Overview
- The peer-reviewed paper published Wednesday in Nature reports that bats most likely arose in Europe about 65 million years ago and makes the full genomic dataset publicly available.
- Researchers combined 103 high-quality, chromosome-level genomes (including 42 newly assembled) with 44 fossil taxa and advanced models to produce the most comprehensive bat phylogeny to date.
- Analyses place powered flight and laryngeal echolocation at or near the base of the bat tree, showing both traits appeared very early in bat evolution and helped drive their rapid diversification.
- The team reconstructed an ancestral bat genome with an inferred 26-chromosome karyotype and revised biogeographic routes that trace early spread from Europe into Africa and then worldwide.
- About one-third of sampled tissues came from the Royal Ontario Museum’s liquid‑nitrogen collection, and researchers say the public dataset will speed work on bat disease resistance, longevity and conservation priorities.