You are here: Home :: Area NEM :: Life sciences :: Zoology

Mozafar Sharifi

Postnatal growth in Myotis blythii (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)

Keywords: Myotis blythii, Chiroptera, Growth, body mass, forearm, metacarpal-phalangeal joint

The length of the forearm, the body mass and the length of the total gap of the fourth metacarpal-phalangeal joint were measured in order to develop empirical growth curves for a free-ranging population of the lesser mouseeared bat Myotis blythii in a maternity colony in western Iran. Length of forearm and body mass followed a linear pattern of growth until day 14 (at mean rates of 1.44 mm/day and 0.43 g/day respectively), and subsequently decreased to reach a stable level. The length of the total gap of the metacarpalphalangeal joint increased up to 10 days and decreased when it closed at over 70 days. Initiation of flight occurred 3-4 weeks after birth. A method of estimation of age was derived from values of length of forearm and the total gap of the fourth metacarpal-phalangeal joint during the preflight and post flight periods.

Mammalia, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0025-1461
Volume: 68, 12/2004
Pages: 283 - 289

Show full article (external site)

Show all available items of this journal

 

Area NEM