The possibilities of scent marking in the Mouse-earned bat Myotis myotis (Brockhausen, 1797) and the Noctule bat Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774) (Mammalia, Chiroptera)

Studied were sebaceous glands on the cranial integument of Myotis myotis and Nyctalus noctula by using microanatomical methods. Both species are provided with normal sebaceous glands on the whole snout. Slightly enlarged sebaceous glands, where secretions emerge by pressing the head against an object, are restricted to the lips and the chin in M. myotis, and to the rostral part of the snout in N. noctula. In enlarged sebaceous glands secretion delivery is caused by contraction of the subcutaneous musculature. In M. myotis one of these glands exists on each side of the head and opens into a brush-like hair tuft. Three rows, alltogether consisting of 10 enlarged glands, lie on each side of the snout of N. noctula. Only M. myotis is equipped with an extremely enlarged sebaceous gland on each side of the snout. This gland expands through the whole dermis into the subcutaneous musculature and opens into a brush-like hair tuft. Although both species are provided with enlarged sebaceous and sudoriferous glands, the microanatomy, number and arrangement of these glands as well as the amount of enlargement diverge. Combined with the different application structures, this shows two completely divergent systems of secretion delivery, application, and distribution