Hassianycteris

{{Short description|Extinct genus of bats}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Hassianycteris messelensis.jpg

| image_alt =

| image_caption = Specimen of H. messelensis from the Messel Pit of Germany

| fossil_range = Early Eocene, {{fossilrange|55.8|48.6}}

| taxon = Hassianycteris

| authority = Smith & Storch, 1981

| display_parents = 2

| type_species =

| type_species_authority =

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision_ref =

| subdivision = * {{extinct}}Hassianycteris messelensis Smith & Storch, 1981

• {{extinct}}Hassianycteris joeli? Smith & Russell, 1992
• {{extinct}}Hassianycteris kumari Smith et al., 2007
• {{extinct}}Hassianycteris magna Smith & Storch, 1981
• {{extinct}}Hassianycteris revilliodi (Russell & Sigé, 1970)

| synonyms =

| synonyms_ref =

}}

Hassianycteris is an extinct genus of Early Eocene (Ypresian) to Middle Eocene (Lutetian) bats from the Hassianycterididae with four or five known species: the type (H. messelensis), H. magna, and H. revilliodi, all found in the Messel pit, Germany,Smith, J.D. Storch, G. (1981): New Middle Eocene bats from “Grube Messel” near Darmstadt, W-Germany. Senckenbergiana biologica, 61 (3/4): 153-167.Richter, G. & Storch, G. (1980): Beiträge zur Ernährungsbiologie eozäner Fledermäuse aus der "Grube Messel". Natur und Museum, 110 (12), p. 353-367{{Citation |last=Smith |first=Thierry |title=Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats |date=2012 |work=Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules and Morphology |pages=23–66 |editor-last=Gunnell |editor-first=Gregg F. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/evolutionary-history-of-bats/systematics-and-paleobiogeography-of-early-bats/4E2C021DC0CE6B41A17F1AA7E0E38580 |access-date=2024-01-23 |series=Cambridge Studies in Morphology and Molecules: New Paradigms in Evolutionary Bio |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139045599.003 |isbn=978-0-521-76824-5 |last2=Habersetzer |first2=Jörg |last3=Simmons |first3=Nancy B. |last4=Gunnell |first4=Gregg F. |editor2-last=Simmons |editor2-first=Nancy B.|url-access=subscription }} H. kumari, found in the Cambay Shale Formation (Vastan Lignite Mine), India,T. Smith, R. S. Rana, P. Missiaen, K. D. Rose, A. Sahni, H. Singh, and L. Singh. 2007. High bat (Chiroptera) diversity in the Early Eocene of India. Naturwissenschaften 94(12):1003-1009 and the possible fifth species "H." joeli, found in the Kortijk Clay Formation, Belgium,T. Smith and R. Smith. 2003. Terrestrial mammals as biostratigraphic indicators in upper Paleocene-lower Eocene marine deposits of the southern North Sea Basin. Geological Society of America Special Paper 369:513-520 which may instead belong to Onychonycteridae. The Messel bats Palaeochiropteryx and Hassianycteris (alive roughly 48 million years ago) are the first fossil mammals whose colouration has been discovered: both were reddish-brown when alive.{{cite web |url=http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/science-original-color-extinct-bats-03283.html |title=Paleontologists Determine Original Color of Extinct Bats |date=29 September 2015 |access-date=10 September 2017 |publisher=SciNews}}{{cite journal |first1=C. |last1=Colleary |first2=A. |last2=Dolocanc |first3=J. |last3=Gardnerd |first4=Suresh |last4=Singha |first5=M. |last5=Wuttkee |year=2015 |title=Chemical, experimental, and morphological evidence for diagenetically altered melanin in exceptionally preserved fossils |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=112 |issue=41 |pages=12592–12597 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1509831112 |pmc=4611652 |bibcode=2015PNAS..11212592C |pmid=26417094|doi-access=free }}