Assessments of the earliest bats from the Quaternary of Serra da Mesa (Goiás, Brazil): phylogenetic insights and biogeographic modelling on the new extinct species of Rhinophylla, the first fossil record of the subfamily Rhinophyllinae (Chiroptera, Mammalia)

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ABSTRACT Recovered from Quaternary deposits in Carneiro Cave (Serra da Mesa, Brazil), associated with a clayey-sandy sedimentary influx older than the overlying calcite layer, which has been dated to 182.8 ± 1.2 ka, a new extinct species of Rhinophylla is described based on a proximal radio fragment. This discovery represents one of the three oldest occurrences of Chiroptera in the exposed stratigraphic profile. The fossil record of Chiroptera consists of 1,117 bone fragments, distributed across Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentary packages. The chronology of this sedimentary sequence is established using dated layers, all of which are fully consistent with their order of deposition. A comparative study of the radioulnar morphology was conducted to determine the taxonomic identity of the new fossil bat. A strict consensus tree for phyllostomids was obtained, surprisingly consistent with recent molecular phylogenies, unequivocally places the new fossil in the subfamily Rhinophyllinae. Biogeographic modelling of Rhinophylla, typically characterised by an ecomorphology of small specialised epiphytic frugivores, suggests that around 200 ka (the fossil’s age reference) the genus may have had a broader distribution across Central Brazil than is observed today. This is consistent with the fact that Rhinophylla is currently absent in the surrounding region of the Carneiro Cave.