Out of the Antilles: Fossil Phylogenies Support Reverse Colonization of Bats to South America

Abstract

Previous phylogenies of extant short‐faced bats (Chiroptera Stenodermatina) supported either two colonization events from the mainland to the Antilles, or reverse colonization, but lacked both fossil data and statistical modelling of biogeography. Recent multi‐locus phylogenies of noctilionoid bats and likelihood modelling of ancestral ranges support a continental origin for the clade. We include all known extinct and extant stenodermatina species and apply statistical modelling to test competing biogeographical hypotheses.