Cambridge University Press published "Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules and Morphology" edited by Gregg F. Gunnell and Nancy B. Simmons. Advances in morphological and molecular methods continue to uncover new information on the origin and evolution of bats. Presenting some of the most remarkable discoveries and research involving living and fossil bats, this book explores their evolutionary history from a range of perspectives. Phylogenetic studies based on both molecular and morphological data have established a framework of evolutionary relationships that provides a context for understanding many aspects of bat biology and diversification.

• Contents

In addition to detailed studies of the relationships and diversification of bats, the topics covered include the mechanisms and evolution of powered flight, evolution and enhancement of echolocation, feeding ecology, population genetic structure, ontogeny and growth of facial form, functional morphology and evolution of body size. The book also examines the fossil history of bats from their beginnings over 50 million years ago to their diversification into one of the most globally wide-spread orders of mammals living today.

Contents

• 1. Phylogenies, fossils and functional genes: the evolution of echolocation in bats by Emma C. Teeling, Serena Dool and Mark Springer
• 2. Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats by Thierry Smith, J'rg Habersetzer, Nancy B. Simmons and Gregg F. Gunnell
• 3. Shoulder joint and inner ear of Tachypteron franzeni, an emballonurid bat from the middle Eocene of Messel by Jörg Habersetzer, Evelyn Schlosser-Sturm, Gerhard Storch and Bernard Sigé
• 4. Evolutionary history of the Neotropical Chiroptera: the fossil record by Gary S. Morgan and Nicholas J. Czaplewski
• 5. New Basal Noctilionoid Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Oligocene of Subtropical North America by Nicholas J. Czaplewski and Gary S. Morgan
• 6. Necromantis Weithofer, 1887, large carnivorous middle and late Eocene bats from the French Quercy Phosphorites: new data and unresolved relationships by Suzanne Hand, Bernard Sigé and Elodie Maitre
• 7. African Vespertilionoidea (Chiroptera) and the antiquity of Myotinae by Gregg F. Gunnell, Thomas P. Eiting and Elwyn L. Simons
• 8. Evolutionary and ecological correlates of population genetic structure in bats by Kevin J. Olival
• 9. A bird? A plane? No, it's a bat: an introduction to the biomechanics of bat flight by Sharon M. Swartz, Jose Iriarte-D'az, Daniel K. Riskin and Kenneth S. Breuer
• 10. Toward an integrative theory on the origin of bat flight Norberto P. Giannini
• 11. Molecular timescale of diversification of feeding strategy and morphology in New World Leaf-Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae): a phylogenetic perspective by  Robert J. Baker, Olaf R. P. Bininda-Emonds, Hugo Mantilla-Meluk, Calvin A. Porter and Ronald A. Van Den Bussche
• 12. Why tribosphenic? On variation and constraint in developmental dynamics of chiropteran molars by Ivan Horáček and František Špoutil
• 13. Necromantodonty, the primitive condition of lower molars among bats by Bernard Sigé by Elodie Maitre and Suzanne Hand
• 14. Echolocation, evo-devo, and the evolution of bat crania by Scott C. Pedersen and Douglas W. Timm
• 15. Vertebral fusion in bats: phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships by Dawn J. Larkey, Shannon L. Datwyler and Winston C. Lancaster
• 16. Early evolution of body size in bats by Norberto P. Giannini, Gregg F. Gunnell, Jörg Habersetzer and Nancy B. Simmons

About the Editors

Gregg F. Gunnell

Nancy B. Simmons