Abstract
The New Zealand endemic bat family Mystacinidae comprises just two Recent species referred to a single genus, Mystacina. The family was once more diverse and widespread, with an additional six extinct taxa recorded from Australia and New Zealand. Here, a new mystacinid is described from the early Miocene (19–16 Ma) St Bathans Fauna of Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. It is the first pre-Pleistocene record of the modern genus and it extends the evolutionary history of Mystacina back at least 16 million years. Extant Mystacina species occupy old-growth rainforest and are semi-terrestrial with an exceptionally broad omnivorous diet. The majority of the plants inhabited, pollinated, dispersed or eaten by modern Mystacina were well-established in southern New Zealand in the early Miocene, based on the fossil record from sites at or near where the bat fossils are found. Similarly, many of the arthropod prey of living Mystacina are recorded as fossils in the same area. Although none of the Miocene plant and arthropod species is extant, most are closely related to modern taxa, demonstrating potentially long-standing ecological associations with Mystacina.
Highlights
New Zealand’s only native terrestrial mammals are three bat species: the insectivorous Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Forster, 1844) and the omnivorous Mystacina tuberculata Gray, 1843 and M. robusta Dwyer, 1962
We review the fossil record for plants that are pollinated, dispersed, eaten or used as roosts by modern Mystacina, as well as their arthropod prey, and note potentially deep-rooted ecological associations between New Zealand’s endemic bats, vegetation and arthropod prey
The new large mystacinid from St Bathans, Central Otago is referred to Mystacina and provides the first pre-Pleistocene record for New Zealand’s endemic bat genus
Summary
New Zealand’s only native terrestrial mammals are three bat species: the insectivorous Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Forster, 1844) and the omnivorous Mystacina tuberculata Gray, 1843 and M. robusta Dwyer, 1962. Chalinolobus tuberculatus belongs to the cosmopolitan bat family Vespertilionidae. It has close living relatives in Australia and the southwest Pacific (e.g., Chalinolobus gouldii and C. neocaledonicus), and molecular data suggest its ancestor dispersed to New Zealand during the last 2 million years [1]. The two Recent Mystacina species are well-represented in Quaternary deposits throughout New Zealand [8], the oldest record being 17,340 +/- 140 BP yrs BP (uncalibrated), from Hermit’s Cave, near Charleston, South Island [9].
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