Two new species of Pteropus from Samoa, probably extinct.

37 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm. "June 25, 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-37).Two new species of flying foxes (genus Pteropus) from the Samoan archipelago are described on the basis of modern museum specimens collected in the mid-19th century. A medium-sized species (P. allenorum, n. sp.) is introduced from the island of Upolu (Independent Samoa), based on a specimen collected in 1856 and deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. It has not been collected again, and we regard it as almost certainly extinct. This species is smaller bodied and has much smaller teeth than both extant congeners recorded in the contemporary fauna of Samoa (Pteropus samoensis and P. tonganus). The closest relative of this new species may be Pteropus fundatus of northern Vanuatu. The disjunct historical distribution of these two small-toothed flying foxes (in Vanuatu and Samoa) suggests that similar species may have been more extensively distributed in the remote Pacific in the recent past. Another species, a very large flying fox with large teeth (P. coxi, n. sp.), is described from two skulls collected in Samoa in 1839-1841 during the U.S. Exploring Expedition; it too has not been collected since. This robust species resembles Pteropus samoensis and Pteropus anetianus of Vanuatu in craniodental conformation but is larger than other Polynesian Pteropus, and in some features it is ecomorphologically convergent on the Pacific monkey-faced bats (the pteropodid genera Pteralopex and Mirimiri). On the basis of eyewitness reports from the early 1980s, it is possible that this species survived until recent decades, or is still extant. These two new Samoan species join Pteropus tokudae of Guam, P. pilosus of Palau, P. subniger of the Mascarenes, and P. brunneus of coastal north-eastern Australia as flying foxes with limited insular distributions that survived at least until the 19th century but are now most likely extinct.American Museum of Natural History

Fixed, Free, and Fixed: The Fickle Phylogeny of Extant Crinoidea (Echinodermata) and Their Permian-Triassic Origin

Although the status of Crinoidea (sea lilies and featherstars) as sister group to all other living echinoderms is well-established, relationships among crinoids, particularly extant forms, are debated. All living species are currently placed in Articulata, which is generally accepted as the only crinoid group to survive the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Recent classifications have recognized five major extant taxa: Isocrinida, Hyocrinida, Bourgueticrinina, Comatulidina and Cyrtocrinida, plus several smaller groups with uncertain taxonomic status, e.g., Guillecrinus, Proisocrinus and Caledonicrinus. Here we infer the phylogeny of extant Crinoidea using three mitochondrial genes and two nuclear genes from 59 crinoid terminals that span the majority of extant crinoid diversity. Although there is poor support for some of the more basal nodes, and some tree topologies varied with the data used and mode of analysis, we obtain several robust results. Cyrtocrinida, Hyocrinida, Isocrinida are all recovered as clades, but two stalked crinoid groups, Bourgueticrinina and Guillecrinina, nest among the featherstars, lending support to an argument that they are paedomorphic forms. Hence, they are reduced to families within Comatulida. Proisocrinus is clearly shown to be part of Isocrinida, and Caledonicrinus may not be a bourgueticrinid. Among comatulids, tree topologies show little congruence with current taxonomy, indicating that much systematic revision is required. Relaxed molecular clock analyses with eight fossil calibration points recover Articulata with a median date to the most recent common ancestor at 231–252 mya in the Middle to Upper Triassic. These analyses tend to support the hypothesis that the group is a radiation from a small clade that passed through the Permian–Triassic extinction event rather than several lineages that survived. Our tree topologies show various scenarios for the evolution of stalks and cirri in Articulata, so it is clear that further data and taxon sampling are needed to recover a more robust phylogeny of the group

Contributions in honor of Guy G. Musser.

