The reproductive cycle of male long‐fingered bats, Miniopterus minor (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), in a seasonal environment of the African Tropics

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Abstract
A cave population of Miniopterus minor had a seasonally monoestrous reproductive cycle that corrsponded closely to the rainfall‐induced seasonality of coastal Kenya (4 S). Males had pronounced cycles of body weight resulting from the deposition of fat during periods of relative food abundance in both rainy seasons, and its depletion during competitive mating and the dry seasons, when numbers of insects were lowest. The annual period of sexual regeneration clearly followed the increase in body weight which occurred during the ‘long rains’ (April‐June). Testicular recrudescence was accompanied by hypertrophy of the accessory glands and all reproductive organs involuted after mating in July, remaining inactive until the following April. An annual moult corresponded with the improvement in body condition that occurred at the beginning of the ‘long rains’. The growth of new pelage was completed in May, by which time ambient temperatures had dropped and adult males entered a diurnal torpor that lasted over much of the colder ‘long dry season’ (July‐October). The secretion of a pungent substance in the urine of adult males coincided with peak testicular activity during the annually competitive occupancy of a mating site (May‐July).
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