Volume 79, Issue 2

Pampas deer ( Ozotoceros bezoarticus ) is a medium-sized South American cervid associated with savannas and grasslands in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Currently, four isolated population nuclei occur in Argentina, with the largest one located in the semiarid grasslands of San Luis Province. The aim of this work was to describe the social organization of this local population and to determine and analyze the factors that influence it. The most frequent groups found were mixed groups (34.82%), followed by solitary males (18.64%), and solitary females (15.00%). Differences in group type occurrence were found in three periods: dry, early rainy, and late rainy seasons. Mixed groups were more frequent during the dry season. The sexual segregation-aggregation statistic showed statistically significant segregation only in January and November. In addition, we analyzed the social grouping patterns during an annual cycle; the mean group size was 2.49±0.46 and Jarman’s typical group size was 3.84±1.08 (individuals/group). A mixed-model nested ANOVA showed marked differences in terms of group sizes between habitat types and seasons. The social organization of the Pampas deer in San Luis is similar to that of the other populations of this species, despite occupying a different environment type and exhibiting disparate feeding styles and density values.

One reintroduced population of Iberian ibex was monitored between 2000 and 2007 in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (Central Spain) using the distance sampling method. The densities obtained from three samplings show a significant increase between 2000 (6.57 ind./km 2 ) and 2007 (33.16 ind./km 2 ) despite a range extension. After an initial period of balance, the sex ratio became unbalanced over time in favor of females. The age pyramid also changed after a dramatic population increase. The birth rate oscillated at relatively high values for the species (0.69–0.99 kids/female). The group size reduced significantly over time. Females with kids dispersed from the release area significantly less than males and mixed groups.

We performed a retrospective analysis of hormone concentrations found in blood sera from culled nine-banded armadillos ( Dasypus novemcinctus ) with the goal of identifying important sources of variation in, and relationships among, circulating levels of testosterone (males), estradiol and progesterone (females), and cortisol (all animals). Testosterone concentrations were greater in adult males than in yearling or juvenile males. Variation in estradiol was limited to significant differences across months, although no pair-wise comparisons between months were significant. Adult females had higher concentrations of progesterone than did juvenile and yearling females. Among adult females, progesterone varied significantly from year-to-year as well as month-to-month, and was positively correlated with body weight. Progesterone in yearling and juvenile females varied significantly from year-to-year, was positively correlated with levels of estradiol, and was higher in animals that were live-caught as opposed to shot. All animals that were live-caught exhibited higher cortisol concentrations than those that were shot. Among shot animals, there were no sex differences in cortisol concentrations but there were for live-caught armadillos. Live-caught adult females exhibited strong positive correlations of cortisol with estradiol and progesterone. Within each sex there was significant month-to-month variation in cortisol, with concentrations the lowest in June and July.

We examined in Akodon azarae if at low availability of females (sex ratio biased toward males, 3:1), the mating tactics of males are determined by the number of receptive females to which they have access, or by the number of male competitors with which they interact. To test these hypotheses, we measured the home range size and overlap degree. At the beginning of the reproductive season, we studied spacing patterns using 57 and 30 home ranges established by reproductive males and females in three enclosure populations. We statistically compared our results with those previously obtained in enclosure populations with a sex ratio of 1:1. Male home range sizes were larger than those recorded in populations with a sex ratio of 1:1. The degree of male intra-sexual overlap increased about 3.5 times with respect to that observed under a sex ratio of 1:1. The increase in home range sizes and intra-sexual overlap degree of reproductive males reflects that A. azarae males may adjust their spacing strategy to increase their mating opportunities at low density of females. Our results suggest that at low breeding female availability, male mating tactics could be determined by the number of receptive females to which they have access.

The vesper mouse, Otonyctomys hatti , is a rare species endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, the biology of which is practically unknown. This study reports, for the first time, on various aspects of the reproduction and postnatal development of O. hatti observed in captivity. A reproductive colony was formed initially with four females (one pregnant) and a male, captured in the El Edén Ecological Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The mice were kept in living chambers and reproduction chambers, and daily recordings were made of maternal conduct and developmental parameters in the young. In total, 15 young were born in eight litters. The mean litter size was 1.9 young, and the sex ratio was not different to 1:1. The neonates weighed an average of 3.6 g and were altricial at birth. The development of the young was slow; the eyes opened between days 11 and 13, although hearing and sense of smell developed earlier (9–11 days). Consumption of solids began between days 14 and 18, and weaning took place around day 21. The time period between mating and birth of the litter was 31–32 days. The reproductive and postnatal developmental aspects of O. hatti were similar to those reported for the phylogenetically proximal species Nyctomys sumichrasti .

