Brachipposideros nooraleebus facts for kids

Brachipposideros nooraleebus was an amazing bat that lived a very long time ago. It is now extinct, meaning it no longer exists on Earth. Scientists know about this bat from many fossil discoveries at the Riversleigh fossil site in Australia. Its closest living relative today is the orange leaf-nosed bat, which still lives in the same area.

Meet the Riversleigh Leaf-Nosed Bat

This ancient bat is often called the Riversleigh leaf-nosed bat. It was a type of hipposiderid bat, which is a family of bats known for their unique nose shapes. These bats looked a lot like the orange leaf-nosed bat we see today.

What Did It Look Like?

The Riversleigh leaf-nosed bat had a special leaf-shaped structure on its nose. This wasn't just for looks! It was a fleshy, detailed part that helped the bat find its food. Its wingspan was about 150 millimeters, which is about the length of a typical pencil. Like other bats, its ears were shaped to catch sound. They even had grooves to help them hear better. Unlike some other bats, it didn't have a large, fleshy part called a tragus inside its ear.

How Did It Find Food?

Brachipposideros nooraleebus used a special skill called echolocation to hunt. This is like having built-in sonar! The bat would make very high-pitched sounds in its voice box (larynx). These sounds would then come out through its nose. When the sound waves hit something, like a flying insect, they would bounce back to the bat's ears. By listening to the echoes, the bat could figure out where the insect was and how far away it was. This helped it catch its prey in the dark.

Where Did It Live?

These bats lived in limestone caves in huge groups, sometimes with as many as five thousand bats! They lived between 24 and 16 million years ago, during a time called the Miocene epoch. Scientists have found lots of evidence of them at the Riversleigh site. They think these bats lived until the early Miocene period ended.

Another ancient bat, Australonycteris clarkae, was also found fossilized in the same region. It lived even earlier, about 55 million years ago, making it one of the oldest bats ever discovered.

Today, the closest relatives of Brachipposideros nooraleebus are living bats found in places like Madagascar and Vietnam. There are also extinct bat species that were related to it found in France and the Arabian Peninsula.