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1Department of Animal and Human Biology, Faculty of Biology, Havana University, CP10 400, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba; and 2Zoologisches Institut der Universität J. W. Goethe, D-60054, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Submitted 21 November 2003; accepted in final form 29 December 2003
This study examines duration selectivity in auditory neurons of the inferior colliculus of the bat Molossus molossus (Molossidae, Chiroptera) from Cuba. Three main types of duration selectivity, short-, band-, and long-pass, as previously described in other species, are present in M. molossus. The range of best durations in the inferior colliculus of this species approximates the durations of their echolocation calls, suggesting that, as has been shown in other species of bats and frogs, the filter mechanism that produces duration tuning is selective for species-specific sounds relevant to behavior. Duration coding in M. molossus is not unambiguous because
30% of the short- and band-pass neurons respond best to two different stimulus durations. This bimodal duration selectivity could be explained by time delayed excitatory inputs that coincide with an inhibitory rebound. In addition, the effect of stimulus intensity on duration selectivity was tested. For most of the neurons (78%), duration selectivity was affected by absolute sound pressure level and/or small changes of sound pressure. In this respect, the processing of stimulus duration by collicular neurons seems to be more complex in M. molossus than in other species studied so far.
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