An understanding of the dispersion patterns of a pest is an important pre-requisite for developing an effective management programme for the pest. In this study, rodents were trapped in two rice fields and two fallow fields for three consecutive nights each month from June 2010 to May 2012. Mastomys natalensis was the most abundant rodent pest species in the study area, accounting for >95% of the trapped rodent community. Rattus rattus , Dasymys incomtus , Acomys spinosissimus and Grammomys dolichurus comprised relatively small proportions of the trapped population. Morisita’s index of dispersion was used to measure the relative dispersal pattern (aggregate, random, uniform) of individuals across each trapping grid as a means of comparing rodent distribution in rice and fallow fields over time. This analysis revealed that the rodents in rice fields generally exhibited an aggregated spatio-temporal distribution. However, the rodents in fallow fields were generally less aggregated, approaching a random distribution in some habitats and seasons. Heat maps of trapping grids visually confirmed these dispersal patterns, indicating the clumped or random nature of captured rodents. ANOVA showed that the parameters of habitat (rice, fallow), crop stage (transplanting, vegetative, booting, maturity) and cropping season (wet, dry) all significantly impacted the number of rodents captured, with the vegetative, dry season, fallow habitat having the highest number of rodents; and the transplanting, wet season, rice habitat with the least number of rodents. Therefore, such spatio-temporal patterns can serve as a tool for developing stratified biodiversity sampling plans for small mammals and decision making for rodent pest management strategies.

Variation in mammalian auditory bulla size has been linked to environmental conditions, and has even been claimed to provide a habitat-specific survival value. Enlarged bullae are typically shared among species adapted to living in arid habitats. Previous studies suggest that jirds also exhibit this adaptive enlargement of the bulla. However, such claims are based on the observation on a limited number of specimens, and thus they provide no quantitative support for this hypothesis. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis using a combination of geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistical techniques on a large sample of two jird species that exhibit a wide and partially overlapping geographical (and hence climatic) range, i.e., Meriones crassus (Sundevall, 1842) and M. libycus (Lichtenstein, 1823). A total of 485 intact skulls of populations originating from Africa to the eastern Iranian Plateau were analysed. The covariation between auditory bulla shape and several geoclimatic variables was explored using the two-block partial least-squares method. To some degree, the results seem to support the hypothesis that morphological variation in the auditory bulla is, indeed, correlated with geoclimatic variation. However, this finding cannot be generalised at several levels, hence refuting the hypothesis of convergent correlations between geoclimatic conditions and bulla morphology. Species-specific differences were found at different levels, suggesting that if local responses are present, they may reflect interactions with phylogenetic constraints.

In 2011, three specimens from an unknown species of tube-nosed bat (genus Murina ) were collected in montane moist forest at altitudes between 1117 and 1682 m in the Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve of Vietnam. We sequenced the mitochondrial COI gene from Ngoc Linh bats and performed comparisons with Murina sequences available in the nucleotide databases. The results suggested that the three unidentified specimens belong to Murina lorelieae , a species recently described from a single specimen collected in southern China. Nucleotide distances between specimens from Ngoc Linh and southern China are exceptionally low for M. lorelieae (1.25%) in comparison with three other Murina species, i.e., Murina cyclotis , Murina feae , and Murina huttoni (3.9–5.5%). We suggest that M. lorelieae is adapted to montane forests, which may have facilitated long-distance dispersal events between southern China and Vietnam during glacial periods of the Pleistocene. Morphological comparisons based on body-size measurements and geometric morphometric analyses of the skulls showed differences between Vietnamese specimens and the Chinese holotype of M. lorelieae . We proposed that the Vietnamese specimens belong to a distinct subspecies, M. lorelieae ngoclinhensis .

The Southern birch mouse ( Sicista subtilis ) is a small-sized rodent species characteristic of the Palearctic steppes with westernmost occurrences in central Europe. The species was considered to be extinct in Transylvania (central Romania), but in our field survey we captured three living individuals near the city of Cluj-Napoca. On the basis of nuclear interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequences, we assessed the taxonomic status of the newly found S. subtilis population by comparing them to available sequences, including the sequences of its subspecies. The Transylvanian samples were found to be genetically closest to the Hungarian samples of S. subtilis trizona. These new records extend the known geographic range of this rediscovered species and provide additional information on its habitat preference and external morphological features. Moreover, our phylogenetic tree reconstruction for seven Sicista taxa provides a basic insight into the phylogenetic relationships of the genus, placing the northern Eurasian taxa ( S. betulina and S. subtilis ) at the crown of the tree and the central Asian taxa at the base of the tree. The Transylvanian occurrence of S. subtilis trizona , which is endemic to the Carpathian Basin, is of high faunistic value as a result of an increase in the number of known populations of this subspecies – one of the most endangered rodents of Europe – from one to two.

