A Qualitative Survey of Ultraviolet (UV) Reflective Morphology in Bats

Abstract

Communication in the ultraviolet (UV) has an array of adaptive functions such as foraging, social signaling, sexual selection, nectar-location, territory marking, etc., and is known to occur in a wide variety of taxa including plants, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Communication in the UV requires some form of signaling mechanism, in the form of UV reflective morphology (i.e. hair) as well as a visual system capable of interpreting wavelengths in the upper UV range (390nm). Reflection of ultraviolet light by morphological markings in the kangaroo rat, Dipodomys ordii, has been confirmed (McDonald et al., unpublished). This UV-reflective morphology has been validated quantitatively through UV-VIS photospectrometery and subsequently corroborated qualitatively with UV-photography.This method incorporates the UV-reflective standard Fluorion to visually discriminate between UV-reflectivity and absorption while also allowing us to estimate the degree of reflectivity observed. Using this approach, we examined UV-reflective morphology in a variety of bat species (Order Chiroptera). Here we present our preliminary findings of species that exhibit some degree of UV reflective morphology.