Guard Hairs of Pennsylvania’s Mammals: A Pictorial Atlas and Identification Key Megan R. Butts and Dr. Carlos A. Iudica Biology Department - Susquehanna University November 16, 2012 Purpose of the Research Obtain hair from collections and donations Create casts of guard hairs to observe scale patterns within the proximal, medial, and distal regions Photograph scale patterns for each hair in the three regions Photograph medulla’s patterns Create an interactive (web-based) dichotomous key to identify mammal hair from an unknown Why Use Hairs? Hair is the only identifiable structure which retains its full characteristics after digestion (other identifiable remains, such as teeth or bones, may not be present, partially digested, or too fragmented) Easy to obtain Basic Elements of a Hair Outgrowth of the epidermis; forms the coat of mammals Is made of… ◦ Keratin ◦ Melanin …in three layers ◦ Cuticle, cortex, and medulla © Stella Luca © Stella Luca Types of Hairs Found on Mammals Guard Hair Only mammals have true hair which covers the entire body Different types of hairs on mammals ◦ Guard hairs and fine hairs Fine Hair Why examine guard hairs vs. fine hairs? Distal On the hair shaft we identify three different regions ◦ Proximal, medial, and distal regions Proximal Medial Cuticle Scale Patterns The cuticle of the hair contains the scales that we used to identify mammals Scale patterns differ in shape and size Coronal Scales Imbricate Scales © Deedrick and Koch © Deedrick and Koch Spinous Scales © Deedrick and Koch Guard hair patterns differ not only between species but also within the hair’s regions Proximal Medial Distal Medulla Patterns Medulla is the innermost central core of cells and is surrounded by the cortex and cuticle We identified nine medulla patterns ◦ Absent, discontinuous, globular, continuous, fragmental, lattice, ladder, branched, and aeroform Uniserial ladder pattern of mink hair Hair Collection Collected From dead animals on the side of the road From local animal hospitals/shelters/breeders Donated Local trappers Reading Public Museum State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg Labeled glassine envelopes and Ziploc sandwich bags Important for the hairs to be separated and relatively undamaged Medulla Slide Preparation Wet mount Light microscope (10X and/or 40X) Lighting Preparation of Cuticle Casts Clear nail polish Set to dry (10 – 15 minutes) Set hair on top Another slide on top (sandwich) Sandwiched slides pressed for 10 minutes Casts viewed under microscope (10X or 40X) to identify/catalog pattern Viewing Hair Casts and Medulla Slides Under the Microscope to Photograph Results and Compile a Reference Collection We used a Zeiss Primo Star ® Microscope connected to a Nikon D90 (controlling with Nikon Camera Control Pro 2) Hair photographed using live view mode Pictures retouched with Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended 13.0 and Adobe Lightroom 4.2 Creating a Pictorial Atlas Background information ◦ Order, Family, Scientific Name, Common Name ◦ Habitat/ecology ◦ General Information Photos of species, medulla, and hair casts Specific information about medulla and scale patterns Example Pictorial Atlas Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Scientific Name: Bison bison (Linnaeus, 1758) Common Name: Bison, American Bison, Buffalo Habitat: Live in many types of regions. These regions include open plains, grasslands, woodlands, openings in northern forests, meadows, river valleys and semi-dry deserts. Like other large grazers, they are attracted to burned areas the next growing season (Shaw and Carter 1990). In fall and winter, they grazed both burned and unburned watersheds more uniformly, but grazed most intensively in areas with large stands of cool-season, C3 grasses (Vinton et al. 1993). They are also found in the mid-United States and the Rocky Mountains. General Information © Jiri Bohdal ◦ Bison have a winter coat and a summer coat. The winter coat is shaggy and dark brown. The summer coat is lighter in weight and light brown in color. The young bison, called calves, have a reddish-brown coat (Griffin and Johnson 1994). ◦ The hair on the adult bison’s head is much longer than the rest of the coat. This portion is called a mantle and is usually black in color (Griffin and Johnson 1994). ◦ On very rare occasions, the coat of an individual is white. This type of bison is not albino since it still has pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. Due to the rarity of this type of coat, the white bison, as they were called, were considered to be sacred to the Native Americans. ◦ The hair samples used for research in this book were taken from the winter coat of a normal colored bison. The hair itself was dark brown and very curly. Due to the dark brown coloring, these hairs were most likely taken from the back of the bison, not the head. Scale and Medulla Patterns ◦ The scale pattern of the bison has partially complete scale edges, although it seems to be non-coronal. The few complete scales that are present form jagged, pointed ovals and half, jagged pointed ovals. The other complete edges go across the hair. Proximal Region Medulla Pattern Medial Region Distal Region © Feretic Dichotomous Key Photos used as visual within the key Information used in identification ◦ Scale Patterns Coronal, imbricate, or spinous ◦ Regions of hair Proximal, medial, or distal ◦ Medulla Patterns Absent, discontinuous, globular, continuous, fragmental, lattice, ladder, branched, and aeroform Spinous Example of Dichotomous Key 0. Can pattern be easily seen? Yes (Go to 1) No (Hair belongs to Soricidae- Sorex palustris; Go to page xx) 1. Is there overlap? Little to no overlap (Go to 2) Overlap (Go to 14) 2. Is it coronal or non-coronal? Coronal (Go to 3) Non-coronal (Go to 11) 3. What shapes are the coronal scale? Cone-shape (Go to 4) Di-scale (Go to 7) 4. Do the top of the cone-shape, coronal scale have bumps? Yes (Go to 5) No (Go to 6) 5…and so forth © Feretic Launching a Website The main goal is to create an open-access website with an interactive dichotomous key Additional photos help visualize the characteristics of each hair and navigate through the key Could be used in databases such as the Susquehanna University Library Launched through a site to be determined by the Susquehanna IT Department What Happens Next? Finish slide casts of all hairs, record all specimens, and Photoshop/Lightroom photographs Revise dichotomous key to include three regions of each hair and medulla patterns Prepare material to be launched as an informational website