Description

Vespertiliavus sp.
Late Eocene (Ludian)
Phosphorites de Quercy
Near Cahors, Les Rozieres, France
3mm rooted premolar of a rare extinct bat

Mammal. Chiroptera.

Vespertiliavus is an extinct genus of bat known from the middle Eocene to late Oligocene of Europe – best known from the Quercy Phosphorites of France. It is an early representative of a family, the Emballonuridae (the microbats), that still lives today.

The fossil record of bats dates back to the earliest Eocene, but because of a diversity of genera described from that time, their history certainly extends back into the Paleocene. Unfortunately, only teeth and jaws have been collected from apparent Paleocene forms but complete skeletons showing full flight capability have been studied from the late-Early Eocene of Wyoming.

Fossil bat remains appear on the market only occasionally. A bat tooth is the kind of thing that even some experienced mammal collectors have not considered when looking for new specimens for their collections.