Volume 84, Issue 1

In a recently published paper, Taylor and colleagues discussed different approaches and interpretations of mammalian taxonomy and their bearing on more general issues such as conservation and evolutionary biology. We fully endorse the fundamental importance of taxonomy and its being grounded on scientific principles. However, we also deplore a lack of awareness in the literature of the fact that taxonomy is a twofold enterprise that encompasses not only (i) the scientific description and quantitative analysis of biodiversity but also (ii) an executive decision as to how the results of (i) are translated into names. This has serious ramifications for the conservation of our planet’s dwindling biodiversity and when taxonomic names are used as raw data for ecological and evolutionary analyses.

We rediscovered a population of Nelson’s spiny pocket mouse ( Heteromys nelsoni ; Merriam, 1902) in the type locality of Pinabeto in the Mexican state of Chiapas, 121 years after it was last collected. We describe five topotype specimens according to their morphology and external measurements, and we confirm its identity at the species level in the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) of GenBank. As the population of H. nelsoni in Pinabeto is isolated, it is likely to be susceptible to extinction. There is a need to carry out additional scientific studies of this microendemic species in order to obtain more information regarding its biology, ecology and evolutionary history, and to be able to influence environmental policy to protect and conserve this species, as well as the region’s cloud forests.

Phylogeography examines the spatial genetic structure of species. Environmental niche modelling (or ecological niche modelling; ENM) examines the environmental limits of a species’ ecological niche. These two fields have great potential to be used together. ENM can shed light on how phylogeographical patterns develop and help identify possible drivers of spatial structure that need to be further investigated. Specifically, ENM can be used to test for niche differentiation among clades, identify factors limiting individual clades and identify barriers and contact zones. It can also be used to test hypotheses regarding the effects of historical and future climate change on spatial genetic patterns by projecting niches using palaeoclimate or future climate data. Conversely, phylogeographical information can populate ENM with within-species genetic diversity. Where adaptive variation exists among clades within a species, modelling their niches separately can improve predictions of historical distribution patterns and future responses to climate change. Awareness of patterns of genetic diversity in niche modelling can also alert conservationists to the potential loss of genetically diverse areas in a species’ range. Here, we provide a simplistic overview of both fields, and focus on their potential for integration, encouraging researchers on both sides to take advantage of the opportunities available.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of baits as a tool for estimating species richness for medium and large mammals. To this end, we installed 15 cameras in the Ecological Station of Jataí, São Paulo, Brazil (21°30′S – 47°40′W and 21°40′S/47°50′W). The cameras were placed in a grid with a distance of 1 km between each station. We randomly placed cameras with baits and those without baits and made observations for 4 weeks. Then, after a week’s break, the treatments were inverted and continued for another 4 weeks. We estimated species richness based on the presence or absence of species using the Jackknife1 estimator in the EstimateS program and compared the treatments using the paired Wilcoxon test. Species composition and estimated richness did not differ between treatments with baits (S Jack1  = 20.97 ± 1.96) and those without baits (S Jack1  = 20.95 ± 1.95; W = 30 p = 0.15). The rarefaction curves between the treatments were similar, suggesting that the use of baits did not increase or reduce the number of species recorded. In addition, the use of baits did not significantly increase capture rates. Analysis of the costs of the different treatments showed that the use of baits increased the project costs by more than 4 times. The findings of this study suggest that, for species surveys, camera traps do not need to be baited.