The giant house bat Scotophilus nigrita , one of the largest vespertilioniform bat species in the world, is a poorly known taxon, especially with respect to its phylogenetic relationships to congeneric species. Its phylogenetic position was thus assessed by analysing DNA sequences of single mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b , S. nigrita was found to be paraphyletic with respect to continental African species S. colias , S. dinganii , S. nigritellus and S. viridis . Analysis of sequences of the nuclear zinc finger protein gene on the Y chromosome corroborated the general pattern of the cytochrome b phylogeny, although phylogenetic relationships were poorly resolved. These results clearly contradict the published data on S. nigrita from Kenya for both markers, rendering the hypothesis of historical hybridization with S. colias implausible and questioning the taxonomic affiliation of the particular Kenyan sequence. A deep split in the cytochrome b phylogeny between S. nigrita from West and Southern Africa reached sequence divergence values of 7.6% to 8.1%, a finding that supports taxonomic elevation of the two currently recognized subspecies into separate species S. nigrita and S. alvenslebeni .

The Perote ground squirrel ( Xerospermophilus perotensis ) is an endangered microendemic species, restricted to a closed basin between the Mexican states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz. Information on its natural history is still limited, and there are no previous predation records for this species. Herein, we report a predation event on a Perote ground squirrel by a prairie falcon ( Falco mexicanus ) and discuss how we determined the taxonomic identity of the recovered prey remains.

Didelphis aurita (Wied-Neuwied, 1826) is a marsupial common in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado but understudied. Thus, we estimated the size of the home range and shelter preferences for three individuals (one male and two females) of D. aurita with spool-and-line and radio-tracking techniques in a forest fragment located in the transition area between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado. The home range estimated by spool-and-line was 1.2±0.7 ha; 0.8±0.2 ha for radio-tracking and 1.8±0.5 ha for both methods together. We identified 20 different shelters, used more than once by individuals. The vine tangles were mostly used when compared with tree hollows and holes in the ground. Comparing with other studies, home range seems to be proportional to the fragment area, being larger in forest fragments surrounded by urban area than in fragments immersed in an agricultural matrix. We recommended more studies evaluating the use of space by D. aurita in different types of environments to conclude if the preference for vine tangles as shelter is a characteristic of the species or our sampling area, which has a large availability of shelters of this type.

In the last few decades China has undergone significant socio-economic changes, with potential negative implications for wildlife populations, particularly large mammals in rural areas, due to development and expansion of agricultural practices. White-lipped deer ( Przewalskium albirostris Przewalski, 1883), endemic to China and listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, have never been formally surveyed and the majority of observations were documented over 25 years ago. This oversight raises the question of whether white-lipped deer populations persist, especially at the edges of their global range. We document recent observations of white-lipped deer in Gansu and Sichuan, at the northern and southern limits of their currently accepted global range. Furthermore, analysis of faecal distribution across the landscape in Sichuan showed that the white-lipped deer overlap with domestic livestock, leading to the potential for resource competition between the wild and domestic ungulates. Comprehensive distribution surveys are required throughout China to aid successful conservation action for the threatened white-lipped deer.

Nathusius’ pipistrelle ( Pipistrellus nathusii ) and Leisler’s bat ( Nyctalus leisleri ) are two long-distance migratory vespertilionids that mainly reproduce in northeastern and central Europe in summer and migrate southwest in autumn. Based on new records of reproductive females and nonvolant juveniles from central Italy, we reassess the breeding ranges of these species in the Italian Peninsula and shift their boundaries southward over 350 and 310 km, respectively, for P. nathusii and N. leisleri . To our best knowledge, the observations of reproductive P. nathusii we report are the southernmost recorded for Europe. Whether our data reflect an actual range expansion or previous insufficient knowledge has yet to be ascertained.

Specimens of Rhinolophus blasii were captured in Manawa, district Lahore, 43 years after the first and single ascertained record in Pakistan. External, cranial, and bacular measurements of R. blasii are given for the first time in the country.