Abstract
Biofluorescence has been detected in several nocturnal-crepuscular organisms from invertebrates to birds and mammals. Biofluorescence in mammals has been detected across the phylogeny, including the monotreme duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhyncus anatinus), marsupial opossums (Didelphidae), and New World placental flying squirrels (Gluacomys spp.). Here, we document vivid biofluorescence of springhare (Pedetidae) in both museum specimens and captive individuals—the first documented biofluorescence of an Old World placental mammal. We explore the variation in biofluorescence across our sample and characterize its physical and chemical properties. The striking visual patterning and intensity of color shift was unique relative to biofluorescence found in other mammals. We establish that biofluorescence in springhare likely originates within the cuticle of the hair fiber and emanates, at least partially, from several fluorescent porphyrins and potentially one unassigned molecule absent from our standard porphyrin mixture. This discovery further supports the hypothesis that biofluorescence may be ecologically important for nocturnal-crepuscular mammals and suggests that it may be more broadly distributed throughout Mammalia than previously thought.
Highlights
Biofluorescence, the absorption of short wavelengths of light and re-emission of longer wavelengths of light, has been increasingly observed in a wide range of invertebrates9, fishes[10,11], reptiles and a mphibians[12,13,14,15,16] and birds 3,17,18
While studying biofluorescence in New World flying squirrels (Glaucomys spp.) and members of Anomaluromorpha at the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in April 201819 and November 201922, we discovered springhare biofluorescence and subsequently documented the trait in multiple specimens and captive individuals
We examined a total of 14 museum specimens, including eight museum specimens of P. capensis collected from Angola (n = 2) and Botswana (n = 6), and six specimens of P. surdaster collected from Kenya (n = 3) and Tanzania (n = 3) (Fig. 1, Supplementary Table S1)
Summary
Biofluorescence, the absorption of short wavelengths of light and re-emission of longer wavelengths of light, has been increasingly observed in a wide range of invertebrates9, fishes[10,11], reptiles and a mphibians[12,13,14,15,16] and birds 3,17,18. Biofluorescence has been observed in New World placental flying s quirrels[19] (Glaucomys spp.), New World marsupial opossums[20,21] (Didelphidae), and the monotreme duck-billed platypus (O. anatinus) of Australia and T asmania[22] These groups, inhabit three continents and a diverse array of ecosystems and are widely distributed across the mammalian family tree. Apart from their nocturnal lifestyle, springhares are not ecologically similar to other known fluorescent species and are rather distant relatives of the biofluorescent rodents within Sciuridae[19,23] Both species of springhares are endemic to Africa: the springhare (Pedetes capensis) lives in southern Africa; and the East African springhare (P. surdaster) inhabits portions of Kenya and Tanzania[23]. We document vivid biofluorescence in Pedetidae, its variation, its underlying chemical nature, and its potential ecological implications
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