Postnatal Development of External Characters and Behavior in Young Pipistrellus Abramus
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1980年9月 117 Postnatal Development of External Characters and Behavior in Young Pipistrellus abramus Ryuzo MoRn Takase Senior High School, Takase, Mitoyo, Kagawa, JAPAN ABSTRACT.- Selected aspects of postnatal development of young Pipistrellus abramus are presented and summarized. Data regarding development that are available for some other species of bat are compared. Introduction The postnatal development of the Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus abramus (TEM- MINCK,1840) has been less known except for NIWA (1936), UCHIDA(1950; 1966) and MORII (1978): NIWA (1936) described the morphology of new born young; UCHIDA (1950) reported that a mother bat never flies holding her young; UCHIDA(1966) de- scribed the time of eyes opening and the beginning of flight; MoRn (1978) showed the tooth replacement. This paper describes the time of eyes opening, ears erection, change of skin and pelage, beginning of flight, and young-mother association in this bat. Materials and Method One hundred sixty-seven specimens of P. abramus were taken at Mitoyo, Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan from 1971 to 1978. The method of collection of these specimens was previously shown by MoRn (1978). All specimens were weighed and their external characters were measured. The condition of eyes opening and ears erection was observed with the naked eye. The appearance of hair was examined with a binocular microscope of 30 magnifications. The age of each specimen was determined as follows. Table 1 shows the number of mothers just after parturition and of new born young collected from July 4 to 9, 1976. There was no other date of parturition in 1976. Since one-third of these pregnant females bore young on July 5, 1976, it is safely assumed that the day of Table 1. The number of mothers just after parturition and that of new born young in Pipistrellus abramus in July, 1976. Twenty-one mothers were collected on July 3, 1976. 118 哺 乳 動 物 学 雑 誌 Vol. 8, No. 4 birth of new young in 1971-78 was mainly distributed on the 5th of July. So in this study the birth day of new born young was determined as the 5th of July. Therefore the variation of days of age in each specimen is from + 1 day to -4 days. Results and Discussion Eyes and ears At birth the lids of the eyes in both sexes were sealed, but the line of fusion was evident. Young at the age of eight and nine days opened both eyes (8/9). UCHIDA(1966) found the similar finding in this species that the eyes opening was at the age of eight days. The eyes of young opened at the age of 14 days in Rhinolophus cornutus (YOKOYAMA et al., 1979), at 15 days in R. ferrumequinum (KURAMOTO,1977), at five to ten days in Myotis macrodactylus (MAEDA, 1976), at four to ten days in Nyctalus lasiopterus (MAEDA,1972), at 18 and 24 hours after their birth in Nycticeius humeralis (JoNES, 1967), at 12 days in Lasiurus cinereus (BoGAN, 1972), and at the age of two to five days in Antrozous pallidus (DAVIS,1969), respectively. The young just after birth had pinnae that were folded over. When the young in both sexes were one day old, the majority of pinnae were folded (83 %). When the young were three days old, the pinnae were unfolded in the 80 per cent of the specimens studied. The ears of young were erected at the age of six to nine days in M. macrodactylus (MAEDA,1976), at three to seven days in Nycta. lasiopterus (MAEDA,1972), at two to three days in Nycti. humeralis (JONES,1967), and at three days of age in L. cinereus (BoGAN, 1972), respectively. Skin and pelage At birth the young bats had slightly dark pigmentation on the feet, membranes, tips of the pinnae, and lips. The young had more pigmentation on the dorsal sides of the back and head at about one day of age than at birth. Pig- mentation became evident on the venter at about three days of age. The skin was very wrinkled and had the appearance of being hard, but was soft and pliable to the touch. In the young at five days old, a few hairs appeared on the dorsum at the head and on the base of the uropatagium. In the young at nine days old, the fur became apparent on the dorsum of the head and the shoulder. At 14 days of age, the young were furred completely with black hair on the dorsum and with long, dark fur over the scapulae. In contrast