Descriptions of new genera, species and subspecies of birds from Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador

The first of January, 1912, E. A. Goldman, of the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, was again detailed on the Smithsonian Biological Survey of the Canal Zone. He returned to Panama in January and remained there until the last of June passing most of this period in collecting birds and mammals on the slopes of Mount Pirri on the Pacific side of eastern Panama, near the Colombian border...(Document contains 27 pages)

Nueva lista de las aves de la provincia de Buenos Aires.

El presente trabajo aporta información de base para el seguimiento y evaluación de la biodiversidad de las aves a escala local o regional. Para la realización de la lista, hemos tenido como punto de referencia la Lista sistemática de las aves de la provincia de Buenos Aires de N. Bó y C. Darrieu 1991 y Las aves de la provincia de Buenos Aires: distribución y estatus de T. Narosky y A. Di Giácomo 1993. La presente enumeración considera todas las especies de aves que habitan la provincia de Buenos Aires, es decir aquellas que nidifican o que pasan gran parte del año en la misma. Se excluyen, por lo tanto, aquellas especies accidentales y ocasionales. Los datos se basan en citas bibliográficas recientes, material de colección y observaciones de campo realizadas por los autores. Para indicar la distribución geográfica de las aves se ha seguido el esquema propuesto por Ringuelet y Arámburu (1957, Enumeración sistemática de los Vertebrados de la Provincia de Buenos Aires). Según el mismo se divide a la provincia en cuatro áreas: la 1 posee una avifauna de tipo subtropical; en la 2 se encuentran aves pampeanas con ingresión de especies de la Provincia Chaqueña (Distrito Occidental); en la 4 la avifauna presenta un gran número de especies que llegan por el sur desde la Provincia del Monte (Distrito Meridional) y de la Provincia Patagónica (Distrito Occidental); el área 3 es de transición con aporte de especies de las otras zonas. La presente lista comprende los nombres científicos tomados de Altman & Swift (1989), Checklist of the Birds of South America. Para los nombres vulgares se siguió a Navas et al (1991). Lista Patrón de Nombres Comunes de las Aves Argentinas. Se incluye además una lista de las especies exóticas naturalizadas. (Text is in Spanish.

Length-weight relationships of demersal fishes from the upper continental slope off Colombia

Parameters of the length–weight relationship of the form W=aLb are presented for 45 demersal fish species caught on the upper continental slope of the Caribbean Sea off Colombia. The b values varied between 2.13 and 4.97, with the mean b = 3.042 (95% CI, 2.887- 3.196).

Length-weight relationships of demersal fishes from the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombia: [part 2]

The parameters a and b of the length-weight relationship of the form W=aL super(b) are presented for 37 fish species, belonging to 17 families, caught during a demersal trawl survey over the period December 1995 to March 1998 in the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombia

Length-weight relationships of demersal fishes from the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombia

The parameters a and b of the length-weight relationship of the form W=a L super(b) were computed for 46 species caught in a series of demersal trawl hauls over the period 1995-1997 in the Gulf of Salamanca, Colombia.

Tarpon atlanticus in Colombia: a big fish in trouble

The natural history of Tarpon atlanticus (Valenciennes 1846) is reconstructed based on published information. Tarpon is a remarkable fish because of its peculiar larvae, large adult size, migration patterns and its capability to breathe atmospheric air. Destructive fisheries - some using dynamite - have much reduced the population of tarpon along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and some catch data are presented which document this.

Diet composition of fish species from the southern continental shelf of Colombia

The diet composition of 30 fish species belonging to 16 families from the Pacific Coast of Colombia is described. Benthic crustaceans (37.5%) and bony fishes (23.7%, chiefly demersal) were the most important food items for the fish species analyzed. Data on diet composition of the fish species are presented for the first time which can be a source of information for trophic modeling.

History of the Atlantic Pearl-Oyster, Pinctata imbricata, Industry in Venezuela and Colombia, with Biological and Ecological Observations

In the 1500’s, the waters of Venezuela and to a lesser extent Colombia produced more natural pearls than any place ever produced in the world in any succeeding century. Atlantic pearl-oysters, Pinctata imbricata Röding 1798, were harvested almost entirely by divers. The pearls from them were exported to Spain and other European countries. By the end of the 1500’s, the pearl oysters had become much scarcer, and little harvesting took place during the 1600’s and 1700’s. Harvesting began to accelerate slowly in the mid 1800’s and has since continued but at a much lower rate than in the 1500’s. The harvesting methods have been hand collecting by divers until the early 1960’s, dredging from the 1500’s to the present, and hardhat diving from 1912 to the early 1960’s. Since the mid 1900’s, Japan and other countries of the western Pacific rim have inundated world markets with cultured pearls that are of better quality and are cheaper than natural pearls, and the marketing of natural pearls has nearly ended. The pearl oyster fishery in Colombia ended in the 1940’s, but it has continued in Venezuela with the fishermen selling the meats to support themselves; previously most meats had been discarded. A small quantity of pearls is now taken, and the fishery, which comprised about 3,000 fishermen in 1947, comprised about 300 in 2002.

Peces y aves del Paraguay natural ilustrado 1967. Manuscrito preparado bajo la dirección de Mariano N. Castex, 511 pp.

Este documento reproduce parte de la magnífica e importante obra del P. Francisco José Sánchez Labrador realizada durante su estadía en América desde su arribo en 1734 hasta la expulsión de la orden en 1767. Esta versión digital corresponde al libro editado por la Compañía General Fabril Editora S. A. en 1968 y cuyo manuscrito fuera preparado bajo la dirección del Dr. Mariano N. Castex (imagen).