Protected areas are critical to biodiversity conservation. Yet many protected areas around the world are very small, and population persistence can be compromised in small habitat patches, particularly for large species. But we do not know how small is too small for long-term population viability, or the degree to which habitat area effects vary with mammal body size, for most tropical species. Here, diversity and species occurrence were assessed in a small national park that has long been isolated from other forest patches. The two largest Bornean carnivores, the Sunda clouded leopard ( Neofelis diardi ) and sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ), may be locally extinct, but 12 smaller carnivores appear to be persisting. The banded civet ( Hemigalus derbyanus ), the Malay civet ( Viverra tangalunga ) and the leopard cat ( Prionailurus bengalensis ) had relatively high occurrence rates and were found in all habitat types, though were more common in hill (banded civet) or lowland (common palm civet) forest (LF). Occurrence probabilities for all of these species and the common palm civet ( Paradoxurus hermaphroditus ) were lower in areas more accessible to humans. Detection rates and estimated diversity suggest that this park has a small carnivore assemblage equivalent to those of much larger areas. These are the first results demonstrating size-specific vulnerability to area effects in Southeast Asian carnivores.

The diet of myrmecophagous mammals is usually studied by investigating the chitinous remains of termites and ants obtained from stomachs, guts, and faeces; however, this process is time and labour intensive. Moreover, faeces of obligate myrmecophagous mammals contain other materials such as soil, sand, rocks, and plant matter, which hinder the accurate and efficient identification of faeces’ contents; this makes estimating the biomass of each prey species difficult. This study tested non-filtering and filtering faecal analysis procedures and compared their identification accuracy and efficiency in the analysis of Formosan pangolin Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla faeces. In the non-filtering procedure, 1 g of dried faeces was distributed over an area greater than 360 cm 2 to be able to see most ant capsules and termite mandibles. In the filtering procedure, 0.5 cm 3 of filtered chitinous remains of termites and ants was spread over a 45 cm 2 area to obtain a high resolution of the diet composition. The filtering procedure can sieve out insect remains from the debris, which facilitates further identification of the insect chitin. Using the two proposed faecal analysis procedures, the prey species composition and the number of prey remains could be obtained. Our results provide a quantitative method to evaluate the diversity of wild pangolin’s diets for determining their ecological requirements and developing in-situ and ex-situ conservation plans.

To date, the large-scale distribution of the endangered Pyrenean desman, Galemys pyrenaicus , has been related to various abiotic factors (e.g. riverbed and riverbank characteristics, hydrology, topography, climate). However, none could fully explain the recent observed range contraction of the species, suggesting the influence of other drivers. In this study, the potential effect of some unexplored variables on the Pyrenean desman presence was investigated at the local scale (i.e. stream reaches) in the French Pyrenees. They described not only the riverbed, riverbanks, water chemistry, topography and pedology but also the presence of potential interacting species. Generalised linear models were implemented to select the best drivers of the Pyrenean desman presence. Our results stressed the relevance of considering human impacts at the riverbed scale, river narrowing and water chemistry to explain the local distribution of the Pyrenean desman. The presence of two potential competitors, the Eurasian water shrew Neomys fodiens and the dipper Cinclus cinclus , was also highly correlated to the species presence in stream reaches. This suggests that all three species may use the same resources within streams, which could be a potential source of competitive interactions. This study not only highlights the importance of maintaining the riverbed integrity for the Pyrenean desman but also stresses the need to assess the extent to which biotic interactions may affect its distribution in order to understand its current decline.

We conducted a global positioning system (GPS) tracking of a male sika deer ( Cervus nippon ) and his mother in the eastern foothills of the northern Japanese Alps, central Japan. Sika deer exhibited similar seasonal movement patterns; however, the male deer left his natal group at 11 months of age. At 15 months of age, the male deer settled in the neighboring mountain, which was 74 km away from his natal range. This is the first record of long-distance (>50 km) natal dispersal of the sika deer. Our findings might help to explain the expanding distribution of the sika deer.

Apparent density [determined as kilometric index of abundance (KIA), by direct sightings and by droppings along line transects] and habitat use of some species of carnivore mammals were studied in two protected areas of Burkina Faso (Comoé-Leraba and Nazinga). Despite the fact that the dataset was collected throughout several years and with a very high field effort, the amount of data collected was relatively small, and confined just to a few species. There was no effect of the year on the average KIA estimates of the carnivores at this study area, and data from direct sightings along transects estimated lower densities than those coming from droppings collected along the same transects. In terms of habitat type, shrub savannah represented the best habitat type for carnivores, despite being relatively scarcely available along the line transects when compared with woody savannah (especially for Canis adustus and Civettictis civetta ).

