Anfibios y reptiles de los matorrales de cactáceas del sur de Cuba

Los Matorrales de cactáceas del sur de Cuba constituyen una ecorregión que solo se encuentra dispersa en franjas y fragmentos pequeños asociados a climas secos costeros de esta isla, con un área inferior a 3000 km2. Su estado de conservación se clasifica como "Vulnerable" y se considera que la naturaleza peligra en su territorio, por lo que es indispensable la actualización del conocimiento de su biodiversidad para contribuir a su preservación. En este estudio se presenta el inventario de los anfibios y reptiles de esta ecorregión en la franja suroriental de la isla, confeccionado a partir de la revisión bibliográfica y de colecciones, así como de muestreos de campo a diferentes sitios del área de estudio entre los años 2015 y 2022. En los muestreos se utilizó la metodología de registros de encuentros visuales con búsqueda activa de los animales, tanto de forma visual como auditiva, realizando muestreos diurnos y nocturnos. Se registran nueve especies de anfibios y 61 especies de reptiles, con predominio de las familias Eleutherodactylidae y Anolidae, y de los géneros Eleutherodactylus y Anolis. El endemismo es alto, con 77.8% en anfibios y 78.7% en reptiles, 22 especies son conocidas solamente de esta área. Tres especies de anfibios y 11 de reptiles se consideran amenazadas en la Lista Roja de UICN, además de otras cinco clasificadas como “Casi amenazada”. Se seleccionaron 25 especies consideradas como de mayor interés para la conservación en base a su endemismo local y grado de amenaza, las que deberían recibir la mayor prioridad para lograr su preservación en el área de estudio. La combinación de alta riqueza específica, endemismo local y especies amenazadas de los dos grupos enfatizan la relevancia de esta ecorregión para la conservación en Cuba y el Caribe

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Nueva especie de Anolis (Sauria: Iguanidae) de la región norte de Cuba oriental

A new Anolis species of the Alpha section from the north region of eastern Cuba (Holguín province) is described. It differs from aH Cuban species of Anolis in its green coloration with greenish gray bands on body, legs and tail, in having subtriangular mental scaIes as weH as in other details of color and scutellation. This new species is most c10sely related to A. isolepis but it can be distinguished from both, A. i. isolepis and A. i. altitudinalis, by its coloration and pattern, the larger body size, the presence of smooth ventral scaIes (similar in size to the dorsal scaIes) and by the absence of enlarged postcloacaI scaIes in the male.Se describe una nueva especie de Anolis de la sección Alpha para la región norte de Cuba oriental (provincia Holguín). Difiere del resto de las especies cubanas del género en su color verde con franjas verticales gris verdosas en el cuerpo, la cola y las extremidades, en la forma subtriangular de las escamas mentales y en otras características de coloración y escamación. La especie más parecida es A. isolepis, aunque varios caracteres diferencian a sus dos subespecies de la nueva especie descrita

Acoustic niche partitioning in five Cuban frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus

Acoustic segregation is a way to reduce competition and allows for species coexistence within anuran communities. Thus, separation in at least one acoustic niche dimension is expected, which also contributes to achieving effective communication among frogs. Here we studied an assemblage of five terrestrial egg-laying anuran species, all in the genus Eleutherodactylus, in a montane rainforest in eastern Cuba. Our aim was to determine if partitioning exists between these species in any dimension (time, signal frequency or space) of the acoustic niche. The studied assemblage had the following characteristics: (1) there was one diurnal species, two species with calling activity throughout the day and two species that call at night; (2) only two species overlapped in call frequencies and most had different calls, both in terms of dominant frequencies and in temporal characteristics; and (3) males of the species that overlapped in vocalizing time or signal frequency used different calling microhabitats or heights. This study provides evidence for the acoustic niche hypothesis in anurans, showing low probabilities of interference in sound communication among these frogs. The five species were separated in at least one of the three acoustic dimensions (calling time, frequency and site) as it occurs in mainland communities with more sympatric species of several genera. Conversely, species in single-genus communities studied in Puerto Rico overlapped completely in calling times. This seems to be due to the higher number of sympatric species at our site.The fieldwork was partially supported by a Seed Grant from the Declining Amphibian Population Task Force (DAPTF) to AFG

Amphibian Hotspots and Conservation Priorities in Eastern Cuba Identified by Species Distribution Modeling

The high rate of amphibian endemism and the severe habitat modification in the Caribbean islands make them an ideal place to test if the current protected areas network might protect this group. In this study, we model distribution and map species richness of the 40 amphibian species from eastern Cuba with the objectives of identify hotspots, detect gaps in species representation in protected areas, and select additional areas to fill these gaps. We used two modeling methods, Maxent and Habitat Suitability Models, to reach a consensus distribution map for each species, then calculate species richness by combining specific models and finally performed gap analyses for species and hotspots. Our results showed that the models were robust enough to predict species distributions and that most of the amphibian hotspots were represented in reserves, but 50 percent of the species were incompletely covered and Eleutherodactylus rivularis was totally uncovered by the protected areas. We identified 1441 additional km2 (9.9% of the study area) that could be added to the current protected areas, allowing the representation of every species and all hotspots. Our results are relevant for the conservation planning in other Caribbean islands, since studies like this could contribute to fill the gaps in the existing protected areas and to design a future network. Both cases would benefit from modeling amphibian species distribution using available data, even if they are incomplete, rather than relying only in the protection of known or suspected hotspots