What is the difference between bats and lemurs?

Answer 1

Which other mammals are related to the bats?While bats are highly specialized for flight, they share anatomical characters with the Insectivora, the mammalian taxon that includes shrews and moles. These characters, however, are probably symplesiomorphies, fundamental to mammals as a whole, and not indicating a close relationship between bats and insectivorans.

Bats are thought to be related most closely to the Dermoptera, a small order of mammals (two species) which includes the colugos or "flying lemurs" of the Phillippines. Colugos do not fly, but can glide using a web of skin stretched between their arms and legs, rather like flying squirrels (to which they are not closely related). Perhaps surprisingly, bats are also related to the Primates, the mammal taxon that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes, and humans; and to the Scandentia, the Asian tropical tree shrews. All these mammals are sometimes classified together in one large taxon, the Archonta. Find out more about bats and how they relate to other mammals at the Tree of Life site.