Volume 87, Issue 3

Overwintering is important for the survival of northern mammals, and northern ungulates deposit body fat. Researchers have interpreted fat deposition as an adaptation to food shortages during winter. However, it is likely that reproductive activities also affect fat deposition. We compared kidney fat indices (KFIs) of sika deer ( Cervus nippon ) between the northern and southern populations in Japan. In the northern population, the KFIs of adult males and females peaked during summer and autumn, respectively. In adult males, the KFIs abruptly declined during the rut (October), while in yearling males and fawns, they were low in summer. In the southern population, KFIs of adult males were high in summer but decreased in October. KFIs of adult females were low and increased in December–January. KFIs of fawns were low. These results suggest that most classes of the southern population did not deposit much fat during the summer except for adult males. The result that southern adult males displayed as much fat deposition as the northern males suggests that body fat was deposited not only for overwintering but also for reproductive activity of adult males.

Himalayan tahr is a group-living animal of high-altitude Himalaya, distributed all across the subalpine range that also formed an important prey base for large carnivores in Himalaya. The species is threatened due to habitat fragmentation, illegal poaching, and anthropogenic activities. We undertook population genetic assessment of Himalayan tahr from Western Himalaya and observed comparable genetic diversity at both mitochondrial and nuclear microsatellite loci. Bayesian skyline plots showed stable demography in the past several thousand years. We identified 27 unique individuals with a select panel of seven loci and the Bayesian structure analysis inferred two genetic clusters. The present study is the first report on the population genetic make-up of Himalayan tahr and can be used for long-term genetic monitoring of the species.

The serval ( Leptailurus serval ) is a medium-sized felid that is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. We report on the first scientific record of the servaline morph in a serval in Akagera National Park, Rwanda. Though this morph has been documented in the forested ecosystems of West and Central Africa, the servaline morph has not been recorded in a predominantly savannah ecosystem. Further research into the prevalence of this morph outside of forest ecosystems and the adaptive advantage of the servaline coat pattern in servals is recommended. Our findings highlight the importance of conserving savannah ecosystems to preserve morphological diversity in a species.

We report the record of the velvety fruit-eating bat ( Enchisthenes hartii ), 68 and 47 years after the first and last specimen collected for which information is available, for the State of Jalisco, Mexico. A pregnant female of E. hartii was captured in an arboreal corridor, within a landscape made up of grasslands, cultivated areas, and fragments of tropical deciduous forest. Our record is remarkable, since it provides important information on the presence of E. hartii in the southern coast region, in the area of influence of the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, as well as on its reproductive activity.

To better understand the arboreal activity of small mammals, we focused on the arboreal nest-building behaviour of Apodemus argenteus . Using a camera trap, we found that a mouse took 18 days to build a nest in a tree cavity. For a few days during the nest building period, the mouse intensively carried nesting materials (leaves) to the cavity, though not regularly. The mouse did not constantly carry nesting materials, but rather showed two peaks working activities at 02:00 and 22:00. Judging from the uneven working pattern, its nest-building behaviour may depend on environmental condition such as meteorological factors.

Cerradomys akroai is a recently described rodent species, known from two localities in the Brazilian Cerrado, in southeastern Tocantins state (type locality), and in southwestern Piauí state. Herein we add a third locality recorded from a specimen collected in central Tocantins state, in a “cerrado sensu stricto ” habitat. Morphological and molecular analyses confirm the identification. The three localities now known for the species are restricted to northern Cerrado domain, and two are located in sites severely impacted by anthropogenic activities. Current conservation category of Cerradomys akroai is Data Deficient, and additional information on its distribution and biology is required.

Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs), are an advanced technology that allows the collection of large amounts of data in a short amount of time, including the detection of cryptic and arboreal animals. Here, we report the first records of the southern maned sloth Bradypus crinitus obtained with thermal cameras from a drone. As far as we know, this is the first time a sloth has been observed by a drone. We recorded four individuals of B. crinitus in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, plus first records of Procyon cancrivorus , which were all resting in the forest canopy. The individuals’ thermal responses demonstrate that the use of drones for research on these species may be a viable option to study still unexplored aspects of their ecology or conservation.

We report two new bat records for Espírito Santo State (Brazil), increasing the local list to 88 species. Two individuals of Myotis izecksohni were collected with mist net, while Molossops temminckii was identified from bioacoustic recordings. Both species were recorded in the Serra do Caparaó region, characterized by high-altitude Atlantic Forest, located in the southwest portion of Espírito Santo State. With these new records, the state is now home to 48.6% of the chiropterofauna known to Brazil.

A 4-year monitoring of bat fauna at Rudine wind farm in Croatia aimed to produce mitigation measures to minimize both the number of bat fatalities and power loss in energy production. During the first 2 years, a high number of carcasses was found from mid-July to the end of October, indicating the need for some mitigation strategy. Based on the results of carcass searches, meteorological data and bat activity monitored at a weather mast and four wind turbine nacelles, mitigation measures were proposed. During the next 2 years, wind turbine curtailment was implemented in the high collision risk period based on critical wind speed thresholds varying from 5.0 to 6.5 ms −1 . Estimation of a total number of bat fatalities was conducted with the GenEst software for each monitoring year. A 78% reduction in estimated number of fatalities was recorded indicating the effectiveness of implemented measures.

