Spatial characterisation of the soft tissues preserved in new natural mummies from the Quercy, France: 35 Myo chiropteran heads

The Quercy phosphorites are one of the very rare fossil deposit that yielded tetrapods with soft tissues fossilised in their alive body-dimensions (or "natural mummies").Preserved in calcium phosphate, reproducing tissues at their finest resolution, these mummies have proven great interests to document the paleobiology of these lineages, in particular through their analyses in PPC-SRμCT. Recently, a new set of Quercy mummies was reported: heads of 35 Ma bats with their soft tissues. Representing the first mammalian instance of this preservation, we undertake to finely characterize the morphology of their hard and soft tissues, including to the ultrastructural level.Using PPC-SRμCT, we will analyse how the rhinarium and auditive areas inform on echolocation strategy of these extinct bats. We will secondarily acquire scans at higher resolution on specific areas of the preserved tissues (ex: skin, tongue muscles) to assess their degrees of ultrastructural preservation (glands, cells).