Genetic diversity distribution among seasonal colonies of a nectar-feeding bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) in the Baja California Peninsula
We examined the distribution of genetic diversity among colonies of this species and assess whether a population in Baja California Peninsula shows signature of historical demographic change. We expected low genetic differentiation, because individuals are highly mobile and share mating sites. We also predicted a demographic signature consistent with past climatic fluctuations. During the spring maternity season, we sampled 120 individuals of six colonies along a 450 km transect in the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Individuals were genotyped with eight nuclear microsatellite loci and 1739 bp of two mitochondrial m...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Large-scale assessment of the presence of Darwin’s fox across its newly discovered range
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez, Erwin Ovando, Danilo González, Brayan Zambrano, Maximiliano A. Sepúlveda, Gabriella L. Svensson, René Cárdenas, Patricio Contreras, Ariel A. FaríasAbstractThe Darwin’s fox is one of the most threatened carnivores worldwide and was thought to occur in only two isolated areas. Recently this canid was found in the Valdivian Coastal Range, between the previously known populations, but other than their presence, little is known about these populations. Here we report the results of camera trap surveys conducted bet...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Understanding factors affecting the distribution of the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) in South America: Spatial dynamics and environmental drivers
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Lorena Coelho, David Romero, Diego Queirolo, José Carlos GuerreroAbstractThe maned wolf is the largest canid in South America, and is currently classified as a near threatened species. Though once widely distributed in open habitats throughout the continent, the species’ current distribution is significantly reduced, especially in the southern part of its range. Species distribution models are useful tools that can reveal the causes contributing to the decline of the species, especially in the southern limit of its global distribution. In thi...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Exploring Rattus praetor (Rodentia, Muridae) as a possible species complex using geometric morphometrics on dental morphology
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Ardern Hulme-Beaman, Thomas Cucchi, Allowen Evin, Jeremy B. Searle, Keith DobneyAbstractTaxonomic uncertainties in the Rattus genus persist due to among-species morphological conservatism coupled with within-species environmental variation in morphology. As a result, this genus contains a number of possible cryptic species. One important example can be found in R. praetor, where morphological studies indicate it is a possible species complex. Genetic studies of R. praetor (limited to analysis of mitochondrial DNA) have been inconclusive, but do ...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Genetic polymorphism and structure of wild and zoo populations of the fosa (Eupleridae, Carnivora), the largest living carnivoran of Madagascar
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Géraldine Veron, Délia Dupré, Mia-Lana Lührs, Peter M. Kappeler, Luke Dollar, Julie Pomerantz, Steven M. GoodmanAbstractCryptoprocta ferox, or fosa, is the largest living endemic carnivoran of Madagascar, with presumably high dispersal capacity, and for which no broad scale phylogeographic study has been conducted to date. This species is considered “Vulnerable” by the IUCN and the subject of a captive breeding program; approximately 113 individuals are held in 57 zoos. The aim of this study was to examine the genetic structure and polym...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Noninvasive genetic assessment provides evidence of extensive gene flow and possible high movement ability in the African golden wolf
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Yamna Karssene, Mohsen Chammem, Carsten Nowak, Koen de Smet, Diana Castro, Ahmed Eddine, Susana Lopes, Violeta Muñoz-Fuentes, Berardino Cocchiararo, Dick Klees, Peter Van Der Leer, Said Nouira, Raquel GodinhoAbstractThe African golden wolf, Canis anthus, is a newly recognized medium-sized canid species from North Africa, which has remained poorly studied to date. We applied genetic methods for individual identification of non-invasively collected samples (n = 93) of the African golden wolf in Tunisia, assessing their genetic diversity and s...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Spatial organization in wolves Canis lupus recolonizing north-west Poland: Large territories at low population density
Publication date: September 2018Source: Mammalian Biology, Volume 92Author(s): Robert W. Mysłajek, Maciej Tracz, Magdalena Tracz, Patrycja Tomczak, Maciej Szewczyk, Natalia Niedźwiecka, Sabina NowakAbstractMonitoring of the wolf Canis lupus is a demanding task as it lives in low densities, utilizes vast home ranges and disperses over large areas. These factors make obtaining accurate data about population parameters over the whole distribution area of the species impossible. Thus detailed local studies on socio-spatial organization are essential to calibrate information obtained over a larger area. We applied GPS/GSM tel...
