A New Species of Nectar-Feeding Bat of the GenusHsunycteris(Phyllostomidae: Lonchophyllinae) from Northeastern Peru

Updated and annotated checklist of recent mammals from Brazil

An updated and annotated checklist of mammals occurring in Brazil is presented. A total of 751 native species, distributed in 249 genera, 51 families and 11 orders were recorded to the country. The Brazilian mammalian fauna shows an elevated rate of endemism (30%; 223 species). Among the species evaluated by IUCN (668 species; 90%), a total of 80 (10.6% of total mammalian fauna) are Threatened, 28 (3.9%) are considered as Near Threatened, two species (0.3%) are presumable Extinct, 96 (12.8%) are considered with Deficient Data for conservation and 462 (61.6%) are considered as Least Concern. Fifteen new species were described since the last national compilation (published in 2017), which associated to new records to the country and synonimizations resulted in an increment of 30 species. Eight non-native species were introduced to the country, including the recently established Asiatic cervids Rusa unicolor (sambar) and Axis axis (chital). Seven native species (five primates and two hystricomorph rodents) have been translocated from their areas of natural occurrence to other areas inside the country.

Community Ecology and Phylogeography of Bats in the Guianan Savannas of Northern South America

The Guiana Shield of South America contains savannas within one of the largest contiguous expanses of pristine tropical rainforest remaining in the world, but biodiversity in the grasslands is poorly known. In lowland Neotropical areas, bats typically comprise the most species-rich group of mammals. We compare the bat faunal community and phylogeography in the savanna habitats of the Llanos in Venezuela, Rupununi in Guyana, and Sipaliwini in Suriname. Measures of species diversity and relative abundance from standardized field survey methodology enable comparison among these three grassland regions. Genetic variation is summarized by DNA barcoding to examine biogeographic patterns across larger forest–savanna landscapes. A total of 76 species of bats is documented, of which 18 species are reported from all 3 savannas and 30 species are reported from only 1 of the savannas. Endemism is low with 5 taxa restricted primarily to dry, open habitats. However, 7 other species have divergent phylogeographic lineages associated with savanna populations. Although bat species are usually distributed over wide regions of the Neotropics, the habitat mosaics of the Guiana Shield have different faunal assemblages. Going back into the Miocene, the contractions and expansions of forest–savanna paleoenvironments over time have contributed to speciation and the current high levels of biodiversity in South America.