Volume 76, Issue 3

The margay ( Leopardus wiedii ) is classified as an endangered species in Mexico, and it is listed in Appendix I under CITES. Spatial ecology studies of margays are depauperate, with three previous studies consisting only of single radio-tracked individuals. The northeastern distributional limit for the margay is the “El Cielo” Biosphere Reserve (RBEC) in Tamaulipas, Mexico. From 2002–2004 and in 2008, we conducted an in situ project to evaluate the status and spatial ecology of the margay population at the RBEC. We used 20 Tomahawk live traps to capture nine margays (six males and three females). Margays were sedated with tiletamine-zolazepam at a mean dosage of 5 mg/kg, and fitted with VHF radio-collars. Mean home range size (95% minimum convex polygon) and core area (50% minimum convex polygon) for four males were 4.1 km 2 and 1.0 km 2 , respectively. Data were insufficient to calculate female home ranges. Mean home range overlap between male margays was 29.5% (range: 4.8–55.6%). The quality of habitat of the RBEC and the absence of the usually sympatric ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ) may explain the apparently high margay abundance observed in the study area. The RBEC supports the northeastern-most margay population in the Western Hemisphere and therefore has important conservation value in Mexico.

This article reports data on the seasonal activity budget and diet composition of the endangered Barbary macaque group inhabiting a tourist site in Morocco. Data were collected from March 2007 to February 2008. We used instantaneous scan sampling at 15-min intervals. The behaviours that we included in the activity budget were feeding, moving, foraging, resting and aggressive display. Food items were grouped into seven categories. Results showed that activity budgets and the feeding time spent on eating different food categories varied markedly among seasons. The percentage of daily time spent on foraging and moving was lower in spring, while the daily time spent on resting was higher in spring and summer. The time budget devoted to aggressive display was higher in spring than the other three seasons. There is an increase in the daily feeding time spent eating fruits in summer; seeds, acorns, roots and barks in winter and autumn; herbs in spring and summer; and a clear increase in consumption of human food in spring. Conservation effort of Barbary macaques should consider the seasonal variations in activity budgets and diet in human-modified environments.

Small-mammal dynamics after a wildfire were analysed in Serra Calderona Natural Park (Valencian Community, Spain) over a 11-year period. Burned and unburned sites were surveyed seasonally and the trapping success for Apodemus sylvaticus , Mus spretus and Crocidura russula was analysed. Trapping success in both areas, burned and unburned, is influenced by certain climatic variables, namely minimum, average and maximum temperatures, precipitation and relative humidity. Moreover, in the case of A. sylvaticus , the most captured species along the entire study period, the influence on capture success of each type of site and the capture period were analysed. Twelve years after the wildfire, both areas presented the same qualitative and quantitative small-mammal composition. However, trapping success for A. sylvaticus was greater at the burned sites in 6 out of 11 study years, although with similar annual fluctuations in the two areas. The effect of the considered climatic variables on small-mammal species populations seems to be stronger in the burned area than in the unburned area, which is probably due primarily to the regeneration process after a wildfire.

With little previous research on the European hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus Linnaeus) in Ireland, 22 hedgehogs (16 females and six males) were tagged at a rural Irish site between June 2008 and November 2009. Transect, surveying surface invertebrates were carried out in the centre and hedgerow in arable and pasture lands distributed throughout the site. In both years, hedgehogs selected arable land and this coincided with a rise in invertebrate density. This and the fact that within the arable field hedgehogs concentrated their activity where there was a greater density of potential prey suggest that hedgehogs learn the spatial location of prospective food. Contrary to other research, in most of the hedgehogs’ home range, individuals consistently foraged in the centre of both pasture and arable lands. Potential prey was lower in fields where the hedgerow had no bramble understory, and this suggests that hedgerow with good ground cover acts as an important reserve for invertebrates. Badgers ( Meles meles Linnaeus) were seen on 12 occasions within the hedgehogs’ home range and they did not appear to have a negative effect on the hedgehogs’ use of the site. It was concluded that the main factor affecting the hedgehogs’ distribution within each habitat was the availability and accessibility of potential prey.

The principal goal of our research is to evaluate the dietary variation of the frugivorous bats in two contrasting subtropical rainforests in Argentina (montane rainforest in the NW with a strong seasonality and lowland rainforest in the NE with a mild seasonality). Diet was estimated on the basis of over 1000 dietary records collected along two seasonal annual cycles. Our results indicated that the dominant frugivorous bats exhibit a marked seasonality in the use of fruit resources and that some plants represent keystone resources in periods of general food scarcity. The NW bat ensemble response to fruit phenology was a strong decrease in the capture rate toward the end of the dry season. The NE bat ensemble did not show the same seasonal pattern, and we hypothesize that other variables are probably more important to determine bat abundance. Diet of bats varied in response to spatial changes in the availability of their preferred fruits. For instance, the use of Solanum , Piper , and other fruits by Sturnira bats appeared to be coupled with patterns of diversity and density of these resources.

Western Brazilian Amazonia is considered to be more bat species-rich than areas in other parts of the biome. However, the middle Madeira River region has been pointed out as a lacuna for mammal inventories, and information on its bat diversity is still scarce. I present here a bat fauna survey of the middle Madeira River region and its main tributary, the Aripuanã River. Using mist nets [4626 meter net.hours (m.h)], I surveyed ten riverine village sites, four primary forest sites and one secondary forest site distributed along the margins of both rivers. In 22 nights during the dry and rainy seasons, 356 bats of 30 species and five families were recorded. The bat species-richness was similar along both rivers, with 24 species in the Madeira sites and 23 in the Aripuanã. Vampyriscus bidens and Mesophylla macconnelli were the most captured bats in the village sites along the Aripuanã River, whereas all captures of Artibeus planirostris occurred along Madeira River villages. A new record for Vampyressa thyone in the Amazonas state is reported, approximately 500 km southeast of the nearest record.

