New records of Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann 1780 (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) from northern Brazil

We report new records of the White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Brazil based on specimens deposited in scientific collections. These new records expand the known geographic distribution of the species in Brazil southwards in the states of Roraima and Amapá, the latter the first record of the species below the equator line in Brazil, and register it for the first time in the state of Amazonas. These records contribute to increase the knowledge of the geographical distribution of O. virginianus in Brazil and highlights the importance of museum collections as a source of biogeographic and ecological data.Reportamos nuevos registros del Venado Cola Blanca (Odocoileus virginianus) en Brasil basados en especímenes depositados en colecciones científicas. Estos nuevos registros amplían la distribución geográfica conocida de la especie en Brasil hacia el sur en los estados de Roraima y Amapá, este último el primer registro de la especie abajo de la línea del ecuador en Brasil, y lo registran por primera vez en el estado de Amazonas. Estos registros contribuyen a aumentar el conocimiento de la distribución geográfica de O. virginianus en Brasil y destacan la importancia de las colecciones de los museos como fuente de datos biogeográficos y ecológicos

Bats of the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brasil

Minas Gerais (MG) é o maior estado da região sudeste e sua localização em área de transição entre a faixa super úmida da costa e os ecossistemas mais áridos do centro-oeste brasileiro propicia a ocorrência de um rico mosaico de biomas e ecossistemas, incluindo o Cerrado, a Caatinga, a Mata Atlântica e áreas cársticas. Embora se saiba que a mastofauna de Minas Gerais é rica em espécies, não há uma lista de espécies de morcegos publicada, sendo esta a primeira compilação da fauna de quirópteros de MG. São aqui reunidos dados originais de inventários realizados independentemente pelos autores, informações da literatura e levantamento de espécimes depositados em várias coleções. Os resultados indicam a ocorrência de 77 espécies distribuídas em sete famílias em Minas Gerais, o que coloca o estado como o mais rico do sudeste brasileiro em número de espécies de morcegos. Essa riqueza surpreende também, devido ao fato constatado da escassez de dados disponíveis, conforme detectado no presente estudo. Grandes áreas do estado permanecem pouco conhecidas ou completamente desconhecidas em termos de sua quiropterofauna, incluindo ecossistemas frágeis associados à Caatinga, ao Cerrado e à Mata Atlântica, como os campos rupestres e áreas cársticas e não há sequer um estudo de longa duração. As coleções estudadas têm pouca representatividade em termos de espécimes oriundas do estado de Minas Gerais e são raras as séries sistemáticas oriundas de coletas no estado.Minas Gerais is the largest state in the Southeastern of Brazil, and its location in the transition between the humid coastal Atlantic Forest and the drier Western and central Brazilian countryside allows the occurrence of a rich mosaic of biomes and ecosystems that includes the Cerrado, the Caatinga, the Atlantic Forest, and karstic environments. This work is the first comprehensive compilation of the bat fauna of Minas Gerais state, Southeastern Brazil, including original data from surveys conducted independently by the authors, and published information documented with data from several museum collections. Although large areas of MG remains unsampled, unknown and/or unprotected, long term studies are virtually inexistent, and systematic inventories have not been documented to date, our results reveal high bat species richness for the state, with 77 species distributed in seven families. This indicates that MG has more bat species recorded than other Southeastern Brazilian states, a result that contrasts with the noticeable paucity of data for the state. The bat diverstity kept in museums does not mirror the actual bat diversity of MG, which thus urges to be properly acessed. Additionally, the collections examined were poorly represented in specimens from Minas Gerais and systematic series are rare

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Diversity, morphological phylogeny, and distribution of bats of the genus Molossus E. Geoffroy, 1805 (Chiroptera, Molossidae) in Brazil

Loureiro, Livia Oliveira, Gregorin, Renato, Perini, Fernando Araujo (2018): Diversity, morphological phylogeny, and distribution of bats of the genus Molossus E. Geoffroy, 1805 (Chiroptera, Molossidae) in Brazil. Zoosystema 40 (18): 425-452, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2018v40a1

Phylogenetic Systematics of Peccaries (Tayassuidae: Artiodactyla) and a Classification of South American Tayassuids

Tayassuidae is a family of pig-like Artiodactyla restricted to the New World. Despite its rich fossil history, they have received less attention from a taxonomic and phylogenetic perspective when compared to the Old World pigs, Suidae. In this study, we performed a computer assisted phylogenetic analysis using morphological and molecular data including fossil and extant Tayassuidae, using parsimony and Bayesian approaches. We recovered the monophyly of the family Tayassuidae, confirming previous proposals, as well as the monophyly of the subfamilies Hesperhyinae and Tayassuinae, and the genus Platygonus, which we placed in a new taxon of tribe level. The three living peccaries and a number of fossil species belong to a new, tribe level, monophyletic group. The genus Catagonus comes out as paraphyletic, leading us to propose to restrict the generic name to the type species, C. metropolitanus, and a new taxonomic arrangement for the remaining species previously included in it, revalidating the genera Brasiliochoerus and Parachoerus, and describing a new genus, Protherohyus, gen. nov.Fil: Parisi Dutra, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Casali, Danield Melo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Missagia, Rafaela Velloso. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Gasparini, Germán Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; ArgentinaFil: Perini, Fernando Araujo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Cozzuol, Mario Alberto. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasi

Fossil peccaries of Late Pleistocene/Holocene (Cetartiodactyla, Tayassuidae) from underwater caves of Serra da Bodoquena (Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil)

New records of Catagonus stenocephalus and Tayassu pecari are reported from the karst of Serra da Bodoquena, located at a south-western portion of Brazil near the border with Paraguay. Skull and lower jaw fragments at different stages of mineralisation were retrieved from two limestone underwater caves, Japonês and Nascente do Formoso, associated with clay and sand deposits with no retrievable stratigraphy. C14 dating of fossil mammals from these caves was attempted, but so far no success was achieved, but the inferred age for the associated paleofauna of these caves is Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The morphology of these fossil peccaries, from the most south-western known population in Brazil, is detailed and paleoecological implications are considered.Fil: Parisi Dutra, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Missagia, Rafaela Velloso. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Perini, Fernando Araujo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Cozzuol, Mario Alberto. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Gasparini, Germán Mariano. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Paleontología de Vertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guedes, Patricia Gonçalves. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Salles, Leandro de Oliveira. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi