Hair Structure Analysis of Twenty Colorado Bat Species

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Hair is a common characteristic among mammalian species and hair structure can vary greatly among genera. In this study, hair structure will include scale type, scale width and length, total length of the filament, and coloration. Hair structure also includes medulla type but this aspect of hair structure is absent in both the Vespertilionidae and Molossidae and therefore not included in this study. The objective of this study is to determine if hair structure can be used as a supplemental taxonomic tool to identify the bats of Colorado to the species level. Hair samples were taken from 58 specimens that included three of each species occurring in Colorado or with a possibility of occurrence in Colorado. The exception is Idionycteris phyllotis in which only one specimen was obtained. These samples were taken from the dorsal area between the scapular regions on all of the specimens. An additional area was sampled on Euderma maculatum to obtain both color types. Light microscopy was used to take the measurements of scale length and width, both of which were taken at three places along the filament, and filament length. The means of these measurements were compared using a one way an…