How did the largest combined bat genome and fossil study, published in Nature on September 23, 2026, by the Bat1k consortium’s 137 researchers from 64 countries, use genomes from 103 species representing all 21 known bat families, 44 fossil specimens, and 26 reconstructed ancestr

The study’s central advance was to combine living bats’ genomes with extinct bats’ anatomy, rather than infer their history from either record alone; it concluded that bats most likely originated in Europe about 65 million years ago and that flight and echolocation arose early in their evolution. 23 However, the available evidence supports that broad conclusion more fully than several specific claims in the question.

How the reconstruction worked

• Broad genomic sampling: The team analyzed chromosome-level genomes from 103 species spanning all 21 bat families, including 42 newly assembled genomes, providing a framework for reconstructing relationships among living bats. 16

• Adding extinct branches: The study integrated 699 anatomical characters from 65 species, including 44 pre-Quaternary fossil species and representatives of most living families, with genomic evidence. 15 Thus, “44 fossil species” is better supported than “44 fossil specimens.” 315

• Reconstructing ancestral chromosomes: Comparisons of chromosome organization supported a reconstruction of 26 ancestral bat chromosomes. 15 These were inferred ancestral states—not chromosomes or DNA recovered from the fossils.

• Geographical conclusion: The combined reconstruction favored Europe around 65 million years ago over earlier proposals favoring Asia, Africa, or North America. 23 The methodological advantage is that extinct branches can inform the reconstruction rather than leaving present-day distributions to stand in for the entire evolutionary past; nevertheless, “most likely” should not be read as definitive proof.

What is established—and what remains uncertain

• Early echolocation: Institutional accounts explicitly report that echolocation, like powered flight, evolved near the beginning of bat evolution. 24 Insufficient evidence is available here to explain the specific placement of Eochiroptera or the anatomical characters and statistical reconstruction supporting echolocation in that branch.

• Dispersal: The available institutional summaries support subsequent worldwide expansion from a European origin. 6 The retrieved Korean news report also describes movement first into Africa, followed by expansion into Asia, the Americas, and Australia, but the available primary-study excerpts do not expose the underlying biogeographical analysis.

• Timing: Approximately 65 million years ago is the reported origin estimate. 23 The supplied excerpts do not provide its uncertainty interval, so they cannot establish a precisely one-million-year interval after the asteroid impact.

• Earlier hypotheses: The sources confirm that the findings challenge Asian, African, and North American origins. 23 They do not provide enough methodological detail to assess individually how much each earlier hypothesis depended on living species, fossil incompleteness, or geographical sampling bias.

What the genomic resource could enable

The following are potential applications, not demonstrated outcomes of this study:

• Anatomy and physiology: Comparative analyses could identify candidate genetic changes associated with wings, sensory systems, longevity, and responses to viral infection. Functional experiments would still be needed to establish causation.
• Ecology and conservation: Reference genomes could support studies of population diversity, connectivity, adaptation, and species boundaries, helping guide conservation when combined with field surveys and ecological evidence.
• Completing Bat1K: This study represents the project’s first phase toward reference-quality genomes for every living bat species. 67 Shared reference data could reduce duplicated work, but cannot replace funding for sampling, sequencing, analysis, and long-term data stewardship.

Insufficient evidence in the supplied excerpts verifies the approximately 80% conservation figure, the terms of the public-data release, or the specific U.S. federal spending restrictions and their effects on Bat1K. In particular, “threatened, declining, or insufficiently studied” should not be shortened to “80% threatened”: those are different categories.