microchiroptera and megachiroptera
It is a matter of great debate between scientists whether bats in the different
suborders (micro and megachiroptera) had a common ancestor. There is
evidence for both sides of the argument.
| Megachiroptera |
Microchiroptera |
| don’t hibernate |
many hibernate |
| complex visual system |
less complex visual system |
| only 1 species uses sonar (in the form of tongue clicks) |
use sonar (laryngeal sound) |
| no tragus |
tragus |
| no facial ornamentation |
facial ornamentation |
| claw on 2nd digit in most |
no claw on 2nd digit |
unmodified cervical vertebrae,
ventral head posture |
modified cervical vertebrae,
dorsal head posture
(enables them to bend their necks backwards, so that they can hang
straight down in a roost and arch their heads back to look around) |
| no tail/uropatagium (usually) |
tail and uropatagium (usually) |
| large body/eyes |
small body/eyes |
| short or absent angular process on dentary |
long narrow angular process on dentary |
| well-developed post orbital process |
post orbital process generally absent |
| palate extends beyond last upper molar |
Palate not extending past last upper molar
|
| low, quadritubercular flat molars without W-shape specialised for
crushing fruit |
Sharp, W-shaped cusp that can shear and crush food |