Mammalogy

Animal mating systems are driven by the temporal and spatial distribution of sexually receptive females. In mammals, ground-dwelling squirrels represent an ideal clade for testing predictions regarding the effects of these parameters on male reproductive strategies. While the majority of ground squirrel species have a short, highly synchronous annual breeding season that occurs immediately after females emerge from hibernation, the Mexican or Rio Grande ground squirrel ( Ictidomys parvidens ) differs markedly in having an extended mating season (2 months) and a long delay between emergence from hibernation and female receptivity (1–2 months). Both traits are expected to favor polygyny by increasing the chances that a male can secure matings with multiple females (e.g., females that come into estrus on different days). To test this prediction, we used microsatellite markers to characterize the mating system of a population of Rio Grande ground squirrels from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Our...

Amaç: 2007 - 2015 yılları arasında arazide karşılaşılan, hakkında kısıtlı da olsa veriler edinilen memelilere ilişkin bilginin paylaşılması mevcut çalışmanın amacını teşkil etmektedir. Bu veriler, fotoğraflar, kısmen düzenli olarak kaydedilmiş veriler ve kısa notlar olarak sunulmuştur. Bildiriye numaralandırılmış bir isim verilmesi sayesinde çalışmaların tekrarlı hale getirilmesi amaçlanmaktadır.
    Gereçler ve Yöntemler: Çalışma kapsamında, karşılaşılmış 9 memeli organizmanın (Sciurus vulgaris, Sus scrofa, Vulpes vulpes, Martes sp., Tursiops truncatus, bir Chiroptera üyesi, Erinaceus concolor, Lutra lutra ve Meles meles), 3 ilde (Aydın, Denizli ve Muğla) bulundukları yerler harita üzerinde gösterilmiş, karşılaşma tarihleri, koordinatları, bulunuş şekilleri ve birey sayıları kaydedilmiştir. Ayrıca her organizmaya ait görsellerle çalışma zenginleştirilmiştir. İhbarlarla gelen bilgiler sayesinde veriler desteklenmiştir. Aktif saha çalışmalarının gerçekleştirilmesinde hem profesyonel fotoğraf makinalarından hem de fotokapan kullanım yöntemlerinden yararlanılmıştır.
    Sonuç: Çalışmanın çıktıları değerlendirildiğinde, türlerin bulunuşlarının zorluğu dikkat çekmektedir. Ayrıca Meles meles gibi bazı türlerin ölü olarak bulunması gibi sorunların varlığı göze çarpmaktadır. Bu bakış açısı geliştirildiğinde, ülkemizde yapılacak kapsamlı mamalojik çalışmaların önemi ön plana çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmalara ait sonuçların, söz konusu organizmalarla iç içe yaşam süren yöre insanları ile paylaşılması bilim insanlarının yükümlülüğüdür.

A new species ofOryzomysis described for the coastal Atlantic region of Brazil.Oryzomys seuanezisp. nov.was collected in eight localities throughout the Atlantic Forest from the south of the State of Bahia to the State of the Rio de Janeiro, mostly in lowlands. Belonging to theO. capitospecies group,O. seuanezidiffers from the other species by its karyotype equal 2n=48, FN=60. A morphometric analysis

Jacquemontia reclinata House (Convolvulaceae) is a federally listed endangered species endemic to coastal strand habitat of south-eastern Florida. In order to identify the closest relatives of J. reclinata, a phylogenetic reconstruction was performed based on nucleotide sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer region of nuclear ribosomal DNA and from the trnH-psbA intergenic spacer of chloroplast DNA. The three putative relatives of J. reclinata and the majority of Jacquemontia Choicy species known to occur in the Caribbean Islands were included. The strict consensus tree concurs with previous morphological studies, indicating that J. reclinata is closely related to the Caribbean species J. cayensis Britton, J. curtisii Hallier f., and J. havanensis (Jacq.) Urb. These three species and J. reclinata form an unresolved clade. Nucleotide divergence within this clade is low, suggesting that the group is recent, perhaps diversifying after the latest glacial period. These taxa need to be studied further using population-level DNA markers. Most species endemic to the Caribbean Basin form a strongly supported clade. Our phylogeny supports Convolvulus nodiflorus Desr. as part of Jacquemontia. In addition, J. ovalifolia (West) Hallier f. ssp. sandwicensis (A. Gray) K.R. Robertson is sister to the Antillean endemic J. solanifolia (L.) Hallier f. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 154, 443–454.

