats. It is divided into five major sections that cover the family’s evolution, classification, and historical biogeography; many aspects of its basic biology; its trophic, population, and community ecology; and its conservation. Because of its biological diversity, this family can serve as a model system for understanding the adaptive radiation of mammals in the last half of the Cenozoic Era.
Andrea L. Cirranello and Nancy B. SimmonsTaxonomy – the discovery, description, and naming of organisms - is central to modern biology. Although many researchers assume that most mammal taxa are already known – and have been for decades – this is not necessarily true for small mammals including bats. Examination of patterns of taxonomic discovery over the last 200+ years reveals that we are currently in a taxonomic “Golden Age” for phyllostomid bats with more than 40 species discovered and described since 2001. Although the pace of discovery was slow throughout the 1700s, by 1850 representatives from 10 of the 11 subfamilies that we recognize today had been described, 22 genera had been named, and 39 phyllostomid species had been identified as specimen collections were amassed in European institutions. However, it was not until the early 1900s that a peak in descriptions occurred, with more than 20 species still considered valid described in the decade between 1901-1910. Most taxa described in the 19th and 20th centuries were described by scientists based in Europe, but research activity and descriptions of new taxa shifted to North American institutions between 1950 and 2000. Since 2001, the majority of published species descriptions have been authored or co-authored by researchers from Central and South American institutions. The latest surge in taxonomic discovery has been fueled by a focus on phylogeny and geography and new tools such as powerful computers, new molecular techniques, and data networks, although most new species descriptions continue to rely on morphological and morphometric data. Summarizing the current known diversity of Phyllostomidae, we here recognize 216 valid species in 60 genera and 11 subfamilies.
|
Meet the editors!
Theodore H. Fleming, Liliana M. Dávalos, & Marco A. R. Mello Keywords
All
|