A bony connection signals laryngeal echolocation in bats

Nina Veselka, David D. McErlain, David W. Holdsworth, Judith L. Eger, Rethy K. Chhem, Matthew J. Mason, Kirsty L. Brain, Paul A. Faure and M. Brock Fenton ()
Additional contact information
Nina Veselka: Department of Biology,
David D. McErlain: Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute,
David W. Holdsworth: Imaging Research Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute,
Judith L. Eger: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada
Rethy K. Chhem: Medical University of Vienna
Matthew J. Mason: Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK
Kirsty L. Brain: Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK
Paul A. Faure: Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada
M. Brock Fenton: Department of Biology,

Nature, 2010, vol. 463, issue 7283, 939-942

Abstract: A bone of echolocation Bats are highly specialized mammals — they can all fly, and many use echolocation to communicate and find prey. Work on a primitive fossil bat Onychonycteris finneyi suggested that although it could fly, it would not have been able to echolocate. Now a microcomputed tomography study of 26 bat species shows that in bats that use larynx-generated clicks to echolocate, the stylohyal bone in the throat is connected to the tympanic bone in the ear region of the skull. This condition is found in Onychonycteris, once again reopening basic questions about the timing and the origin of flight and echolocation in the early evolution of bats.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08737

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