to the dorsum, the venter was slightly grayish white in color. The general appearance of the pelage remained unchanged until the young were approximately 50 days of age. After then the hair became slightly hard, which was similar to that of adult. The hair of the young at about 100 days of age was black, while that of the adult was colored slightly brown. So it was pos- sible to distinguish young from adult in this character. Fur covering was-completed at five days of age in R. ferrumequinum (KURAMOTO, 1977), at eight or nine days in Nycti. humeralis (JONES,1967), at 18 days in L. cinereus (BoGAN, 1972), and at 14 to 20 days of age in A. pallidus (DAVIS,1969), respectively. Flight of young When the young males were 13 days of age, they could not fly freely. Two young males flew into a wooden house, when their age was 19 days. Three young male bats of 23 days of age were captured on the wall of a house. At 1980”N9ŒŽ Postnatal Development of External Characters 119 Table 2. Records of several youngs in Pipistrellus abramus found at the wall of building in Kagawa Prefecture, which were taken from their nests by their mother. * The method of estimation of age of youngs was described in the text . * * A private communication from Mr . NODA. *** A private communication from Dr . KANEKO. 25 days of age, many young bats in both sexes flew freely. UCx1DA(1966) found that the beginning of flight in this species was at the age of about one month. There- fore, the time of the beginning of flight in young P, abramus was slightly earlier in this study than in UCHIDA(1966). Young-mother association The young bats at nine days of age clung to their mothers with in a laboratory cage and with the other they gripped the wire netting of the cage. The young bats from one day to 13 days of age clung to their mothers on a wall (Table 2). At three third days of age, two young bats hung on the wall of a mortared house at 8: 20 p.m. They were about 20 cm apart from each other. At 8: 30 p.m. the two young bats clung to one mother on the wall. Table 2 shows that the young clung to their mothers in 14 examples. In these examples the maximum age of the young was 13 days. NiwA (1936) found that there were three young cling- ing to their mothers after parturition in a swimming pool at Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. 120 哺 乳 動 物 学 雑 誌 Vol. 8. No. 4 These findings suggest that many mothers carry out her young with them from their nests, although UCHIDA (1950) reported that there was no young clinging to its mother after parturition in 17 flying examples. Acknowledgment The author thanks Dr. Yukibumi KANEKOof Kagawa University for useful suggestions and for many discussions. 摘 要 森 井 隆 三:ア ラ プ コ ウ モ リ 幼 獣 に お け る 外 部 形 態 の 発 育 と 行 動 香 川 県 立 高 瀬 高 校 767香 川 県 三 豊 郡 高 瀬 町 下 勝 間 1971年 か ら1978年 にか け て,香 川 県 内 で得 られ た ア ブ ラ コ ウ モ リPipistrellus abramus計167個 体 の 外 部 形態 の発 育 につ い て調 査 し,以 下 の 点 が 明 らか とな った 。 1.目 は出 生 後 約8~9日 で 開 い た。 2.耳 介 は 出生 後 約3日 で立 った 。 3.毛 は 出生 後 約14日 で全 身 に は え た。 4.飛 翔 は 出生 後 約19日 で開 始 した 。 5.出 生 後 約13日 ま で は,親 が新 生 児 を つ れ 出 して いた 。 References BOGAN, M.A. 1972. Observations on parturition and development in the hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus. J. Mamm., 53: 611-614. DAVIS, R. 1969. Growth and development of young pallid bats, Antrozous pallidus. J. Mamm., 50: 729-736. JONES, C. 1967. Growth, development, and wing loading in the evening bat, Nycticeius humeralis (Rafinesque). J. Mamm., 48: 1-19. KURAMOTO, T. 1977. Age determination and growth of Chiroptera. Mamm. Sci., (34): 8-19. (In Japanese.) MAEDA, K. 1972. Growth and development of large noctule, Nyctalus lasiopterus schreber. Mam- malia, 36: 269-278.•\ 1976. Growth and development of Japanese large-footed bat, Myotis macrodactylus (Tem- minck, 1840). 1. External characters and breeding habits. J. Growth, 15: 29-40. (In Japanese with English summary.) MORII, R. 1978. Biological study of the Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus abramus (TEMMINCK, 1840) in Kagawa Prefecture. 2. The tooth replacement. J. Mamm. Soc. Jap., 7: 219-223. (In Japanese with English abstract.) NIWA, H. 1936. On the period of gestation, number of litter and morphology of new born young in Pipistrellus abramus (TEMMINCK). Shokubutsu oyobi dobutsu, 4: 67-76. (In Japanese.) UCHIDA, T. 1950. Studies on the embryology of the Japanese house bat, Pipistrellus tralatitius abramus (TEMMINCK).