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Central California Bats- Premolars, Gaps, and Canines
Choice 9 in the Key
to Bats asks about gaps in upper teeth rows.....
A first group of bats of concern here have only one upper premolar. Premolars are the teeth with points, just behind the canine. Molars are further back and are relatively flat. Bats with only one upper premolar include only one genus (so far..) from Central California; Eptesicus fuscus, the Big Brown Bat is our example (skull drawing below). Pretty impressively large premolar, clearly at least 1/2 as long as the canine and in contact with the canine. No gap appears behind the upper canine tooth.
The second group of bats of concern here have two upper premolars. For us, these include various Lasionycteris, Myotis, Plecotus, and Pipistrellus. Let's look at a couple of the more typical skulls of Myotis...
Myotis keenii
Here, you can see the two small upper premolars behind the canine (arrows). Clearly, the teeth behind the canine are smaller than 1/3 of the canine. If your naked eye could not see the two small premolars, you might think there was a gap there. Ok.
Let's look at another example (below)....
Myotis lucifugus
Here, you can again see two tiny upper premolars (arrow) behind the canine. Well, you have to look close and have pretty good vision in that naked eye of yours. You might just call it a gap. Fine.
Now, some of the bats with two premolars have one very small premolar, and one VERY LARGE premolar. You almost miss the first one...see below.
Lasionycteris noctivagans
Here is what I mean- the first upper premolar is tucked in behind the canine, and the second upper premolar is IMPRESSIVE. (for a bat). So with your naked eye, although you might be able to say the tooth behind the canine is 1/2 as long as the canine, there does appear to be a gap. Compare this to the top skull drawing where there really is no gap.