Postnatal Growth and Age Estimation in the Indian Pygmy Bat Pipistrellus mimus

Isaac, Susan; Marimuthu, G.

doi:10.2307/1382721

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Efforts to analyse the age of individuals subsequent to linear growth have been fraught with practical and analytical dif®culties (Kunz & Stern, 1995). Use of linear equations derived from lengths of forearm and epiphyseal gap from known-age bats (Kunz & Anthony, 1982;Burnett & Kunz, 1982;de Paz, 1986;Isaac & Marimuthu, 1996) extends the age at which age prediction is possible. This, in turn, facilitates analyses of relationships between pup age and developmental variables such as the ontogeny of¯ight and foraging (Powers et al, 1991;Stern, Kunz & Bhatt, 1997), echolocation (Moss et al, 1997), mineral accretion (Studier & Kunz, 1995;Papadimitriou et al, 1996), and milk composition .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kunz & Anthony (1982) described a method for quantifying post-natal growth rates in bats based on linear changes in the length of the forearm and metacarpal-phalangeal epiphyseal cartilages (= epiphyseal plates). This method has made it possible to extend the period of reliable age prediction from two to four weeks in Myotis lucifugus (Kunz & Anthony, 1982), from three to six weeks in Eptesicus fuscus (Burnett & Kunz, 1982), Myotis myotis (de Paz, 1986), and Tadarida brasiliensis , and from three to seven weeks in Pipistrellus mimus (Isaac & Marimuthu, 1996). Agepredictive equations derived from these linear changes also make it possible to quantify age-related differences in such variables as wing morphology and ontogeny of ight (Powers, Kandarian & Kunz, 1991;Stern, Kunz & Bhatt, 1997), mineral accretion (Studier & Kunz, 1995;Papadimitriou, Swartz & Kunz, 1996), nightly emergence behaviour (Kunz & Anthony, 1996), ontogeny of echolocation (Moss et al, 1997), and milk composition .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in size at birth and post‐natal growth in the insectivorous bat Pipistrellus subflavus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

1998

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We describe the size and developmental state at birth, examine factors which in¯uence intra-and inter-year variation in post-natal growth, and derive age-predictive equations and logistic growth parameters for the eastern pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus sub¯avus. Ambient and roost temperature and insect abundance were lowest, and precipitation highest, before and during the post-natal growth period in 1982, as compared to 1981. We found no sex differences in the size of pups at birth or in post-natal growth rates in a given year; however, body mass and length of forearm of neonates differed signi®cantly between years, being smaller in 1982 than in 1981. During the ®rst two weeks of post-natal growth in both years, the body mass and length of forearm of pups increased linearly at mean rates of 0.15 g.day 71 and 1.12 mm.day 71 , respectively. Post-natal growth rates for length of forearm and body mass were the same during the early linear phase of growth, but the intercept for body mass was less and growth trajectories were more variable in 1982. Length of forearm was the least variable and thus most reliable character for estimating age of P. sub¯avus pups during the ®rst 14 days of post-natal growth. When length of forearm was used in combination with mean changes in the length of the fourth metacarpal-phalangeal epiphyseal gap, we derived reliable ageestimation equations ranging from 1 to 45 days. Litter size averaged 1.96 and 1.93 at birth, but this was reduced to one by the time pups became volant. At birth, litter mass represented 44, and 54% of the postpartum mass of females in 1981 and 1982, respectively. This maternal effort during pregnancy is among the highest reported for bats. At weaning, the body mass of pups approached 80% of adult post-partum body mass, and the length of forearm exceeded 90% of adult female size. Our results suggest that size at birth and post-natal growth are in¯uenced by ambient and roost temperature, rainfall, and the quantity of insects available to pregnant and lactating females. Thus, energetic constraints on both mothers and pups can lead to inter-year and inter-individual differences in maternal effort and post-natal growth of pups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in size at birth and post‐natal growth in the insectivorous bat Pipistrellus subflavus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

1998

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“…In addition, the length of total epiphyseal gap can be used as soon as the secondary centre of ossification formed and the epiphyseal gap begins to decrease linearly (after 15 days in C. sphinx). The values of linear increase in the forearm length and linear decrease in the total epiphyseal gap are used to derive equations for estimating the age of young bats in several studies (e.g., Kunz and Anthony, 1982;De Paz, 1986;Isaac and Marimuthu, 1996;Rajan and Marimuthu, 1999;Baptista et al, 2000;Cheng and Lee, 2002). Our analysis of postnatal growth based on three models showed that the logistic and Gompertz models best described the growth patterns of length of forearm and body mass of C. sphinx, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Most of the studies carried out so far on postnatal development and age estimation have been restricted mainly to microchiropterans; for example on Vespertilionidae (e.g., Krátký, 1981;De Fanis and Jones, 1995;Hughes et al, 1995;Isaac and Marimuthu, 1996;Hoying and Kunz, 1998;Swift, 2001), Molossidae , Phyllostomidae (Stern and Kunz, 1998), Megadermatidae (Rajan and Marimuthu, 1999) and Hipposideridae (Cheng and Lee, 2002). Studies on growth aspects in megachiropterans are much limited (Kunz and Stern, 1995;Kunz and Hood, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postnatal Development in the Indian Short-Nosed Fruit BatCynopterus sphinx: Growth Rate and Age Estimation

Elangovan

Priya

Raghuram

et al. 2003

Acta Chiropterologica

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“…According to Kurta and Kunz (1987) and Hayssen and Kunz (1996), the body mass of a single pup may vary from 20% to 40% of a female's post-partum mass. However, a relative mass as low as 16.6% has also been reported for Pipistrellus mimus (Isaac & Marimuthu, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Postnatal growth in the Long-fingered Bat,Miniopterus schreibersii pallidus, in Iran (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae)

Sharifi

2013

Zoology in the Middle East

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This study describes the postnatal development of body mass, forearm length and epiphyseal phalangeal gap in a free ranging population of the Long-fingered Bat, Miniopterus schreibersii pallidus Thomas, 1907, in a maternity roost in the Mahidasht cave in western Iran. The pups at birth had a mean body mass of 3.74±0.09 g and forearm length of 24.3±0.31mm. The length of forearm and body mass increased linearly during first two weeks, and thereafter maintained an apparent stability. The epiphyseal gap of the fourth metacarpal phalangeal joint increased until the thirteenth day, then decreased linearly until the 70th day and thereafter fused. The rate of body mass gain and forearm growth during the first 13 days was 0.54 g/day and 1.39 mm/day, respectively. Initiation of flight occurred three weeks after birth. A method of estimating age was derived from the values of the forearm length and the total gap of the fourth metacarpal-phalangeal joint during the pre-flight and post-flight periods.

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Postnatal Growth and Age Estimation in the Indian Pygmy Bat Pipistrellus mimus

Cited by 20 publications

References 17 publications

Variation in size at birth and post‐natal growth in the insectivorous bat Pipistrellus subflavus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

Variation in size at birth and post‐natal growth in the insectivorous bat Pipistrellus subflavus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)

Postnatal Development in the Indian Short-Nosed Fruit BatCynopterus sphinx: Growth Rate and Age Estimation

Postnatal growth in the Long-fingered Bat,Miniopterus schreibersii pallidus, in Iran (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae)

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