Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of the urban park of Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil

Green areas in urban landscapes are under strong anthropogenic pressure, and, at the same time are fundamental to maintaining biodiversity, as they provide resources for many animal and plant species. Knowing these species is fundamental for its maintenance and conservation, and inventories are extremely important for monitoring fauna and conserving it. Therefore, the goal of this research is to inventory the butterflies species in the park of the Instituto Butantan (Ibu), located in an urban area in the city of São Paulo, southeast Brazil. The surveys of butterflies were conducted through visual censuses from August 2017 to July 2019 and recorded a total of 324 butterfly species. The most speciose family was Hesperiidae, followed by Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Pieridae, Riodinidae, and Papilionidae. Among the sampled species, there is Euselasia zara which is a new record for the state of São Paulo. Neither the species accumulation nor the richness estimator curves tended to reach an asymptote, suggesting that additional butterflies’ species will be recorded with more sampling effort on the site. Even with a flora composed mainly of exotic and ornamental plants, the park of Instituto Butantan exhibits a very rich butterfly community. This community exhibits a pattern of seasonally variation, with the peak of species richness related to the rainy season. When compared with Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira (USP), another nearby urban green area, which is larger, more heterogeneous and sampled over a longer period, it is possible to notice that the Ibu butterfly community is a subsample of this larger one. These results highlight the potential that urban parks have for the maintenance and conservation of butterfly species

A contribution to the knowledge of Quadraseta brasiliensis Goff and Gettinger, 1989 (Trombidiformes: Trombiculidae), with description of the deutonymph instar

In the Neotropical region the genus Quadraseta Brennan, 1970, includes 14 species, with ectoparasitic habits during the larval stage. Quadraseta brasiliensis Goff and Gettinger, 1989, was described from larvae collected on the rodent Hylaeamys megacephalus (Fisher), cited as Oryzomys capito (Olfers). According to these authors, the holotype was deposited in the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo and the paratypes were deposited in three other collections: Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and United States National Museum of Natural History, however, no type specimens were found in any of these museums. Here we redescribe the larva, describe the deutonymph instar obtained from field-collected larvae, and report new hosts and localities for this species in Brazil. In addition we provide sequences of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene for this species

Taxonomic revision and additional comments of some bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) reported from Bolivia, with an updated checklist based on voucher material with verified identities

We review the taxonomic identities of museum specimens of three bat species previously reported from Bolivia. We comment on some erroneously reported taxa, or taxa either not represented by voucher materials or based on insufficient data (including acoustic detections) to verify their taxonomic affinities. As result of this review, the list of bat species known to occur in Bolivia is updated to eight families and 133 species, unlike the nine families and 146 species of previous lists. Some recommendations for future research and a brief historical revision of bat inventories in the country are included

Do precocial mammals develop at a faster rate? A comparison of rates of skull development in Sigmodon fulviventer and Mus musculus domesticus

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72993/1/j.1420-9101.2003.00568.x.pd

Size and shape variability in the skull of Pontoporia blainvillei (Cetacea: Pontoporiidae) from the Brazilian coast

The existence of sexual dimorphism in Pontoporia blainvillei has long been known, with females being larger than males. However, no study so far has explored this dimorphism separately in its size and shape components. Here we analyse sexual dimorphism present in eight linear measurements of the skulls of 56 specimens (30 females and 26 males) of P. blainvillei from several localities along the Brazilian coast. We also investigate the sexual dimorphism in size and shape using geometric morphometric techniques, employing a subsample of the specimens above consisting of 27 skulls (12 females and 15 males). The analysis was based on landmarks digitized in four views of the skull: dorsal, ventral, lateral and occipital. A PCA showed the existence of two distinct populations, thus requiring the separation of two samples for the analysis of the effects of sexual dimorphism. Results of traditional and geometric morphometrics analyses revealed no sexual dimorphism in shape. All differences observed between the sexes are size related, with females bigger than males. Shape, however, is an important factor in the differentiation of at least two populations of this species

Size and shape sexual dimorphism in the skull of the South American fur seal, Arctocephalus australis (Zimmermann, 1783) (Carnivora: Otariidae)

We present a quantitative analysis of sexual dimorphism in the skull of Arctocephalus australis assessed by traditional and geometric morphometrics. Differences in size and shape of skulls of 386 adult males and females of A. australis from Uruguayan and Peruvian populations were analyzed using 15 linear measurements. These differences were also investigated applying geometric morphometrics techniques to two-dimensional images of 346 skulls in dorsal, ventral and lateral views. Results of traditional and geometric morphometrics revealed pronounced sexual dimorphism in size and shape of the skull for both populations of A. australis. Males are always larger than females, and differences in shape are concentrated mainly in the rostral region. Sexual dimorphism is more accentuated in the Uruguayan population. Differences in size and shape of the skulls between males and females of A. australis can be related to sexual selection, mating system and life history. In A. australis, as well as in other polygynous species, the selective pressures can favor the development of traits that enhance fighting ability in males, such as larger canines, increased rostral and mastoid widths and increased overall body size

Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of the urban park of Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil

Vieira-Silva, Aline, Silva, Amanda Pereira Duarte e, Accacio, Gustavo de Mattos, Candia-Gallardo, Carlos, Hingst-Zaher, Erika (2023): Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of the urban park of Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 63: 1-11, DOI: 10.11606/1807-0205/2023.63.032, URL: https://www.revistas.usp.br/paz/article/view/19543

Comparison of prenatal and postnatal ontogeny: cranial allometry in the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio)

The relationship between prenatal and postnatal ontogenetic allometry is poorly known, and empirical studies documenting prenatal allometry are few, precluding an understanding of changes in growth patterns during life history and their relation to proximal, physiological, and ultimate evolutionary variables. In this study I compare prenatal and postnatal ontogenetic allometry of the cranium in a cleared and stained developmental series of the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio). Eighteen cranial measurements, reflecting the dimensions of individual elements, were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate estimates of allometry and methods of matrix comparison. Prenatal allometry is characterized in R. pumilio by a relative rapid lengthening of cranial elements, particularly the frontal, parietal, basisphenoid, premaxilla, and palatine, as evidenced by larger bivariate allometric coefficients (>30% increase) and, across all variables measured, a greater proportion of cranial elements growing with a positive allometry than in the postnatal period. Growth dynamics are found to shift for measurements of several elements including the parietal, frontal, and palatine, indicating a nonlinearity of ontogenetic allometry with respect to birth; similar shifts have been found between prenatal and postnatal growth for some regions of the human cranium. Application of common principal component analyses, a generalized extension of principal component analysis, revealed that the prenatal and postnatal matrices shared a highly similar structure, further quantified by high correlations (>0.78) using the random skewers method of matrix comparison. These results indicate a close correspondence between morphology-based variance structures over the course of ontogeny in R. pumilio

Morphological and genetic evidence for two Evolutionary Significant Units (ESUs) in the South American fur seal Arctocephalus australis

Rosa de Oliveira L, Hoffman J, Hingst-Zaher E, et al. Morphological and genetic evidence for two Evolutionary Significant Units (ESUs) in the South American fur seal Arctocephalus australis. Conservation Genetics. 2008;9(6):1451-1466