Primer estudio experimental sobre los efectos de la digestión en restos esqueléticos de murciélagos (Mammalia: Chiroptera)

Abstract

Taphonomic studies dealing with small mammals do not usually consider bats. Therefore, the degree to which bat bones are modi? ed by predation and other taphonomic agents are largely unknown. Here we present the results obtained from a set of experiments developed to approach this issue, focusing initially on the e?ect of digestion. For this purpose several bat bones and teeth were exposed to HCl and to two di?erent proteolithic enzymes. The experiments showed that bat bones are altered by acidic and enzymatic attack in a similar way as the bones of other small mammals. However, some patterns were observed in the teeth that had not been previously described in other groups. Thus, both the intensity of alteration in a tooth and the way in which it advanced during the process varied depending on whether it was an upper or lower tooth, its size or its position in the tooth-row.