Seasonal reproduction of a tropical bat, Anoura geoffroyi, in relation to photoperiod. 1992

P D Heideman, and P Deoraj, and F H Bronson
Department of Zoology, University of Texas at Austin 78712.

Anoura geoffroyi (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae, Glossophaginae), Geoffroy's hairy-legged long-tongued bat, were collected from September 1984 to August 1985, and these bats were found to breed seasonally in the wild on Trinidad, West Indies, at 10 degrees N latitude. Histological examination of these samples indicated that females became pregnant in July or August, and young were born in late November or early December. The testes and epididymides were small from September to mid-April, increased threefold in weight between mid-April and late May, reached a peak weight in July, and decreased in weight in August. Spermatogenesis occurred throughout the testes of males captured from May to August. In 1990, the timing of parturition in females that gave birth in the laboratory to young conceived in the wild was similar to the timing in the field in 1984-1985. Groups of 10-13 males were subjected in the laboratory to (i) a gradually changing, civil twilight photoperiod that mimicked the natural cycle of annual change at 10 degrees N latitude, (ii) the same gradually changing cycle of photoperiod accelerated to a six-month period, or (iii) a constant photoperiod (light 12:54 h: dark 11:06 h). These treatments began in mid-December, four months before the initiation of testicular recrudescence in the wild. In all three groups, testicular volume remained low until April, and then increased two- to threefold between late April and late June, rising to a peak in July, as occurred in the wild.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007774 Lactation The processes of milk secretion by the maternal MAMMARY GLANDS after PARTURITION. The proliferation of the mammary glandular tissue, milk synthesis, and milk expulsion or let down are regulated by the interactions of several hormones including ESTRADIOL; PROGESTERONE; PROLACTIN; and OXYTOCIN. Lactation, Prolonged,Milk Secretion,Lactations, Prolonged,Milk Secretions,Prolonged Lactation,Prolonged Lactations
D008297 Male Males
D011247 Pregnancy The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH. Gestation,Pregnancies
D011891 Rain Water particles that fall from the ATMOSPHERE. Rains
D012098 Reproduction The total process by which organisms produce offspring. (Stedman, 25th ed) Human Reproductive Index,Human Reproductive Indexes,Reproductive Period,Human Reproductive Indices,Index, Human Reproductive,Indexes, Human Reproductive,Indices, Human Reproductive,Period, Reproductive,Periods, Reproductive,Reproductive Index, Human,Reproductive Indices, Human,Reproductive Periods
D002685 Chiroptera Order of mammals whose members are adapted for flight. It includes bats, flying foxes, and fruit bats. Bats,Flying Foxes,Horseshoe Bats,Pteropodidae,Pteropus,Rhinolophus,Rousettus,Bat, Horseshoe,Bats, Horseshoe,Foxes, Flying,Horseshoe Bat
D005260 Female Females
D000704 Analysis of Variance A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable. ANOVA,Analysis, Variance,Variance Analysis,Analyses, Variance,Variance Analyses
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012621 Seasons Divisions of the year according to some regularly recurrent phenomena usually astronomical or climatic. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Seasonal Variation,Season,Seasonal Variations,Variation, Seasonal,Variations, Seasonal

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