Volume 82, Issue 3

The influence of tiger-specific (sex, age group), environmental (seasons, photoperiod) and anthropogenic (human use regimes) factors on the movements and spatial distribution of tigers using the human-dominated buffer zone of the Panna Tiger Reserve, India was studied. Generalised linear mixed models were used to test the significance of the relationships between the covariates influencing tiger presence. We report that tiger-specific factors – age group (generation) and sex – and environmental factors – seasons and day/night – significantly explain the observed variations in tiger use of the human-dominated buffer zone. For instance, second-generation tigers (sub-adults) spent 40% of their time in the human-use areas, compared to 10% spent by first-generation tigers (adult). When in human-use areas, sub-adult tigers approached areas near villages and spent 30% less time in areas close to water than adult tigers. Our study concludes that, in addition to tiger-specific factors, human factors, including livestock practices and peoples’ activities, influence tiger behaviour and their use of shared spaces. These unchecked human practices may lead to increased negative tiger-human interactions and restricts tigers from exploiting the resources in multiple-use areas.

Mosaic-tailed rodents of the genus Melomys belong to the Australasian old endemic murine radiation and exhibit a rat-like morphology with arboreal or scansorial specializations. Here we report a new population of Melomys burtoni from the island of Halmahera (in the North Moluccas, Indonesia). Our molecular phylogenetic results highlight close relationships and recent evolutionary divergences among M. burtoni from Halmahera and the Australo-Papuan taxa M. burtoni and M. lutillus and other Moluccan taxa, including M. paveli . Multivariate as well as geometric morphometric analyses of cranial, and dental features support the recognition of M. burtoni from Halmahera as a slightly distinctive insular population, preventing us from elevating it as a new taxa. This population is recorded from lowland secondary forest and forest edge habitats in south-central Halmahera. As with other Moluccan endemic murines, colonization by an Australo-Papuan ancestor and subsequent isolation is the probable mode of diversification for M. burtoni in Halmahera. The discovery of Melomys in Halmahera fills a previously puzzling gap in knowledge of the murine fauna of the Moluccas and the biogeography of the Wallacean region.

The striped ground squirrel has a wide distribution in the Ethiopian region but is restricted to a small isolated area in Palaearctic Africa. This fragment was first recorded in the late 1940s in the Souss Valley (Morocco), however, not a single new observation has been published in the following decades. In September 2016 we surveyed the Souss Valley and found squirrels at 43 sites within the triangle between Agadir–Taroudant–Tiznit. Occupied sites were not distributed at random but occurred between an altitude of 45–254 m and on a substrate with coarse texture containing >65% sand. The vast majority of the sites with squirrels (69%) were classified as suburban, cultivated or both. Habitat suitability was estimated by applying geographically weighted logistic regression analysis. The influence of local predictor variables varied across the study area indicating the heterogeneous effects on the determination of the occurrence of the species. The modelled highly suitable habitat area for the striped ground squirrel in Morocco covers almost 690 km 2 and only marginally overlaps the range for the species reported in the literature.

Located in southwestern Brazil, the Pantanal is a Wetland of International Importance and Biosphere reserve. It is composed of several subregions, each with distinct vegetation, and hosts diverse bat fauna. The goal of this study was to compare the bat communities between different subregions of the Pantanal, especially poorly sampled areas. From February 2008 to November 2009, we surveyed bats using mist nets at five sites with different vegetation structure and hydrology, over an area of 30,000 km 2 . Fecal samples were also collected. We captured 254 bats belonging to six families and 37 species: Phyllostomidae (19), Vespertilionidae (8), Molossidae (8), Noctilionidae (1), Emballonuridae (1) and Natalidae (1). The most abundant species was Artibeus planirostris (32%). The species reported in this study represent 60% of bat species recorded in Mato Grosso do Sul and 71% of species known from the Pantanal region of the state. We also highlight important records for the Pantanal, including Eumops patagonicus , Eptesicus diminutus and Micronycteris sanborni . The most common plant species in the feces of bats were from the genera Cecropia and Ficus . The community of bats in the Pantanal proved rich and diverse, with differences among subregions, possibly reflecting their complex landscape and different habitats.

