Volume 87, Issue 6

In Colombia, 217 bat species have been recorded of which at least 22 species occur in Andean and sub-Andean ecosystems. To evaluate the richness of bats in an Andean elevational range at the Municipality of Manizales, Central Andes of Colombia, we performed surveys supplemented with incidental captures from 2018 to 2022 at different urban and peri-urban areas, and reviewed specimens in biological collections. We evaluated the perception and knowledge that local people have about bats using an online survey. We reported 33 species in the study area. Phyllostomidae showed the highest richness (20 species), followed by Vespertilionidae (11 species), and Molossidae (2 species). For the survey, we obtained responses from 219 people who showed a good knowledge about bats and their ecological importance. We did not find significant differences between ages and levels of schooling in the perception about bats. Our results highlight the relevance of conserving the green areas of Manizales and the need for environmental education programs to reduce possible bat-human conflicts and negative perceptions. Manizales has the potential as an Area of Importance for the Conservation of Bats, due to its high bat richness and that reproduction is occurring within the study area.

Additional record for Asellia patrizii from As Saqid Island, Saudi Arabia, is reported. Illustrations for alive specimens are given for the first time. Current distribution for this species across its known range of distribution was provided. Echolocation data for A. patrizii is given for the first time, where it ranged from 133-139 KHz for maximum energy (average 135.22 ± 2.41). Calls were compared with two populations of Asellia tridens in Saudi Arabia and other regions in the Middle East.

The Yellow-throated marten Martes flavigula is one of the least studied species within the genus Martes and there is contradictory information regarding its daily activity, spanning from diurnal to nocturnal or cathemeral. Our long-term studies of the daily and seasonal activity of the Yellow-throated marten were carried out in five protected areas of Primorsky Krai (Russian Far East) using a large-scale network of camera traps from 2010 to 2021. The aim of the study was to find out the pattern of daily activity of the species, its changes over the seasons and in different territories of the region. We found that the Yellow-throated marten had a pronounced diurnal activity pattern, including one or two detection peaks per day. The species is less active at dusk and almost inactive at night in this part of its range. Two clusters with different patterns of marten activity were identified in the protected areas of Primorsky Krai: with one pronounced peak around noon in the continental part with a more severe climate and smoothed activity in coastal areas with milder climatic conditions. Seasonal detection has two peaks in April-May and October, which corresponds to species biological requirements.

We report the first records of Cerdocyon thous on the left bank of the Madeira river, extending its distribution to more than 10 km to the N–W. We carried out a survey of official information present in scientific articles, technical reports, and management plans for conservation units in the state of Rondônia, and accessions to the iNaturalist. Our records show C. thous occurs widely in state, even in busy urban areas such as the area surrounding the international airport of Porto Velho. This highlights the importance of monitoring the fauna present in the urban fragments of Amazonian cities.

Didelphis aurita is an abundant South American didelphid. Chromatic disorders are rare and scarcely known in marsupials. We report and describe the occurrence of xanthochromism (yellowish coloration) in D. aurita , being the first record of this anomaly for opossums. The emergence of the xanthochromism correlated with the anthropogenic stress in urban-sylvatic interface suggests that chromatic disorders may serve as useful bioindicators of the health of wildlife in disturbed environments.

Pure white animals have long been regarded as unusual and prized by hunters. For the first time, we report an incidence of a white lesser mouse deer ( Tragulus kanchil ), observed by camera trap in Brunei Darussalam. This adult individual was recorded on four separate occasions in the same location. Although the underlying cause of this rare phenotype is undeterminable from camera trap images, the individual does not display the pink eyes commonly characteristic of albinism. It is surprising that this individual has survived to adulthood, as its bright white colouration makes it more vulnerable to predation, as well as a target for hunters. Further study of this individual could reveal insights into how it has survived, and the genetic health of the local population of T. kanchil .

