School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 27;9(1):5275. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41715-y.
Organ development, both in-utero and after birth, follows a different path for every organ depending upon how early the newborn will use it. Perception of the environment using echolocation occurs very early in the life of neonatal bats. In nostril-emitting echolocating bats of the families Hipposideridae and Rhinolophidae, the shape and area of the nasal-horseshoe is crucial for echolocation emission. We therefore hypothesized that most of this organ's ontogeny will be completed in-utero while skull and wings will develop slower and continue their growth after birth. We used intrauterine ultrasonography of pregnant females, and measured newborn Asellia tridens (Hipposideridae) to test our hypothesis at different stages of ontogeny. We found that horseshoe development is completed in-utero and neonates begin emitting precursor echolocation calls already two days after birth. In contrast, skull and forearm only develop to 70% and 40% of adult size (respectively), and continue development after birth.
器官发育，无论是在子宫内还是出生后，都遵循着不同的路径，这取决于新生儿将何时使用该器官。新生蝙蝠很早就开始使用回声定位来感知环境。在具有鼻叶的发声回声定位蝙蝠中，马蹄形鼻甲骨的形状和面积对于回声定位的发射至关重要。因此，我们假设这个器官的大部分发生将在子宫内完成，而颅骨和翅膀的发育较慢，并在出生后继续生长。我们使用怀孕母体内超声检查，并对不同发育阶段的新生 AseUa tridens（蹄蝠科）进行了测量，以验证我们的假设。我们发现，马蹄形结构的发育在子宫内完成，并且新生蝙蝠在出生后两天就开始发出前体回声定位叫声。相比之下，颅骨和前臂仅发育到成年大小的 70%和 40%，并且在出生后继续发育。