The morphological differences between sexes of six soricid species belonging to two subfamilies, Crocidurinae
(Crocidura suaveolens and C. leucodon) and Soricinae (Neomys anomalus, N. fodiens, Sorex
araneus and S. minutus), were studied on the basis of 39 cranial, mandibular and tooth measurements. Different
patterns regarding sexual differences in size were recorded in the two subfamilies. The two whitetoothed
shrew species exhibited clear male-biased sexual size differences, which were better expressed in
C. suaveolens compared to C. leucodon as well as in Southeastern Europe compared to Central Europe.
Conversely, red-toothed shrews did not display distinct sexual differences in size. In N. fodiens, N. anomalus,
S. araneus and S. minutus, some measurements were larger in males, others were larger in females,
while certain measurements did not differ between sexes. Furthermore, differences between samples of
one species were observed. The characters that showed the most significant sex variations differed among
the species. As a great overlap exists among the ranges of the measurements, it is more correct to speak of
size differences between sexes rather than of a distinct sexual size dimorphism.

The American mink (Neovison vison) is a semi-aquatic, generalist carnivore released onto Tierra del Fuego (TDF) Island in the 1940s, subsequently spreading to adjacent islands in the archipelago with potential effects on native prey populations. Knowledge of this new predator’s trophic ecology is essential to identify threats, plan control strategies and conserve native fauna. We studied seasonal mink diet in TDF in different habitats. We identified undigested remains from 493 scats collected between May 2005 and March 2009 along marine coasts and freshwater shores (rivers and lakes). Small mammals and fish were the main mink prey in TDF (over 65% of diet items). Seasonal variations were not detected, but diet did vary significantly between marine and freshwater habitats, where more terrestrial items were consumed. Among mammals, mink consumed more small native rodents than exotic species. Native fish consumption was also important with greater representation of species from the families Nototheniidae and Galaxiidae in marine and freshwater habitats respectively. Birds were the third item in importance, but did not constitute a particularly large part of the mink’s diet on TDF. Overall, differences found in mink diet between habitats reflected their generalist/opportunistic feeding behaviour and did not differ greatly from observations in its native range or in other areas where it has been introduced. Our results establish the interactions between this novel predator and its prey and also illustrate the need to continue research on native prey populations to quantify mink impact on them and understand the ecological context of this biotic assemblage.

Unlike reptiles, who are born with species-specific morphology and behavior that hardly changes as they grow into adults, mammals are born with a class-specific neonatal phase that renders the morphology and behavior of each species different from the physiology and behavior of their species-specific adulthood. Mammals must undergo a transformation phase, called youth, between the neonate and the adult. This youthful metamorphic and meta-behavioral phase is necessary while the mammal is remodeling from sucking milk to munching grass or hunting meat. During its youthful phase a mammal is not simply growing linearly into its adult form and behavior but is a hybrid trying out different patterns of  neonatal and adult micro-motor pieces of behavior that change almost daily in frequency as pieces of neonatal behavior inactivate and adult behavioral motor pieces begin to activate. The offsets of neonatal behavior and the onsets of species-specific adult behavior drive the youthful mammals into varied combinations of behavior sequences, that, since they are hybrids of two very different systems, don't look functional and are often unusual enough to amuse an observer. Such random hybrid combinations of micromotor pieces of behavior are commonly called play. But, then, play is not a unitary drive as many researchers have assumed but the consequence of youths hybridizing between neonatal and adult behaviors that are waning and waxing in intensity and frequency at each successive stage of youthful ontogeny. During the youthful period, any random combination of motor sequences that are useful for any reason can be remembered, repeated, and learned, so the youthful phase of mammalian ontogeny has potential for learning. A fixed neonatal system of physiological adaptations and complex behaviors is  built into the neonate and might be modified for the worse by learning at this stage of its ontogeny. At a mammal's species-specific adult stage it is presumably well adapted to a stable niche. So, again, at this phase of ontogeny learning might be unnecessary. However, during its youthful transition phase a mammal is shifting between two systems of physiology and behavior designed to fit two very different stable environments. Thus its abilities and motives are in constant flux and trial and error learning is perhaps its best means of adjusting to almost daily changes in its own physiology and behavior. The environment of many adult mammals has been changing fast, during the past two and a half million years of successive glaciations and melting with new niches opening and old niches disappearing or degrading. Learning provides a way of coping with swiftly changing environments, and the fastest and most efficient  means of providing adult mammals some more learning ability, and a somewhat less fixed and invariable species-specific behavior system would have been a selection for extending the youthful learning phase of mammalian ontogeny into adulthood. An extension of the youthful phase into the adult phase would likely have also loosened the typical species-specific sequences that would have been, in ancestral adults, a fixed system of invariable sequences that fit them to a formerly stable environment. A number of mammalian species and even some orders, such as Primates, probably Cetaceans, and including many Carnivores have, by an evolutionary process of neoteny, retained into adulthood some of their youthful phase of ontogeny. Such an adaptation provided these more neotenic adults a more open system of learning that could modify remnants of ancestral species-specific behavior to better fit adults of that species to a swiftly changing environment. We hypothesize an interesting phenomenon in mammalian phylogeny: that a number of mammalian species have been modified over the past several million years by selection for the metamorphic phase of ontogeny extended into the adult phase. Mammalian phylogeny appears to be recapitulating a reversal in the usual direction of ontogeny.

