"Uncovering the Oldest and Strangest Bat Species Yet"

Two 52 million-year-old bat skeletons discovered in Wyoming are the oldest ever found and belong to a never-before-seen species, Icaronycteris gunnelli. The newfound species was slightly smaller than the closest known related bat species, Icaronycteris index. The fossils were discovered in the Green River Formation, and their discovery has triggered a reshuffle in the classification of early bats to include the newfound species in the family tree. The researchers think that Green River bats evolved independently from other Eocene bats.