Structure of an African Red-Billed Hornbill (Tockus Erythrorhynchus Rufirostris and T. E. Damarensis) Hybrid Zone as Revealed by Morphology, Behavior, and Breeding Biology.

The Auk 121 (2): 565–586. https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/121.2.565

Abstract:

The distributions of southern African (Tockus erythrorhynchus rufirostris) and Damaraland (T. e. damarensis) Red-billed Hornbills overlap in northern Namibia. Allopatric populations of the taxa have diagnosable differences in habitat, morphology, vocalizations, and displays. We investigated the structure of the hybrid zone using data from morphology, behavior, and breeding biology. The morphological characteristics—eye color and facial plumage color—were summarized as hybrid index scores, which showed a significant positive regression against distance from southwest to northeast across the hybrid zone. Vocalizations also showed a positive relationship between the first principal component (extracted from 12 call variables) and distance across the hybrid zone. However, there appears to be introgression of a T. e. damarensis call into T. e. rufirostris, but not vice versa. In addition, female T. e. damarensis-male T. e. rufirostris breeding pairs occur more frequently than male T. e. damarensis-female T. e. rufirostris pairs. The asymmetrical call introgression may result either from asymmetry in mating or from genetic control of call inheritance. Finally, heterospecific pairs show lower fitness, in the form of reduced hatching success, even when female fitness attributes are included as covariates. Although we are uncertain whether the Red-billed Hornbill hybrid zone is stable, the apparent biological processes operating within it conform to predictions of both the “mosaic” and the “tension zone” models, because both habitat characteristics and a balance of dispersal and selection appear to determine its structure

delport-biblio

A new subspecies of Ottoman viper, Montivipera xanthina (Gray, 1849), (Squamata: Viperidae) from Geyik Mountains, Mediterranean Turkey.

Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 214-225.

Volltext: https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/em.2019.22.17/56943

Abstract:

A new Ottoman viper subspecies, M. xanthina varoli n. subsp., is described from the higher altitudes of Gündoğmuş (Antalya). The new  subspecies differs from  the  other M. xanthina populations by pholidosis;  higher number of intercanthals and lowernumber of subcaudalia. Also, the whiteness between windings or spots on dorsum pattern were observed in new subspecies, similar to the southern populations. Furthermore, the spots on the ventrals became denser in the mid-body and forms darker colorizationat the end of body of the males and the tail tips are yellowish-orange or light orange on both sexes.

afsar-biblio

Gibbon Systematics and Species Identification.

International Zoo News 42(8): 467-501.

Abstract:

A study of wild and captive gibbons and museum specimens, and a survey of the literature suggests that gibbons (genus Hylobates) include at least 11, possibly 12 species, which form 4 distinct groups (subgenera Hylobates, Bunopithecus, Nomascus, and Symphalangus): These are the 44-chromosome gibbons (including the Hylobates lar group and H. klossii: 5 species); the hoolock ( H. hoolock, 1 species); the H. concolor group (3, possibly 4 species); and the siamang ( H. syndactylus, 1 species). A key for the identification of adult gibbons based on visual characteristics is presented, together with colour photographs and distribution maps of all recognised species (11). In addition, diagnostic vocal characteristics of all species are described and illustrated with sonagrams.

geissmann-biblio

Mixed herds of Common and Defassa waterbuck, Kobus ellipsiprymnus (Artiodactyla: Bovidae), in northern Kenya.

Bonn. zool. Beitr. 37(3): 183-193.

Summary:

Observations of two mixed herds of Common and Defassa Waterhuck with potential hybrids of the two forms in Buffalo Springs Game Reserve, northern Kenya, are reported. Current theories published in the literature as to the distributional history and taxonomic status of the two forms are discussed.

