Re: Sky Monsters - Nat. Geo. channel

[Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:02:56 -0600 Tim Williams
<twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com> writes:

> Another factor may be that the Chiroptera might have been among the 
> first 
> mammal 'orders' to evolve after the K/T extinction, when placental 
> diversification was proceeding at a rapid tempo.
> 
> >Of course, you'd still expect there to be some gliding outgroups,
> 
> Bats probably evolved from a mammal that at least looked like a 
> colugo, 
> given that colugos already have a patagium between the fingers and 
> toes (see 
> below).  Gliding marsupials and rodents do not have these patagial 
> 'mittens'.  You can see why the idea that bats and colugos share a 
> unique 
> ancestry was so attractive.  There are some researchers who still 
> support a 
> colugo-bat link, and fie to the molecular evidence.


While we're on the subject of bats:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-01-24-batbrains_x.htm


<pb>
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