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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter May 23, 2022

First record of polydactyly for a European bat, Myotis daubentonii (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)

  • Laura Torrent ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Grzegorz Apoznański , Tomasz Kokurewicz , Cezary Mitrus , Maya De Maegdt and Javier Juste
From the journal Mammalia

Abstract

Despite being one of the most common congenital hand abnormalities in humans, polydactyly remains extremely rare in bats. To date, it has been observed only in two insectivorous families in North America (Molossidae and Vespertilionidae) and a single case for the New World fruit bats (Phyllostomidae). We report the first case of polydactyly in a European bat – a Myotis daubentonii (Vespertilionidae), with eight toes. The bat was found alive, hibernating in the Natura 2000 site (PLH080003 “Nietoperek”) in Poland.


Corresponding author: Laura Torrent, Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers, Francesc Macià 51, Granollers, 08401, Spain; and CIBIO-InBIO, Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, University of Porto, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the TOP Nietoperek Society, Ralf Gyselings and Luc De Bruyn for the organization and coordination of the hibernating bat census. We would like to thank the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection in Gorzów Wiekopolski, especially Józef Kruczkowski and Grzegorz Karcz for all the help and good cooperation. We are grateful to Leszek Lisiecki (Museum of Fortifications and Bats in Pniewo, Międzyrzecz Community), Ryszard Skonieczek and Lubrza Community for good co-operation and help with on-site bat conservation. We are grateful to John Haddow for correcting and improving the English text. Finally, special thanks to all the volunteers’ help during the annual winter bat census.

  1. Author contributions: LTA led the manuscript writing and interpreted the results. JJ, GA and TK conceived ideas and contributed to text and interpretation of results. GA did the map and LTA and JJ took the photos. JJ, MD and CM collected the data. All authors gave final approval for publication.

  2. Research funding: None received.

  3. Research ethics: We conducted the field work under the license (WPN-I.6205.30.2020.MG) issued by the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Gorzów Wiekopolski. The permit was awarded to TK and GA.

  4. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2022-01-28
Accepted: 2022-04-14
Published Online: 2022-05-23
Published in Print: 2022-09-27

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