First study of the bat fossil record from Macaronesia

JAVIER GONZÁLEZ DIONIS; PENÉLOPE CRUZADO-CABALLERO; VICENTE D. CRESPO; CAROLINA CASTILLO RUIZ; ELENA CADAVID-MELERO

Oxford

Congreso; 64th Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting. Virtual Annual Meeting 2020; 2020

The Palaeontological Association

The Macaronesian Region is made up of a group of five mid-Atlantic volcanic archipelagos(the Azores, Madeira, the Savage Islands, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde), with islandages ranging from 0.27 Ma (Pico, Azores) to 29.5 Ma (Savage Islands). They are assignedto a single biodiversity hotspot, the Mediterranean Basin. Although the extant bats inMacaronesia are well known, with 15 species including three endemic species and twoendemic subspecies, the fossil record is poorly known. The Canary Islands are the onlyarchipelago with fossil records formed by four unstudied sites: Cueva de la Enladrillada(800BP ± 50 years, Holocene) in Tenerife, Cueva Honda del Bejenado (700 ka?750 ka,Pleistocene) in La Palma, Cueva de los Verdes in Lanzarote and Cueva Roja in El Hierro.Cueva de los Verdes has been dated by 40Ar/39Ar to 21,000 ± 6,500 years (Pleistocene), andits remains identified as Pipistrellus kuhlii, a species that does not currently inhabit theisland. Cueva Roja is dated to between 4,000?2,000 years BP (Holocene). Two endemicspecies from the Macaronesian have been identified here, Plecotus teneriffae and Pipistrellusmaderensis, both species currently inhabiting El Hierro. At the other three sites, the batremains are undetermined.