Palaeoatmosphere facilitates a gliding transition to powered flight in the Eocene bat, Onychonycteris finneyi

Abstract The evolutionary transition to powered flight remains controversial in bats, the only flying mammals. We applied aerodynamic modeling to reconstruct flight in the oldest complete fossil bat, the archaic Onychonycteris finneyi from the early Eocene of North America. Results indicate that Ony...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Norberto P. Giannini, Alan Cannell, Lucila I. Amador, Nancy B. Simmons
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-03-01
Series:Communications Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06032-9