The echimyid rodents of the genus Phyllomys are medium-sized arboreal spiny rats endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The genus is currently composed of 13 species, although there are at least four other undescribed species. The ecology, zoogeography and diversity of the genus are still poorly understood. Here, we provide the first record of Phyllomys sulinus from the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, based on a specimen collected in the Serra da Bocaina National Park, which extends the known geographic range of the species approximately 130 km to the northeast. At this site, P. sulinus occurred in syntopy with the cryptic Phyllomys nigrispinus . We describe the karyotype of P. nigrispinus for the first time and identify two different diploid numbers (2n=84 and 85). We also conducted a molecular analysis of the cytochrome b gene of five specimens, which we identified by phylogenetic reconstruction. Our findings reinforce the importance of molecular data, such as DNA sequences, and karyotypes for the differentiation of cryptic, syntopic species.

We quantified postnatal changes in body mass, length of forearm, length of total gap of the fourth metacarpal-phalangeal joint and changes in wing morphology, including the wingspan, wing area, handwing length, handwing area, armwing length, armwing area, aspect ratio and wing loading in Rhinolophus euryale in a maternity roost in Kerend cave, western Iran. Mean body mass of pups increased linearly until 23 days, when they achieved 74.29% of the mean mass of adult females (11.28±0.74 g, n=12). Rates of body mass gain and forearm growth during the early stage of postnatal growth were 0.36 g/day and 1.41 mm/day, respectively. Length of epiphyseal gap increased during the first 3 weeks and subsequently followed by a linear decrease until day 70 when it closed. Wing characteristics increased linearly until the age of the first flight, after which growth rates significantly declined (all p<0.05). Wing loading decreased linearly (−0.09 Nm −2 /day) until 36 days of age and thereafter increased to a maximum of 6.56±0.30 Nm −2 at 80 days of age. We compare our results with data obtained from close-related bat species, particularly Rhinolophus mehelyi previously studied in a nearby area.

Habitat selection is assumed to accrue fitness benefits. Where resource availability is variable, individuals should respond by changing habitat selection to increase resource availability. However, direct links between observed changes in habitat selection and energetic benefits of this behavior are rarely detected. We used a novel method whereby we converted interannual production levels of three hard-mast-producing Fagaceae species into a comparative energetic productivity score to investigate potential energetic benefits of Asiatic black bear habitat selection. We captured and fitted GPS collars on 19 bears between 2006 and 2010 in the Ashio-Nikko Mountains, Japan. We also collected data on hard-mast production and integrated these data with fine-scale vegetation maps. Then we mapped the potential available mast energetic production for each vegetation type to evaluate their potential energetic benefit for bears. Habitat use differed between poor and good mast years. Bears mostly used Japanese oak in good mast years, and there were sexual differences in September of poor mast years; females used mostly Japanese oak, whereas males used Konara oak. In those years, bears may have benefitted energetically by changing habitat use; however, the mean potential available energy to bears never exceeded that in good mast years, even if they used different habitats.

Vampyressa melissa (Thomas, 1926) is a rare species listed as vulnerable by IUCN. Its distribution encompasses the eastern slope of the Andes from Peru to Colombia. However, the northern part of its distribution exhibits a gap of 1050 km. Here, we record two new localities for V. melissa in the eastern foothills of the Colombian Andes, filling the distribution gap 223 km to the south of the northern most known locality and 822 km to the north of the nearest locality in Ecuador. Finally, we propose hypotheses about the factors that could determine the rarity category of this species.

Relatively little is known about folivory in bats, which is considered an occasional item in the diet of phyllostomids. Here we provide evidence on the consumption of leaves by Carollia perspicillata in northeastern Brazil, through records of its feeding behavior using camera traps, during the monitoring of the Gruta da Janela cave. The analysis of 12 months of monitoring revealed folivory in 7 months. Extra footage (1-min samples) allowed us to confirm C. perspicillata consuming the whole leaf (juices and fibers), which was never recorded in Neotropical bats. The record provides new insights into the diet of C. perspicillata , with an important new perspective on the feeding ecology of the species. We also highlight the use of camera traps as an important tool to monitor bat colonies in permanent shelters.