
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Bennett, S 
A1  - Alexander, LJ 
A1  - Crozier, RH 
A1  - Mackinlay, AG 
T1  - Are Megabats Flying Primates? Contrary Evidence from a Mitochondrial DNA Sequence
JF  - Australian Journal of Biological Sciences
JO  - Aust. Jnl. Of Bio. Sci.
Y1  - 1988
VL  - 41
IS  - 3
SP  - 327
EP  - 332
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/BI9880327 
N2  - Bats (Chiroptera) are divided into the suborders Megachiroptera (fruit bats, 'megabats') and Microchiroptera (predominantly insectivores, 'microbats'). It had been found that megabats and primates share a connection system between the retina and the midbrain not seen in microbats or other eutherian mammals, and challenging but plausible hypotheses were made that (a) bats are diphyletic and (b) megabats are flying primates. We obtained two DNA sequences from the mitochondrion of the fruit bat Pteropus poliocephalus, and performed phylogenetic analyses using the bat sequences in conjunction with homologous Drosophila, mouse, cow and human sequences. Two trees stand out as significantly more likely than any other; neither of these links the bat and human as the closest sequences. These results cast considerable doubt on the hypothesis that megabats are particularly close to primates. 
ER  -

