Seychelles sheath-tailed bat Coleura seychellensis evolution
The Seychelles sheath-tailed bat belongs to the genus Coleura which is restricted to Africa, Arabia, Madagascar and Seychelles. Three species have been described:
| African sheath-tailed bat | Seychelles sheath-tailed bat | Madagascar sheath-tailed bat |
| Coleura afra | Coleura seychellensis | Coleura kirbomalandy |
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The most widespread of these is the African sheath-tailed bat (Africa and Arabia) and it appears that this spread eastward into the Indian Ocean. It spread topMadagascar and bats from Madagascar later colonised Seychelles, giving rise to the two island species.
Desrcription of the new species from Madagascar and more detail on their evolution:
- Goodman, S.M., S.J. Puechmaille, N. Friedli-Weyeneth, J. Gerlach, M. Ruedi, M.C. Schoeman, W.T. Stanley & E.C. Teeling. 2012. Phylogeny of the Emballonurini (Emballonuridae) with descriptions of a new genus and species from Madagascar. Journal of Mammalogy 93(6): 1440-1455
