The modern Suborder Microchiroptera were recently divided into seven superfamilies which indicate the evolutionary affinities among the 18 families*.

These super-families are:
-Emballonuroidea, which includes the Emballonuridae
-Rhinopomatoidea, which includes the Rhinopomatidae and Craseonycteridae;
-Rhinolophoidea, which includes the Nycteridae, Megadermatidae, Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae* ;
-Noctilionoidea, which includes the Mystacinidae, Noctilionidae, Mormoopidae, and Phyllostomidae;
-Nataloidea, which includes the Myzopodidae, Thyropteridae, Furipteridae and Natalidae;
-Molossoidea, which includes the Molossidae and the Antrozoidae;
-Vespertilionoidea, which includes the Vespertilionidae.

The fossil record of bats extends back at least to the early Eocene. Unlike most other fossil bats, Icaronycteris, Archaeonycteris, Hassianycteris, and Palaeochiropteryx, have not been referred to any extant family or superfamily. These Eocene taxa are known from exceptionally well-preserved fossils, and they have long formed a basis for reconstructing the early evolutionary history of Chiroptera (Simmons and Geisler, 1998).

* The classification in this programme follows Simmons and Geisler, 1998 except that the Rhinolophidae are not divided into the subfamilies Hipposiderinae and Rhinolophinae.