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Vol. 51 No. 8, 2012
Postnatal Growth and Wing Development in Kuhl’s Pipistrelle Pipistrellus kuhlii (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Captivity
Mozafar Sharifi*, Somaye Vaissi, Hossein Javanbakht, and Vahid Akmali
Center for Environmental Studies, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Razi Univ., Baghabrisham 67149, Kermanshah, Iran
Mozafar Sharifi, Somaye Vaissi, Hossein Javanbakht, and Vahid Akmali (2012) Postnatal
growth of the body mass, forearm, and epiphyseal phalangeal gap, and
changes in wing morphology including the wingspan, wing area, handwing
length, handwing area, armwing length, armwing area, aspect ratio, and
wing loading were studied in 12 Kuhl’s pipistrelles, Pipistrellus kuhlii,
which were born and reared in a flight cage. The pups at birth
had a mean ± S.E. of 1.04 ± 0.08 g of body mass and forearm length of
11.48 ± 0.45 mm. At 60 d, the mean body mass had reached 87.56%
of the adult postpartum mass (5.47 ± 0.07 g), and the mean forearm
length was 89.46% of the adult length (35.97 ± 0.86 mm). Rates of
body mass gain and forearm growth during the 1st 23 d were 0.10 ± 0.10
g/d and 0.64 ± 0.61 mm/d, respectively. The wingspan and wing
area increased linearly until 33 d of age, at which time, young bats
exhibited clumsy flight with gentle turns. Analysis of changes
occurring in the wing morphology indicated that 7 wing characteristics
exhibited rapid growth rates in the “pre-flight” period and secondary
slower growth rates in the “post-flight” period. Wingspan,
handwing length and area, armwing length and area, and total wing area
increased linearly until the age of the 1st flight, after which growth
rates significantly declined (all p < 0.000). Wing loading decreased linearly (-0.80 N/m2/d)
until 41 d of age and thereafter increased to a maximum of 25 N/m2 at
88 d of age. The aspect ratio showed a high degree of scatter in
the early stages of life, which decreased in the latter period of
growth. Additionally, linear regression equations, confidence
intervals, and prediction intervals were used for age estimations based
on data available for the forearm, body mass, total gap of the 4th
metacarpalphalangeal joint, armwing length, handwing length, and
wingspan.
Key words: Postnatal growth, Pipistrellus kuhlii, Wing development, Age estimation.
*Correspondence: Tel: 98-9181312976. Fax: 98-8314274545. E-mail:Sharifimozafar2012@gmail.com
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