Vulcanops jennyworthyae is an extinct species of bat that lived during the Miocene in New Zealand, a large burrowing microchiropteran that probably ate arthropods and plant material around twenty million years before present.
[2] The new genus and species were placed within the family Mystacinidae, commonly called the burrowing bats.
[3] The eponym for the specific epithet "jennyworthyae" is Jennifer P. Worthy "in recognition of her pivotal role in revealing the diversity of the St Bathans Fauna.
[3] Based on the mean of several extrapolations from the size of its teeth, Vulcanops jennyworthyae would have weighed slightly less than 40 grams (1.4 oz).
[2] Their diet likely included a range of animals and plants and more closely resembled that of distantly related South American Yangochiroptera species than other Mystacinidae, consuming greater amounts of plant-based foods than the smaller and more carnivorous modern Mystacinid species.