The French pharmacist and explorer Christoph-Augustin Lamare-Picquot (1785–1873) was in South Asia during 1826–1829 to collect ethnographical, anthropological, zoological and botanical specimens. He made an excursion to the Sundarbans (the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta) of Bangladesh, where on 17 November 1828 his team shot a female rhinoceros and caught her young one the next day, just south of Khulna. Both animals were completely hornless. He returned to France in the spring of 1830, where his zoological specimens were assessed by Georges Cuvier, and his other collections relating to ethnography by other scholars. All recommended purchase by the French Government, but circumstances did not allow this. A few animals were described by scientists connected with the Natural History Museum in Paris. After Lamare-Picquot published an account of the hunting expedition in 1835, the rhinoceros was described as a new species Rhinoceros inermis , by René-Primivère Lesson, first in a supplement to Buffon dated 1836, and not, as accepted until now, in restatements dating from 1838 or later. The main part of the zoological collection was bought by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1836 and integrated in museums in Berlin. Other collections were exhibited as a “Panthéon Indien” in Vienna and Bratislava from 1838, until they were purchased by the Bavarian King Ludwig in 1841, and added to a museum in Munich. The type specimens of R. inermis are still preserved in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. The adult female (ZMB_Mam_1957) was selected as the lectotype.

Supernumerary teeth are common dental anomalies reported in rodents, mainly occurring distally to molars. We report the first case of mesial hyperdontia in wild-caught sigmodontine: a simplified tooth anterior to the right first lower molar in Neacomys amoenus . It affected the first molar morphology, which exhibits an underdeveloped mesial region with a reduced anterior conulid, a similar pattern observed in early known myomorph fossils, including lineages that still possess the last premolar. However, only lineages without premolar display an elongated first lower molar with a large anteroconid, as observed in extant Myomorpha. During the odontogenesis in myomorphs, the posteriormost vestigial diastemal tooth bud, located at the same locus of the last lower premolar, has its development arrested and merges with the cap of the first molar. This process might have contributed to the development of an increased anteroconid in this lineage. The abnormal Neacomys ’ atavistic phenotype corroborates the hypothesis that the absorption of the primordium of the last lower premolar had played an important role in the development of first molar’s mesial region. Additionally, it also might have promoted the evolutionary transition from a reduced conulid into an enlarged anteroconid, as deduced from the fossil record and developmental evidence

The northern raccoon, Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758), is listed among the invasive alien species of European Union concern. Therefore, an updated monitoring of its distribution is required to design and address management actions. As to Italy, the raccoon has been reported with an established population only in northern regions. In this note, we report a new established raccoon population along the Apennine ridge in central Italy and we estimate the range expansion from 2015 to 2018 both through the minimum convex polygon (MCP) and the kernel estimates. Furthermore, we propose the management actions to limit negative impacts in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park and its surroundings.

The black-and-gold howler monkey ( Alouatta caraya ) is widely distributed in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina. Despite this wide distribution, it is locally threatened in some parts of its southern range by forest loss and fragmentation, and yellow fever outbreaks. We present 14 new localities of A. caraya occurrence in the Pampa biome of southern Brazil, extending its range southwards by approximately 100 km.

Movements under environmental structures and on supports, and the use of shelters by Akodon montensis were assessed using the spool-and-line technique. Movements of a few individuals of Thaptomys nigrita , Brucepattersonius iheringi and Oligoryzomys nigripes were also assessed and briefly described. Akodon montensis often used fallen logs, lianas and ferns as climbing supports for movements. The species moved under different environmental structures with differing frequencies, with greater use of dense litter followed by lianas and fallen branches. The studied sigmodontine species used shelters of different compositions and structures, and differed in displacement behavior. This study is the first to contribute to understanding the movement and use of environmental structures, shelters and climbing supports by A. montensis .