Sheath-tailed bats (Family Emballonuridae) from the early Pleistocene Rackham’s Roost Site cave deposit in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland are the oldest recorded occurrence for the family in Australia. The fossil remains consist of maxillary and dentary fragments, as well as isolated teeth, but until now their precise identity has not been assessed. Our study indicates that at least three taxa are represented, and these are distinguished from other Australian emballonurids based on morphometric analysis of craniodental features. Most of the Rackham’s Roost Site emballonurid remains are referrable to the modern species Taphozous georgianus Thomas, 1915, but the extant species T. troughtoni Tate, 1952 also appears to be present, as well as a very large, as-yet undetermined species of Saccolaimus Temminck, 1838. We identify craniodental features that clearly distinguish T. georgianus from the externally very similar T. troughtoni. Results suggest that the distributions of T. georgianus and T. troughtoni may have overlapped in north-western Queensland since at least the early Pleistocene.

中文翻译：

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来自早期更新世Rackham栖息地，里弗斯利世界遗产地区的鞘尾蝙蝠（鳞翅目：Emballonuridae），以及北澳大利亚的emballonurid物种的分布

昆士兰西北部里弗斯利世界遗产保护区的早期更新世Rackham's Roost Site洞穴沉积物中的鞘尾蝙蝠（Emballonuridae家族）是该家族中记录最悠久的蝙蝠。化石的遗骸由上颌和牙齿的碎片以及孤立的牙齿组成，但是直到现在，它们的确切身份还没有得到评估。我们的研究表明至少代表了三个分类单元，并且根据颅齿特征的形态分析将它们与其他澳大利亚的emballonurids进行了区分。拉克汉姆（Rackham）栖息地的大多数emballonurid遗迹都可追溯到1915年现代物种Taphozous georgianus Thomas，但是现存的T. troughtoni Tate物种（1952年）似乎也存在，还有非常大的，尚未确定的Saccolaimus物种。特明克（1838年）。我们鉴定出颅齿特征，可以清楚地将格鲁吉亚T. georgianus与外部非常相似的T. troughtoni区分。结果表明，至少自更新世以来，昆士兰西北部的格鲁吉亚T. troughtoni和T. troughtoni的分布可能重叠。