Narváez Romero C. 2013. Analysis of seasonality and relative abundance of spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) and mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) on the moors of the Podocarpus National Park. Biology bachelor Thesis. Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja. Loja. 76. http://dspace.utpl.edu.ec/handle/123456789/6421

In the western mountain range of National Park Podocarpus and Sabanilla knot in ecosystems over 2400 m south of Ecuador, for 12 months, we evaluated the presence of spectacled bear, andean fox and mountain tapir, three large South American mammals are potentially recognized as "umbrella species", because they have important ecological functions and spacious home range.
By register of seven different field signals used to document the occurrence, relative abundance indices and distribucion frequency, for which we used observation transects signs.
We found 1002 records of the three species in the entire area traversed by the observation units, of which 50.11% belong to bears, 38.42% to foxes and 11.48% to tapirs.
The records distribution and occurrence of the three species throughout the sampling in at least one of the three surveyed tracts showed a continued use of these ecosystems, also we found possible preference patterns related with climatic variables measures temporarily and spatially.
The intensity of use evidences and/or presence was time variant, having highest peaks in a few months but was finally discarded the seasonal use of the moors.
Keywords: seasonality, abundance, Tremarctos, Tapirus, Lycalopex, diversity, Podocarpus, signals

Se determinaron los parámetros hematológicos de 11 hormigueros gigantes (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) capturados en vida silvestre en el municipio de Pore, Casanare, durante la época de lluvia. Los animales fueron restringidos químicamente, utilizando un coctel anestésico consistente en ketamina a dosis de 12 mg/kg y xilacina 0,5 mg/kg. Los parámetros evaluados y sus respectivos valores fueron:
recuento de eritrocitos (10^6/µl) = 1,97±0,30; hematocrito (%) =
26,00±5,28; hemoglobina (mg/dl) = 11,86±1,56; amplitud de
distribución eritrocitaria = 44,10±1,57; volumen corpuscular medio = 120,55±16,67; hemoglobina corpuscular media = 60,36±5,98; concentración de hemoglobina corpuscular media = 48,60±6,92; leucocitos(10^3/µl) = 10,62±5,23; neutrófilos (%) = 64,8±16,05; linfocitos (%) = 23,1±7,63; eosinófilos (%) = 9,20±7,78; monocitos(%) = 1,98±2,95; basófilos (%) = 1,40±3,27; y plaquetas (U/L) = 129080±51572,79. La media de la mayoría de los parámetros evaluados es similar a la documentada por otros autores. No obstante, se encontraron valores inferiores a lo reportado en cuanto a recuento de eritrocitos, hematocrito y hemoglobina. De igual forma, se encontró un valor de neutrófilos absolutos superior a los registrados en cautiverio y
vida silvestre. Este es el primer reporte sobre parámetros hematológicos de hormigueros gigantes en vida libre en Colombia. Los valores obtenidos pueden ser útiles para la interpretación de hemogramas de individuos libres y en cautiverio, y como base para estudios de salud de
hormigueros dentro de programas de conservación. Nuevos estudios con tamaños muestrales más representativos deberán determinar si las variaciones encontradas se deben a características particulares de la población objeto o a fluctuaciones normales de la especie en vida silvestre.