Icarops facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Icarops |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Mystacinidae |
| Genus: | †Icarops Hand et al., 1998 |
| Type species | |
| Icarops paradox |
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| Species | |
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Icarops was a group of ancient bats that are now extinct (meaning they no longer exist). These bats lived a very long time ago, from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene periods. That's about 23 to 16 million years ago!
Fossils of Icarops have been found in Australia, specifically at places called Riversleigh in Queensland and Bullock Creek in the Northern Territory.
What's in a Name?
The name Icarops comes from an old Greek story about a character named Icarus. In the story, Icarus flew too close to the sun. The scientists who named this bat thought of Icarus because they believed these ancient bats might have flown east from Australia all the way to New Zealand.
Types of Icarops Bats
Scientists have found fossils of three different types of Icarops bats:
- Icarops aenae
- Icarops breviceps
- Icarops paradox
Ground-Dwelling Bats
Just like their modern relatives, the short-tailed bats of New Zealand, Icarops bats were special because they spent a lot of time on the ground. Most bats fly to catch insects, but Icarops was adapted to find food on the forest floor.
Even though there were many other animals on the ground in ancient Australia, like marsupials and monotremes, Icarops still developed this unique way of life. This shows that these bats started their ground-foraging habits in mainland Australia, long before their relatives moved to New Zealand.
