{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T14:59:17Z","timestamp":1777733957852,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":91,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,2]],"date-time":"2019-06-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1559433600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004586","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo \u00e0 Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004586","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002322","name":"Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de N\u00edvel Superior","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002322","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["308505\/2016\u20106"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["308505\/2016\u20106"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Journal of Anatomy"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Better known by their remarkable forelimb morphology, bats are also unique among mammals with respect to their hindlimbs. Their legs are rotated through 180\u00b0, generally reduced in size, and in some extant taxa particular bones (e.g. fibula) can even be absent. The femur is the main leg bone, but to date few bat studies have considered its morphology in detail, none in a wide\u2010scale comparative study. Yangochiroptera is the largest bat taxon, spans nearly three orders of magnitude in body mass, and is highly diverse both in ecology and behavior, representing a good model for comparative analyses. Here, we describe the anatomy of the femur in a large sample of yangochiropteran bats (125 species, 70 genera, and 12 families), and explore major trends of morphological variation and scaling patterns in this bone. We used 13 categorical characters in the anatomical description and five linear dimensions in the quantitative analyses. Based on the categorical data, each family studied here was diagnosed, and those from the Neotropical region were included in an identification key. From the phylogenetic principal component analysis (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">pPCA<\/jats:styled-content>) we showed that, in addition to size, major axes of variation in bat femur are related to robusticity and head morphology, features that are clearly distinct among some families. We also generated a phylomorphospace based on <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">pPCA<\/jats:styled-content> scores, highlighting convergences in femur shape. Molossidae, Mystacinidae, and Desmodontinae were grouped based on their greater robusticity, a pattern that was also recovered from categorical data. In these families, we found anatomical features (e.g. presence of tubercles and posterior ridges on the greater trochanter, long or medially\/distally displaced lateral ridges on the shaft) that are well\u2010known from their functional link with quadrupedal locomotion. Using phylogenetic regressions, we found out that compared with body mass, femur length scaled with negative allometry, as expected, but that femur width scaled isometrically, counter to expectations. As a result, robusticity index (the ratio of width to length), scaled with positive allometry \u2013 larger bats tended to have more robust hindlimbs. At species level, our most remarkable finding was related to <jats:italic>Myotis simus<\/jats:italic>, which presented the most robust femur (for its size) among yangochiropterans. Our results reinforce the informative potential of the chiropteran femur from both taxonomic and functional perspectives. Furthermore, the allometric trends seen in this bone may help understand the strategies adopted by flying vertebrates to deal with the high energetic cost of flight and, at the same time, evolve diversified foraging behaviors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/joa.12996","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,3]],"date-time":"2019-06-03T04:51:11Z","timestamp":1559537471000},"page":"124-150","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Comparative morphology and scaling of the femur in yangochiropteran bats"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"235","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2370-5447","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nath\u00e1lia Siqueira Ver\u00edssimo","family":"Louzada","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Programa de P\u00f3s\u2010gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil"},{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio de Mastozoologia Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marcelo Rodrigues","family":"Nogueira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Programa de P\u00f3s\u2010gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais Laborat\u00f3rio de Ci\u00eancias Ambientais CBB Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Campos dos Goytacazes RJ Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leila Maria","family":"Pess\u00f4a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio de Mastozoologia Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro RJ Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_8_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/mam.12136"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_3_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Monograph of the bats of North America","volume":"7","author":"Allen H","year":"1864","journal-title":"Smithsonian Misc Coll"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10914-016-9363-8"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_5_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Evolution of body mass in bats: insights from a large supermatrix phylogeny","author":"Ar\u00e9valo RLM","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Mamm Evol"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3161\/15081109ACC2016.18.1.001"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1375681"},{"key":"e_1_2_8_8_1","unstructured":"BloodBR(1987)Convergent hind limb morphology and the evolution of fish\u2010catching in the bats Noctilio leporinus and Myotis (Pizonyx) vivesi (Mammalia: Chiroptera). 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