Source: Mammalian Biology - July 5, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Chemical compounds in Neotropical fruit bat-plant interactions
Publication date: Available online 30 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): Lays Cherobim Parolin, Fabricio Augusto Hansel, Gledson Vigiano Bianconi, Sandra Bos Mikich Fruit-eating bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests. Olfaction seems to be the main sense used by these bats to locate and select food. Previous studies have demonstrated that they identify and select volatile organic compounds, being able to track essential oils of their preferred fruits. However, the specific role played by different compounds in this attraction is largely unknown. Here, we used chromatographic analysis and at...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 30, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Toward assembling a taxonomic puzzle: case study of Iranian gray voles of the subgenus Microtus (Rodentia, Cricetidae)
Publication date: Available online 26 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): F.N. Golenishchev, V.G. Malikov, S. Yu Bodrov, T.V. Petrova, N.I. Abramson The voles of the subgenus Microtus, which includes six species of the so-called “arvalis” group, have always been problematic for classification. Some group members differ in chromosome number and karyotype structure and yet appear morphologically indistinguishable, while others have very similar karyotypes despite exhibiting significant morphological differences. Two “arvalis” voles from Iran, M. kermanensis and M. mystacinus, are among the least stud...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 27, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Who nose the borzoi? Turbinal skeleton in a dolichocephalic dog breed (Canis lupus familiaris)
Publication date: Available online 26 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): Franziska Wagner, Irina Ruf The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) shows a high intraspecific morphological diversity in its facial shape with a less well-known effect of different snout length types on the intranasal structures, i.e. the turbinal skeleton. Sighthounds are supposed to have a less developed sense of smell in favor of their visual abilities. It has been proposed that within the small space of a sighthound’s slender snout the turbinals are less in number and reduced. In a recent ethological study the English greyhound...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 27, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Acoustic detection of radiotracked foraging bats in temperate lowland forests
Publication date: Available online 26 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): Laurent Tillon, Michel Barataud, Sylvie Giosa, Stéphane Aulagnier During the recent years studies of bat activity are predominantly based on ultrasound detection. However this method suffers from several biases such as different species call ranges, temporal and habitat-related variability. In order to test the bias linked to the detection of whispering gleaning bats in temperate lowland forests, we equipped several individuals of Myotis bechsteinii and Plecotus auritus with transmitters and followed them on their foraging grounds wh...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 27, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Mitochondrial sequences retrieve an ancient lineage of Bicolored shrew in the Hyrcanian refugium
In this study we analysed mitochondrial cytochrome b genes (1137 bp) of nine shrews from the Caspian region in Iran. Phylogenetic trees obtained in Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses retrieved a sister position of our Iranian haplotypes (Iranian lineage) against all the remaining C. leucodon samples from Europe, Turkey and Georgia (Euro-Asian lineage). Identical topology was also evident from the unrooted phylogenetic network. The Euro-Asian and the Iranian lineages were separated by a K2P genetic distance of 7.5 ± 0.9 and diverged 1.14 Mya (95% CI: 0.841-1.616). The geographic range of the Iranian lineage is ev...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 25, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Water vole Arvicola amphibius population under the impact of the American mink Neovison vison: Are small midfield ponds safe refuges against this invasive predator?
Publication date: Available online 21 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): Marcin Brzeziński, Tomasz Borowik, Patrycja Chibowska, Andrzej Zalewski, Ewa Komar The American mink Neovison vison is an invasive carnivore which may significantly affect populations of the water vole Arvicola amphibius. However, its impact on this rodent species depends on the abundance, dispersion and configuration of the habitats suitable for water voles and their accessibility for the mink. Using live-trapping, we studied the water vole and American mink populations inhabiting midfield ponds located in the vicinity of a large l...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Foot postures and grasping of free-ranging Sunda colugos (Galeopterus variegatus) in West Java, Indonesia
Publication date: Available online 21 June 2018 Source:Mammalian Biology Author(s): Dionisios Youlatos, Kanthi Arum Widayati, Yamato Tsuji Colugos (order Dermoptera) are medium-sized nocturnal arboreal eutherian euarchontan mammals, which glide, climb vertically and hang from different arboreal substrates in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Their close phylogenetic position to either Primates (as Primatomorpha) or Scandentia (as Sundatheria) renders them significant for understanding evolutionary-adaptive trends of key features within the Euarchonta (primates, scandentia, dermoptera, and plesiadapiformes). In this c...
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Is nocturnal activity compensatory in chamois? A study of activity in a cathemeral ungulate
In conclusion, our findings denote chamois as a cathemeral species able to adapt its behavioural patterns to match varying environmental conditions. (Source: Mammalian Biology)
Source: Mammalian Biology - June 19, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