The genus Juscelinomys includes three species of rare, Cerrado-endemic Sigmodontine mice: one from Central Brazil, now listed as extinct (IUCN), and two from Bolivia, originally known only from their holotypes and listed as data deficient. Additional specimens of Bolivian Juscelinomys have provided a basis for review of morphological and DNA characters. From these, we conclude that the segregation of Juscelinomys into two Bolivian species cannot be justified, so we revise the genus to include only two named taxa: J. candango Moojen, 1965, from central Brazil and J. huanchacae Emmons, 1999, from eastern Bolivia. We provide emended diagnoses for the genus and for the Bolivian species. We present new morphological details of the feet, dentition, and stomach of J. huanchacae , and we provide notes on its ecology. Juscelinomys huanchacae occurred sporadically in both space and time during a long-term trapping program. This may account for the rarity of the genus in collections.

The taxonomic position of the westernmost representatives of the genus Dendromus in Africa is clarified herein associated with the recent capture of specimens in a range of habitats and elevations on Mount Nimba, Guinea. On the basis of morphological, morphometric and cytogenetic characters, we describe these animals as a new species. The distinguishing characteristics of the new species, with respect to D. melanotis and D. mystacalis from Gabon and Ghana, include the absence of a dorsal stripe and a larger body size. The new species is also smaller in size than D. oreas from Mount Cameroon. The new species has morphological similarities with karyotyped specimens of D. messorius from Ippy (Central African Republic) and the so-called D. melanotis from La Maboké, Gabon, but has a distinct karyotype. It is close in morphology to D. messorius from the Cameroon lowlands. This is the first time G and C banding were employed for members of the genus Dendromus, and the karyotype of the new species confirms that it may be a sibling species of the D. messorius “complex”, for which the distribution and measure of species diversity in west central Africa are far from resolved. The new species occurs in Guinean and Liberian montane savannas of Mount Nimba and in banana and quinine plantations around Mount Ziama, Guinea. It is also known from the Ivory Coast. The presence of this new species highlights the importance of altitude savannas and forests of the Nimba region for conservation.

Tachyoryctes , the most derived genus within the tribe Tachyoryctini (Rhizomyinae, Spalacidae, Rodentia), is known from Pliocene to Recent. It comprises four species: the fossil T. pliocaenicus and T. konjiti and the extant T. splendens and T. macrocephalus . A detailed description of the morphology and dental wear pattern of the cheek teeth of T. splendens is provided based on the study of 297 skulls. For the first and second lower and upper molars, five stages of wear are recognized (0–4). The third lower and upper molars show four stages of wear (0–3). The dental wear pattern in T. splendens is comparable to that of the Pleistocene T. konjiti .

Dry cranila specimens from 184 Suncus murinus from the wild Nagasaki (normal dentition) population and laboratory strains of KAT (normal dentition), NAG (missing I 3 ) and TESS (missing P 3 ) were examined to quantify the relationship between size variation and the influence of tooth absence in maxillary dentition. We first measured and analyzed maxillary tooth size variability in normal S. murinus based on the coefficient of variation (CV). Molariform teeth showed lower CVs, whereas unicuspid teeth showed relatively high CVs in shrews with normal dentitions. In this species, molariform teeth have complex cusps and clear ridges, whereas unicuspid teeth have no occlusal surface. In particular, I 3 and P 3 had relatively high CVs, and these teeth were commonly absent. We also examined the relationship between tooth size and number in this species. Individuals missing I 3 , namely, NAG strain, had lower P 3 CVs than the normal group. However, those missing P 3 had higher I 3 CVs than other teeth and the normal group. These results suggest that tooth disappearance does not always lead to stability of other teeth. The variability in tooth size appears to be influenced not only by functional and developmental factors but also by phylogenetic backgrounds and factors regulating tooth formation.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Data on genetics and morphometrics of Myotis alcathoe from Croatia is presented.

Little is known about the genus Neusticomys , one of the most poorly represented sigmodontine rodents in scientific collections. In this report, we provide new records of Neusticomys ferrerai and N. oyapocki in the Brazilian Amazonia and discuss possible limits for their geographic distributions. Three individuals of N. ferreirai were recorded during three distinct survey events. The first record extends the range of the species approximately 100 km westward, and the other two extend it approximately 1000 km northeastward. For N. oyapocki , our record extends the currently known range of the species approximately 300 km westward. All specimens were collected in primary forests by 60-liter pitfall traps. Considering our records of N. ferreirai and the ecoregions associated with them, we argue that the species range may extends north along the interfluves Xingu-Tocantins and Madeira-Tapajós and west to the Guaporé River. Similarly, the limits of the range of N. oyapocki may coincide with the Amazon river at south, the Negro river at west and the transition zones between the Guianan forests and savannas or coastal vegetation at east and north. Larger series of Neusticomys in collections are expected to be available in the future, as more inventories using pitfall traps are carried out in Amazonia.

Saccopteryx gymnura is a rare emballonurine bat distributed from Guiana to the state of Pará, Brazil. This record extends its range more than 500 km from the easternmost locality. The presence of this species in an ecotonal Amazonian area suggests that these regions may act as possible refuges for other bat species and deserve more conservation attention.

Cyttarops alecto is a rare bat, poorly recorded along its distributional range. In this paper, we report the first record of C. alecto for the western Brazilian Amazon, provide information on distribution and morphological variation of the species along with taxonomic comments based on comparisons of our specimen with the previous information reported in the literature, and we reinterpret the precise type locality for the species.