New records of chromatic and osteological anomalies for neotropical bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)
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David Liposki Biassi
, Ronei Baldissera
, Clóvis Alceu Cassaro
, Matheus Guzzi Rubini, Daniel Galiano
und Renan De Souza Rezende
Abstract
This study reports five new records of anomalies in three species of widely distributed bats of the family Vespertilionidae. In Eptesicus taddeii, two individuals exhibited piebaldism, one at the wing tips while another on the dorsal region of the neck. In Eptesicus brasiliensis we observed a mandibular anomaly where the angular process was positioned horizontally at a 45-degree angle. In Myotis nigricans, one individual presented a shortened tail, while another was missing half the proximal phalanx and a distal phalanx. Documenting these unusual traits enhances our understanding of their prevalence and variability in natural populations.
Funding source: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Award Identifier / Grant number: Finance Code 001
Funding source: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all our colleagues at the Laboratório de Ecologia e Química da Unochapecó for their support at various stages of this research. We thank Professors Ricardo Moratelli and Itiberê Piaia Bernard for the assistance in the taxonomy of species.
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Research ethics: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó (protocol number 011/2018). This study was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the American Society of Mammalogists. The protocol was approved by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and for Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA – Permit number 64276-1) and registered in National System for the Management of Genetic Heritage and Associated Traditional Knowledge (SisGen) under registration number A304E53.
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Informed consent: All authors agree with the contents and with its submission to the journal.
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Author contributions: DLB carried out the fieldwork, analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript, with the help of RSR, DG, MGR, RB and CAC. RSR and DG supervised the research. All authors contributed substantially to the reviews. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Finance Code 001, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) – Grant/Award Number CNPq/ICMBio/FAPs 18/2017, and Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó (Unochapecó). David Liposki Biassi received a scholarship from CAPES.
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Data availability: All data used for the development of this study are available in the manuscript.
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