First Neogene bat from India: implications for a possible radiation of Vespertilioninae during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

A new vespertilionid species, Nycticeinops kutchensis sp. nov., is described here based on an isolated m2 from the lowermost Upper Miocene (Tortonian, ca. 10–11 Ma) of Kutch, western India. This species is the first named Neogene bat from India. It is also the earliest fossil record for the genus Nycticeinops Hill and Harrison, 1987, and the hypsugine group in which it is included. It is suggested that the hypsugin bats likely originated in the Indian subcontinent and rapidly dispersed as part of an apparent Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum-related radiation within the subfamily Vespertilioninae.