英国剑桥Hinxton Wellcome Sanger研究所Emma C. Teeling的一项最新研究的论文发现了参考基因组和化石修订蝙蝠科系统发育和生物地理学。2026年9月23日，国际知名学术期刊《自然》发表了这一成果。

蝙蝠在哺乳动物中非比寻常，独特地演化出动力飞行和喉部回声定位，以及抗病能力、延长的健康寿命和冬眠能力。然而，蝙蝠的演化历史以及对这些适应性的理解仍未得到解决。研究人员分析了来自103个蝙蝠物种的染色体级别长读长基因组组装，其中包括42个新组装，代表了全部21个蝙蝠科。这一在范围和组装质量上均有所扩展的数据集产生了新的蝙蝠系统发育。研究人员将Myzopodidae置于Vespertilionoidea内最早的分支，并解决了阳翼手类的关系，鉴定出Emballonuroidea和Vespertilionoidea为姐妹群。分析揭示了蝙蝠中镶嵌式的演化历史，并解释了此前系统发育研究被误导的原因。染色体祖先状态重建支持26条祖先蝙蝠染色体。研究人员将包含65个物种699个性状的形态学数据集——包括44件前第四纪化石和大多数现存蝙蝠科的代表——与中性演化的基因组位点相整合。化石生灭和扩散-灭绝支序发生分析表明，蝙蝠以及由此而来的动力飞行可能起源于古新世晚期的欧洲，反驳了非洲和北美起源说。将化石Vielasia置于最古老的“Eochiroptera”分支中，表明喉部回声定位早于冠群蝙蝠的多样化。包含化石分类单元的全证据定年，与仅基于分子的分化估计相比，显著减少了未代表的基部分支长度。通过整合全面的基因组和形态学数据集，并使用创新方法进行分析，研究人员解决了蝙蝠生物学中长期存在的争议，并为蝙蝠的演化历史和性状多样化提供了新见解。

附：英文原文

Title: Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography

Author: Morales, Ariadna E., Liang, Yan, Thomas, William R., Leushkin, Evgeny V., Castellanos, Francisco X., Larkin, Denis M., Brown, Tom, Fromm, Bastian, Hand, Suzanne J., Huang, Zixia, Hughes, Graham M., Jones, Matthew F., Lim, Burton K., Mai, Meike, Myers, Eugene W., Pippel, Martin, Puechmaille, Sebastien J., Simmons, Nancy B., Abueg, Linelle Ann L., Ahituv, Nadav, AlAbdulsalam, Zahran A., Alvarez van Tussenbroek, Ine, Aparicio, Dineilys V., Arcila Hernndez, Lina M., Ben Hamadou, Alexander, Benda, Petr, Blaxter, Mark, Borisenko, Alex V., Brocca, Jorge, Cabezn, Nair, Carbone, Lucia, Carvajal, Jose I., Chan, Wharton O. Y., Davis, Paul, Dechmann, Dina K. N., Denzinger, Annette, Eger, Judith L., Eiseb, Seth J., Enard, David, Engstrom, Mark D., Foley, Nicole M., Formenti, Giulio, Fuller, Jackson, Galvn, Ismael, Gamage, Akshamal M., Gemmell, Neil J., Gillum, Joanne E., Gonzales-Irribarren, Alejandro, Gonzalez, Mailyn A., Goodman, Steven M., Gray, Jonathan, Greve, Carola, Guernsey, Michael W., Gutirrez, Edgar G., Guttman, Yelena, Hackenberg, Michael, Hilario, Elena, Hilgers, Leon, Horsley, Thomas W., de Waal, Melissa R., Jafferally, Deirdre M., Jarvis, Erich D.

Issue&Volume: 2026-09-23

Abstract: Bats are extraordinary among mammals, having uniquely evolved powered flight and laryngeal echolocation, along with disease resistance, extended healthspans and the ability to hibernate1. However, the evolutionary history of bats and the understanding of these adaptations remain unresolved. We analysed chromosome-level, long-read genome assemblies from 103 bat species, including 42 new assemblies, representing all 21 bat families. This dataset, expanded in scope and assembly quality, yielded a new bat phylogeny. We placed Myzopodidae as the earliest branch within Vespertilionoidea, and resolved yangochiropteran relationships, identifying Emballonuroidea and Vespertilionoidea as sister groups. Our analysis revealed a mosaic evolutionary history across bats and explained why previous phylogenetic studies were misled. Chromosomal ancestral-state reconstructions supported 26 ancestral bat chromosomes. We integrated a morphological dataset of 699 characters for 65 species, including 44 pre-Quaternary fossils and representatives of most living bat families, with neutrally evolving genomic sites. Fossilized birth–death and dispersal–extinction cladogenesis analyses showed that bats, and thus powered flight, probably originated in Europe in the late Palaeocene, refuting African and North American origins. Placement of the fossil Vielasia in the oldest ‘Eochiroptera’ clade indicates that laryngeal echolocation predates crown-bat diversification. Total evidence dating, including the fossil taxa, significantly reduced unrepresented basal branch lengths compared with molecular-only divergence estimates. By integrating comprehensive genomic and morphological datasets, analysed using innovative methods, we resolve long-standing controversies in bat biology and provide new insights into the evolutionary history and trait diversification of bats.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11007-3