Zusammenfassung:

Die Beobachtung von 2 gemischten Herden mit Ellipsen- und Defassa-Wasserböcken und möglichen Hybriden zwischen beiden Formen in Buffalo Springs Game Reserve, N-Kenia, ist Anlaß für eine Diskussion der in der Literatur publizierten Vorstellungen zu ihrer Verbreitungsgeschichte und zu ihrem taxonomischen Status.

peters-biblio

Beobachtungen zur Hybridisierung zwischen Ctenosaura similis (Gray, 1831) und Ctenosaura bakeri Stejneger 1901 auf Utila, Honduras. 

Elaphe N.F. 15: 55-59.

Zusammenfassung:

Die honduranische Karibikinsel Utila ist der einzige bekannte Ort der Welt, an dem drei Großleguanarten vorkommen. Währenddem Iguana iguana rhinolopha primär die Feuchtwälder bewohnt und Ctenosaura bakeri exklusiv die schattigen Mangrovensümpfe besiedelt, bevorzugt Ctenosaura similis semiaride bis aride Lebensdräume mit starker Sonneneinstrahlung. Trotz dieser ökologischen Trennung wurde bereits in der Vergangenheit von fertilen Hybriden zwischen C. similis und C. bakeri berichtet. Neben der Beschreibung eines möglichen Hybridgürtels mit beonbachteten potenziellen Bastarden, wird die ökologische Anpassungs- und Ausbreitungsfähigkeit von C. similis aufgezeigt.

schulte-biblio

Über Neuguinea-Buschkängurus der Gattungen Dorcopsis Schlegel & Müller, 1845 und Dorcopsulus Matschie, 1916.
(On New Guinean marsupials of the genera Dorcopsis Schlegel & Müller, 1845 and Dorcopsulus Matschie, 1916.)

Der Zoologische Garten 88(1): 51-75.

Zusammenfassung:

Es wurde versucht, die Geschichte der Haltung aller Dorcopsis- und Dorcopsulus-Arten in zoologischen Einrichtungen zu dokumentieren, unter Auslassung solcher Haltungen, in denen die Artbestimmung nicht nachvollziehbar war. Ebenso wie die Importe von 1964 und 1968, in Wirklichkeit D. luctuosa, aber eingeführt als D. macleayi, gehören die neuen Importe von 2013 und 2015, die nach Angaben der Importeure D. hageni sein sollten, nicht zu dieser Art, sondern meines Erachtens zu D. muelleri. Die Angaben in ZIMS wären zu korrigieren.

schürer-biblio

Notes on Gessner’s Giraffe. Bible, Sources and Iconography.

In Leu, U. B. & Optiz, P.: Conrad Gessner. Die Renaissance der Wissenschaften. De Gruyter Oldenbourg; De Gruyter, pp.557-579, 2019, 978-3-11-049696-3. ￿10.1515/9783110499056-030￿. ￿hal-02139257￿

Volltext: https://hal-normandie-univ.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02139257/document

Abstract:

The chapter on giraffe given by Conrad Gessner in his Historia animalium1 is an important step in the long-term history of this animal, from Antiquity to pre-modern times.2 The aim of this paper is not to give an in-depth review of Gessner’s chapter on the giraffe, but it will stress three topics: the specific problem of the presence of the giraffe in the Bible; some aspects of Gessner’s textual sources, with a special focus on medieval authors, and the illustrations of the giraffe in the printed editions of Gessner’s Historia animalium.

buquet-biblio

How many species of mammals are there?

