Genomes of 103 bat species place the origin of bats, and of powered flight in mammals, in Europe

2 October 2026

A study in Nature, in the issue dated 1 October 2026, reports chromosome-level long-read genome assemblies from 103 bat species, of which 42 are new, representing all 21 bat families. The authors combined the genomes with 44 pre-Quaternary fossils to rebuild the bat family tree. Their analyses conclude that bats, and therefore powered flight in mammals, probably originated in Europe in the late Palaeocene, rather than in Africa or North America as earlier hypotheses had proposed. The study resolves the long-disputed position of the Madagascar sucker-footed bat family, Myzopodidae, placing it as the earliest branch within the superfamily Vespertilionoidea instead of within Noctilionoidea. It also identifies Emballonuroidea and Vespertilionoidea as sister groups and supports a reconstruction of 26 ancestral bat chromosomes. Placing the fossils on the tree indicates that laryngeal echolocation predates the diversification of crown bats. The work appears alongside a companion paper on Myotis bat genomes and longevity.