Jolly S E, Blackshaw A W
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.
J Reprod Fertil. 1988 Nov;84(2):447-55. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0840447.
The testes of the common sheath-tail bat of tropical Australia undergo a seasonal migration between the abdomen and the scrotal pouches, while each cauda epididymidis is permanently maintained in the scrotal pouch. Straps of smooth muscle attach to both the cranial and caudal poles of the testes, and these extend cranially to the diaphragm and caudally to the cauda epididymidis. The testicular arteries are not coiled. Among the environmental factors investigated, maximum temperature correlated most significantly with testicular descent, and the number of spermatogonia per bat also correlated most significantly with maximum temperature. Body temperature of a captive bat ranged from 25 to 38 degrees C and this was closely related to body weight and ambient temperature. It seems likely that the scrotal pouch provides a temperature slightly below that of the body and so facilitates sperm storage in the permanently scrotal cauda epididymidis. Migration of the testes probably serves to ameliorate the seasonal temperature fluctuations to which they are exposed while the relatively high correlation between maximum environment temperature and spermatogonial numbers suggests that temperature may be a proximate influence on reproduction in the sheath-tail bat.
澳大利亚热带地区的普通鞘尾蝠的睾丸在腹部和阴囊袋之间进行季节性迁移，而每个附睾尾部则永久保持在阴囊袋中。平滑肌带附着于睾丸的头极和尾极，这些平滑肌带向头侧延伸至膈肌，向尾侧延伸至附睾尾部。睾丸动脉不盘绕。在所研究的环境因素中，最高温度与睾丸下降的相关性最为显著，每只蝙蝠的精原细胞数量也与最高温度的相关性最为显著。一只圈养蝙蝠的体温在25至38摄氏度之间，这与体重和环境温度密切相关。阴囊袋似乎提供了略低于身体温度的环境，因此有利于精子在永久位于阴囊内的附睾尾部储存。睾丸的迁移可能是为了缓解它们所面临的季节性温度波动，而环境最高温度与精原细胞数量之间相对较高的相关性表明，温度可能是鞘尾蝠繁殖的直接影响因素。