Journal of Mammalogy 99 ( 1): 1–14, doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx147

Abstract:

Accurate taxonomy is central to the study of biological diversity, as it provides the needed evolutionary framework for taxon sampling and interpreting results. While the number of recognized species in the class Mammalia has increased through time, tabulation of those increases has relied on the sporadic release of revisionary compendia like the Mammal Species of the World (MSW) series. Here, we present the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD), a digital, publically accessible, and updateable list of all mammalian species, now available online: https://mammaldiversity.org. The MDD will continue to be updated as manuscripts describing new species and higher taxonomic changes are released. Starting from the baseline of the 3rd edition of MSW (MSW3), we performed a review of taxonomic changes published since 2004 and digitally linked species names to their original descriptions and subsequent revisionary articles in an interactive, hierarchical database. We found 6,495 species of currently recognized mammals (96 recently extinct, 6,399 extant), compared to 5,416 in MSW3 (75 extinct, 5,341 extant)—an increase of 1,079 species in about 13 years, including 11 species newly described as having gone extinct in the last 500 years. We tabulate 1,251 new species recognitions, at least 172 unions, and multiple major, higher-level changes, including an additional 88 genera (1,314 now, compared to 1,226 in MSW3) and 14 newly recognized families (167 compared to 153). Analyses of the description of new species through time and across biogeographic regions show a long-term global rate of ~25 species recognized per year, with the Neotropics as the overall most species-dense biogeographic region for mammals, followed closely by the Afrotropics. The MDD provides the mammalogical community with an updateable online database of taxonomic changes, joining digital efforts already established for amphibians (AmphibiaWeb, AMNH’s Amphibian Species of the World), birds (e.g., Avibase, IOC World Bird List, HBW Alive), non-avian reptiles (The Reptile Database), and fish (e.g., FishBase, Catalog of Fishes).

burgin-biblio

Towards a uniform nomenclature for ground squirrels: the status of the Holarctic chipmunks.

Mammalia 2016; 80(3): 241–251.

Abstract:

The chipmunks are a Holarctic group of ground squirrels currently allocated to the genus Tamias within the tribe Marmotini (Rodentia: Sciuridae). Cranial, postcranial, and genital morphology, cytogenetics, and genetics each separate them into three distinctive and monophyletic lineages now treated as subgenera. These groups are found in eastern North America, western North America, and Asia, respectively. However, available genetic data (mainly from mitochondrial cytochrome b) demonstrate that the chipmunk lineages diverged early in the evolution of the Marmotini, well before various widely accepted genera of marmotine ground squirrels. Comparisons of genetic distances also indicate that the chipmunk lineages are as or more distinctive from one another as are most ground squirrel genera. Chipmunk fossils were present in the late Oligocene of North America and shortly afterwards in Asia, prior to the main radiation of Holarctic ground squirrels. Because they are coordinate in morphological, genetic, and chronologic terms with ground squirrel genera, the three chipmunk lineages should be recognized as three distinct genera, namely, Tamias Illiger, 1811, Eutamias Trouessart, 1880, and Neotamias A. H. Howell, 1929. Each is unambiguously diagnosable on the basis of cranial, post-cranial, and external morphology.

patterson-biblio

Superfamily Chinchilloidea Bennett, 1833.

In: PATTON, J. L., PARDIÑAS, U. F. J. & D'ELÍA (Hrsg.) Mammals of South America. Vol. 2, Rodents: 762-782. University of Chicago Press.

Buchinhalt:

The second installment in a planned three-volume series, this book provides the first substantive review of South American rodents published in over fifty years. Increases in the reach of field research and the variety of field survey methods, the introduction of bioinformatics, and the explosion of molecular-based genetic methodologies have all contributed to the revision of many phylogenetic relationships and to a doubling of the recognized diversity of South American rodents. The largest and most diverse mammalian order on Earth—and an increasingly threatened one—Rodentia is also of great ecological importance, and Rodents is both a timely and exhaustive reference on these ubiquitous creatures.

From spiny mice and guinea pigs to the oversized capybara, this book covers all native rodents of South America, the continental islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean Netherlands off the Venezuelan coast. It includes identification keys and descriptions of all genera and species; comments on distribution; maps of localities; discussions of subspecies; and summaries of natural, taxonomic, and nomenclatural history. Rodents also contains a detailed list of cited literature and a separate gazetteer based on confirmed identifications from museum vouchers and the published literature.

spotorno-biblio