GoKawiilNew genome and fossil analysis revises bat family tree and origins
Researchers built a combined dataset of DNA and fossil traits to reconstruct how living bat families relate to extinct lineages and when they diverged. The study compiled morphological data from 44 pre-Quaternary fossil bats alongside genome-matched representatives of every living bat family, filtering out unreliable or redundant characters before merging this with neutral genomic sites. They applied a fossilized birth-death modeling approach to jointly estimate the bat family tree and its divergence timeline.