Onychonycteris known species, hence "Onychonycteris" meaning "clawed bat". The specific epithet is a tribute to the fossil prospector and preparator who discovered it, Bonnie Finney. "Onychonycteris finneyi" was the strongest evidence so far in the debate on whether bats developed echolocation before or after they evolved the ability to fly. "O. finneyi" had well-developed wings, and could clearly fly, but lacked the enlarged cochlea of all extant echolocating bats, closer resembling the old world fruit bats which do not echolocate. This indicates that early bats could fly before they could echolocate. However, an independent evaluation of the "Onychonycteris" reference fossil in
Echolocation jamming Moth clicks were played through a loudspeaker as bats tried to capture mealworms catapulted through the air. Moth clicks caused bats to veer away from the mealworms, but echolocation calls played through the speaker did not, causing the authors to conclude that the moth clicks themselves dissuaded the bats. However, it was later determined that the moth clicks were played at an unnaturally loud level, invalidating this conclusion. In subsequent years Dunning conducted further experiments to show that moth clicks serve a warning function. That is, they communicate to bats that the moths are toxic, as many moths accumulate toxic