Many poorly-known small mammals have remained undetected for decades, including Melomys fulgens , a distinctive orange murid from Seram, Indonesia, that has been unrecorded since 1920. We report previously undocumented specimens of M. fulgens collected in 1993 and 1994, and local ecological knowledge from 2017 including descriptions and recent sightings, providing strong indirect evidence of its continued survival in similar habitat to known collection localities. These findings indicate relatively widespread distribution of M. fulgens in low-elevation coastal forest across Seram, raising hope for continued survival of Seram’s other ‘lost’ small mammals.

We looked at lectotype designations by Baranova and Gromov from among syntypes in the Mammal Collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ZIN) in St. Petersburg, Russia. We identified 20 lectotypifications, published in 2003, which do not accord to Articles 74.7.3 and/or 74.1.3 of the Code and are therefore invalid. Particularly instructive is the case of Lemmus obensis bungei Vinogradov, B.S. (1924). Two new interesting lemmings from Siberia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 9: 186–188, since its syntypes originated from two allopatric phylogenetic lineages which were classified as distinct nominal taxa. Because the act of lectotypification by Baranova and Gromov does not contain an express statement of deliberate designation as is requested by the amended Article 74.7.3 of the Code, their designation is not valid. To secure the nomenclatural stability of Siberian lemmings we designate voucher ZIN 11,025 (skin and skull from Sagastyr Island) as the lectotype of Lemmus obensis bungei. The name bungei thus defined is a junior synonym of Lemmus lemmus sibiricus (Kerr, R. (1792). The animal kingdom […] of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnæus. Class I. Mammalia , J. Murray, London) with a range at the shores of the Arctic Ocean, between the Northern Dvina and Lena Rivers. We furthermore provide a list of all invalid lectotypifications of hamsters (Cricetinae) and voles (Arvicolinae) based on ZIN syntypes.

Although 13 species of the genus Eumops have been documented in South America, none of them had been previously reported in Chile. Based on acoustic surveys, we report here the first record of this genus for the country. Fourteen echolocation sequences of the Western mastiff bat ( Eumops perotis ) were recorded in the valleys of Azapa, Lluta, and Camarones in the Arica and Parinacota region, northern Chile. Echolocation calls of E. perotis can be distinguished from other bat species in the region by its lower frequency range, longer call duration, and interpulse intervals. This finding adds a new genus and species for Chile and increases the known bat diversity in the country to 17 species.

Morphological anomalies in bats are rarely reported. We present new reports of three types of morphological anomalies (chromatic, wing, and ear) from specimens in a biological collection and from individuals captured during field sampling. We recorded piebaldism on seven individuals from six species: Carollia perspicillata , Glossophaga commissarisi , Hsunycteris thomasi , Phyllostomus elongatus , and Trachops cirrhosus from Guaviare collected in 2022, and Tonatia saurophila from Casanare collected in 2020 . These represent three new reports for the continent ( P. elongatus , G. commissarisi , and H. thomasi ). We also recorded the broken digits anomaly on two individuals from two species: Platyrrhinus sp. and Sturnira sp. from Chocó collected in 2019. In addition, we found one case of the absence of pinnae and tragus in C. perspicillata from Santander collected in 2018; an absence not previously reported in bats. We encourage researchers to report their observations of bats with morphological anomalies, as this information could be useful in estimating occurrence rates and addressing questions about its effects on populations.

Population parameters provide essential information for conservation efforts aimed at target species. We used the spatially explicit capture-recapture method to estimate the jaguar density and population size in the Gurupi Jaguar Conservation Unit (JCU), located in the most threatened ecoregion of the Amazon. The estimated density of 2.62 individuals/100 km 2 in a continuous forest of over 10,000 km 2 implies a small effective population size, underscoring the threat to the long-term viability of the Gurupi JCU’s jaguar population. We recommend urgent forest restoration actions to reduce fragmentation and improve connectivity between Gurupi JCU and other forest fragments to facilitate jaguar gene flow.

Mormoopids are a small group of insectivorous bats largely distributed from the southwestern United States throughout Central and South America. They occupy a wide variety of habitats, and in Brazil have usually been associated with habitats in the Amazon, Cerrado, or Caatinga biomes. Nevertheless, most of the information compiled so far to infer their distributional limits is based on roosting colonies occasionally found in caves or on inventories using bat mist netting, which is known to be an ineffective method for capturing aerial insectivorous bats. In this contribution, we present new occurrence records of mormoopid bats based on acoustic surveys in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes and make an extensive literature review to provide an up-to-date distribution of these bats in Brazil. We additionally describe important parameters of the echolocation calls of mormoopids across the geographical scope of our study, contrasting our data with published information to provide a better overview of the intraspecific acoustic variation of these bat species. Our acoustic data reveal a larger area of occurrence of mormoopids in Brazil than previously known, confirming new records for two states.

The raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides is an Asian canid species which has been introduced to Europe for fur farming. Local escapes and the animal subsequent dispersal have triggered the establishment of self-sustaining populations, particularly in Eastern European countries, but with several populations in Southern Europe as well. Despite being listed amongst the alien species of European concern (EU Regulation 1143/2014), data on raccoon dog distribution in Southern Europe and in particular in Italy are still scanty. In this work, we reviewed all the available data of raccoon dog in Italy. Only five confirmed occurrences are available, suggesting that in this country the species may still be at the beginning of the establishment process.