Platyrrhinus guianensis is bat with a distribution restricted to the Guiana Region of South America in Guyana and Suriname. Herein, we report the southernmost record of this species, extending its distribution to Brazil in Brazilian Amazon. Our record indicates that the species have a larger geographical range that previously thought. Platyrrhinus guianensis occurs in sympatry with Platyrrhinus brachycephalus , Platyrrhinus incarum , and Platyrrhinus fusciventris in the Brazilian Amazon, and can be confused with these species, raising the possibility that there might be other specimens of Platyrrhinus guianensis misidentified as other species in scientific collections.

In Brazil, three out four bat species from the genus Nyctinomops are known. Most of occurrences of these species are based on captures with mist-nets. In this study, we extend the distribution of Nyctinomops aurispinosus in Brazil, providing new records for the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso (1), Roraima (1), Pará (2) and Pernambuco (1). We also confirm the use of new types of shelter by N. aurispinosus , such as rock crevices in dryland environments and river boulders. We provide new fundamental information about the biology, behavioural and ecological patterns of this species.

We identified individual jaguars from a database of camera-trap images collected in the Eastern Amazonian rainforest using the artificial intelligence software HotSpotter. We identified individuals from 131 of 217 images. Twenty-five different individuals were identified based on images of the left side. We compared our results with the results from an undergraduate study that manually identified 18 jaguar individuals from 53 images also used in the present study. One of the 18 individuals was found to be misclassified based on HotSpotter. We found HotSpotter to be useful in identifying individual jaguars in our study area.

The common name of pampas cat includes a complex of small Neotropical felid species found in various habitats of South America. Recently several species of this complex were proposed, but there are few records in the northernmost distribution of the continent, and reports of the pampas cat’s presence in Colombia have been ambiguous. Current northern limits of Leopardus garleppi are limited to the Andes of Ecuador. Here we present the northernmost record of the species, validating its presence in Colombia and review previous controversial records from the country. The new record is based on a road-killed specimen in a dry tropical forest ecosystem in the municipality of Mercaderes, Department of Cauca. Our morphological and genetic comparisons also shown that a previous record from Colombia supported by a single skin recently used to described a new species named Leopardus narinensis belong to Leopardus tigrinus . With the information compiled from new localities in Colombia and Ecuador, the known distribution range for L. garleppi is increased towards the northern part of South America into areas of Tropical Dry Forest. The distribution now includes 14 ecoregions from Colombia to Bolivia, and four in Colombia (Eastern Cordillera real montane forests, Northwestern Andean montane forests, Northern Andean paramo, and the Patía Valley dry forests), which correspond to similar ecosystems inhabited by the species in other Andean landscapes. The potential distribution hypothesis showed that the species has high suitability in large areas of southwestern Colombia (Nariño). With the recording of L. garleppi in Colombia, the number of extant felid species in the country has increased to seven.

The Annamite striped rabbit Nesolagus timminsi is an endangered lagomorph restricted to the Annamite mountains of Viet Nam and Lao P.D.R. Much remains unknown about the species, especially in its unexplored range in southern Lao P.D.R. Here, we report two market specimens from Dak Cheung district in Sekong province. Both animals were killed by firearms, and were reportedly hunted in the mountain range along the Viet Nam border. The specimens represent the southernmost records known from Lao P.D.R., and indicate that hunting with firearms may be a localized threat in some areas, along with the widespread threat of snares across the region.

Alouatta is composed of groups of species of which the Amazonian Alouatta seniculus group is part. The number of species in this group is not consensus, some authors considered as species some taxa previously considered as subspecies of A . seniculus : A. seniculus , Alouatta sara , Alouatta s. puruensis , Alouatta s. juara , and  Alouatta arctoidea . In order to investigate the genetic diversity of Alouatta in the Purus River basin, we examined the karyotypes of individuals from this region and conducted analyses using Cytochrome b sequences, which yielded valuable information on species diversity and revealed the presence of A. sara in western Brazil, expanding its known distribution range.