An international team of scientists, including experts from the Department of Zoology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, the National Museum, and the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, has rewritten the evolutionary history of bats. The most comprehensive genetic and paleontological bat study to date, published in the journal Nature, reveals that the only flying mammals originated 65 million years ago in Europe. Furthermore, the findings help explain their extraordinary longevity and high resistance to infectious diseases.
The European Cradle of the Only Flying Mammals
Bats account for nearly a fifth of all living mammal species and are indispensable for maintaining healthy ecosystems by pollinating plants and consuming vast quantities of insect pests. For decades, the scientific community assumed that bats originally arose in Asia, Africa, or North America. However, a groundbreaking study by the international Bat1K consortium completely refutes these assumptions.
Fossil bat of the genus Palaeochiropteryx. Photo: Matthew F. Jones
Czech scientists played a key role in this research. Marek Uvizl and Petr Benda work at the Faculty of Science, Charles University, as well as the National Museum in Prague. The team of authors was complemented by Peter Vallo from the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Brno. Together with other experts from 64 countries, they analyzed the largest dataset to date - 103 genomes (i.e., complete genetic codes of individual species) representing all 21 known extant bat families - and integrated them with 44 fossil records from around the world. The results demonstrated that bats originated approximately 65 million years ago in Europe and spread worldwide from there via Africa.
Samples for sequencing were also provided by Petr Benda and Peter Vallo. "The small Seabran wing-gland bat (Cistugo seabrae), which we brought from Namibia for the Bat1K project, belongs to the endemic southern African family Cistugidae, which includes only two rare species," says Petr Benda from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, and the National Museum.
Flight and Biological Sonar from the Very Beginning
For the first time in history, the research team succeeded in reconstructing the genetic code of the common ancestor of all modern bats. The researchers discovered that the capacity for powered flight and echolocation—spatial navigation using ultrasonic echoes—evolved in bats almost simultaneously at the very onset of their evolution. It was this combination of traits that secured immense evolutionary success for bats.
Preparing a bat mist net during fieldwork in Namibia. From left: Petr Benda, Marek Uvizl, and Peter Vallo. Photo: Jaroslav Červený
"It is fantastic that through the combined efforts of so many people, we managed to bridge modern DNA sequencing methods with the study of fossil records, thereby unraveling the complex evolutionary history of bats and their unique traits," explains co-author Marek Uvizl from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, the National Museum, and University College Dublin.
Key to Human Health and Longevity
In addition to their ability to fly, bats are remarkable for their exceptional resistance to severe viral infections and their extraordinarily long lifespans relative to their small body mass. The newly created genetic map provides scientists for the first time with a precise guide to locating specific DNA segments responsible for these unique traits. In the future, these findings could significantly advance human medicine, particularly in understanding the mechanisms of aging and combating infectious diseases.
Bibliographic Citation:
Morales, A.E., Liang, Y., Thomas, W.R. et al. Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11007-3