450 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 26 cm. "Issued December 15, 2009." Includes bibliographical references.Contents: They sort out like nuts and bolts : a scientific biography of Guy G. Musser / Michael D. Carleton -- Taxonomy, distribution, and natural history of the genus Heteromys ‪(‬Rodentia: Heteromyidae‪)‬ in central and eastern Venezuela, with the description of a new species from the Cordillera de la Costa / Robert P. Anderson and Eliécer E. Gutiérrez -- Review of the Oryzomys couesi complex ‪(‬Rodentia: Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae‪)‬ in western Mexico / Michael D. Carleton and Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales -- The antiquity of Rhizomys and independent acquisition of fossorial traits in subterranean muroids / Lawrence J. Flynn -- A new species of Reithrodontomys, subgenus Aporodon ‪(‬Cricetidae: Neotominae‪)‬, from the highlands of Costa Rica, with comments on Costa Rican and Panamanian Reithrodontomys / Alfred L. Gardner and Michael D. Carleton -- Phylogenetic relationships of harpyionycterine megabats ‪(‬Chiroptera: Pteropodidae‪)‬ / Norberto P. Giannini, Francisca Cunha Almeida, and Nancy B. Simmons -- A new genus and species of small ‪"‬tree-mouse‪"‬ ‪(‬Rodentia, Muridae‪)‬ related to the Philippine giant cloud rats / Lawrence R. Heaney, Danilo S. Balete, Eric A. Rickart, M. Josefa Veluz, and Sharon A. Jansa -- Biodiversity and biogeography of the moss-mice of New Guinea : a taxonomic revision of Pseudohydromys ‪(‬Muridae: Murinae‪)‬ / Kristofer M. Helgen and Lauren E. Helgen -- Systematic revision of sub-Saharan African dormice ‪(‬Rodentia: Gliridae‪)‬. Part 2, Description of a new species of Graphiurus from the central Congo Basin, including morphological and ecological niche comparisons with G. crassicaudatus and G. lorraineus / Mary Ellen Holden and Rebecca S. Levine -- Descriptions of new species of Crocidura ‪(‬Soricomorpha: Soricidae‪)‬ from mainland Southeast Asia, with synopses of previously described species and remarks on biogeography / Paulina D. Jenkins, Darrin P. Lunde, and Clive B. Moncrieff -- The six opossums of Félix de Azara : identification, taxonomic history, neotype designations, and nomenclatural recommendations / Robert S. Voss, Philip Myers, François Catzeflis, Ana Paula Carmignotto, and Josefina Barreiro -- Skull and dentition of Willeumys korthi, nov. gen. et sp., a cricetid rodent from the Oligocene ‪(‬Orellan‪)‬ of Wyoming / John H. Wahlert

Generic Revision in the Holarctic Ground Squirrel Genus Spermophilus

The substantial body of research on Holarctic ground squirrels amassed over the past century documents considerable variability in morphological, cytogenetic, ecological, and behavioral attributes in the genus Spermophilus F. Cuvier, 1825. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that the traditionally recognized genera Marmota Blumenbach, 1779 (marmots), Cynomys Rafinesque, 1817 (prairie dogs), and Ammospermophilus Merriam, 1892 (antelope ground squirrels) render Spermophilus paraphyletic, potentially suggesting that multiple generic-level lineages should be credited within Spermophilus. Herein, we recognize 8 genera formerly subsumed in Spermophilus, each of which is morphologically diagnosable, craniometrically distinctive, and recovered as a monophyletic clade in phylogenetic analyses utilizing the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b. Generic-level names are available for each of these ground squirrel assemblages, most of which are exclusively or predominantly North American in distribution (Notocitellus A. H. Howell, 1938; Otospermophilus Brandt, 1844; Callospermophilus Merriam, 1897; Ictidomys J. A. Allen, 1877; Poliocitellus A. H. Howell, 1938; Xerospermophilus Merriam, 1892; and Urocitellus Obolenskij, 1927). Only Spermophilus sensu stricto is restricted to Eurasia. Generic subdivision of Spermophilus more aptly illuminates the taxonomic relationships, ecomorphological disparity, and biogeographic history of Holarctic ground squirrels

White-Nose Syndrome Fungus in a 1918 Bat Specimen from France

White-nose syndrome, first diagnosed in North America in 2006, causes mass deaths among bats in North America. We found the causative fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, in a 1918 sample collected in Europe, where bats have now adapted to the fungus. These results are consistent with a Eurasian origin of the pathogen