Allometric analysis of the ontogenetic variation and evolution of the skull in Caiman spix, 1825 (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae)

We studied ontogenetic variation in the shape of the skull among species of Caiman using principal component analysis. Comparison of multivariate allometric coefficients and ontogenetic trends between size and shape reveals that C. sclerops and C. yacare have similar ontogenetic processes, and they are more related to each other than either is to C. latirostris. Allometric relationships of the characters measured are similar in all species studied. The greater differences were in the width measurements, with higher coefficients in shape (second principal component) for C. latirostris, and length measurements with higher coefficients in shape for C. yacare and C. sclerops. The ontogenetic process leading to change in skull shape in the group seems to be plesiomorphic for elongation and derived for broadening. Statistical comparison of the ontogenetic trends with models of allometric heterochrony suggests that C. latirostris has diverged from the other species by a neotenic process, and that C. sclerops is separated from C. yacare by ontogenetic scaling (progenesis).

Aspectos radiográficos e tomográficos de felinos (Felis catus - Linnaeus, 1775) adultos acometidos por rinite e sinusite

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Efeito da criopreservação sobre a célula espermática em três espécies de felinos: o gato-do-mato-pequeno (Leopardus tigrinus - Schreber. 1775), a jaguatirica (eopardus pardalis - Linnaeus, 1758) e o gato doméstico (Felis catus)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Predation of Caiman yacare (Spix, 1825) (Crocodilia, Alligatoridae) by Busarellus nigricollis (Latham, 1790) (Accipitriformes, Accipitridae) in the Taiama Ecological Station, Alto Pantanal, State of Mato Grosso

Predation of Caiman yacare (Spix, 1825) (Crocodilia, Alligatoridae) by Busarellus nigricollis (Latham, 1790) (Accipitriformes, Accipitridae) in the Taiama Ecological Station, Alto Pantanal, State of Mato Grosso. The Black-collared Hawk Busarellus nigricollis is an Accipitridae commonly seen on river banks, lagoon shores, and marshy areas. It feeds mainly on fishes and aquatic insects. It hunts from dead tree branches at forest edges or emergent trunks in flooded areas. Detailed information about the Black-collared Hawk food habits is scarce. In this study, we describe the predation of Caiman yacare (Pantanal alligator) by an individual of B. nigricollis. The event was observed on 20 August 2010 at 10: 14 am, in the Taiama Ecological Station, municipality of Caceres, Alto Pantanal, state of Mato Grosso. The B. nigricollis individual was seen leaving the Paraguay River carrying a juvenile C. yacare around 40 cm long. The prey was torn apart and given to a Black-collared Hawk nestling sitting atop a nest in flooded forest, ca. 15 m way from the river bank. This is the first published record of Pantanal alligator predation by the Black-collared Hawk.

Effect of different live prey, Grapsus grapsus Linnaeus 1758 and Plagusia depressa Fabricius, 1775 zoeas,over histology and biochemical composition of common octopus, octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 paralarvae

[EN] Since paralarval rearing is still the main bottleneck for the development of octopus culture, the aim of the present study was to obtain some information on the feeding strategy and nutritional requirements during paralarval stage. For that purpose just hatched out octopus paralarvae were fed with live preys in three different combinations, trying to match their natural food: Enriched Artemia metanauplii, Grapsus grapsus zoeas supplemented with enriched Artemia, and Plagusia depressa zoeas supplemented with enriched Artemia. Paralarval treatments were carried out during 28 days in triplicates; fibre glass 120 l tanks in flow through system were used. Growth, in terms of dry body weight, mantle length and width, was determined each seven days. A histological study of the paralarval development was carried out. Biochemical composition of preys and paralarvae were determined. Growth was significantly better in paralarvae fed with zoeas and Artemia than in those fed only with Artemia, from day 8 after hatching. Besides a clear effect on the digestive gland histology morphology was observed.

Biología de la reproducción del cangrejo blanco Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775) y cangrejo moro Grapsus grapsus (Linneus, 1758) en el litoral de Gran Canaria

[ES] La familia Grapsidae comprende el conjunto de cangrejos ecológicamente más diverso, dado que existen especies marinas, de agua salobre, dulceacuícolas, anfibias e incluso terrestres (Ruppert y Barnes, 1996). El presente trabajo se ha centrado en el estudio poblacional y reproductivo de dos especies de dicha familia: Grapsus grapsus y Plagusia depressa. Para ello se evaluaron las épocas de puesta, la proporción entre sexos y la fecundidad. Por último, se estudió el desarrollo embrionario para ambas especies. El objetivo de este trabajo fue la obtención de la información necesaria para realizar el cultivo en cautividad de las mismas. Bien para la utilización de las zoeas como presas vivas de otros cultivos, o bien para su producción, ya que estas dos especies de grápsidos poseen un gran potencial económico, dada su importancia marisquera, especialmente en el caso de Plagusia depressa, donde sus poblaciones naturales sufren graves retrocesos.

Infección del nemertino parásito, Carcinonemertes sp., sobre hembras ovadas de cangrejo blanco Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775): Ciclo biológico y efecto sobre la puesta.

[ES] En el presente trabajo se describen los distintos estadíos del nemertino parásito, Carcinonemertes sp., hallado entre los huevos del braquiuro Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775). Este organismo suele encontrarse en la puesta de distintas especies de cangrejos braquiuros, ejerciendo una depredación sobre la misma. Se comprobó que la presencia del parásito entre los huevos del cangrejo estaba relacionada con la época del año, ya que entre junio-septiembre no se detectó su presencia, mientras que a partir del mes de noviembre, todas las hembras ovadas de P. depressa estudiadas sufrían la acción parásita de Carcinonemertes sp. sobre sus huevos. El ciclo vital de Carcinonemertes sp. comienza en un estado de huevo, los cuales aparecen agrupados en forma de cordones entre los huevos del cangrejo; de estos huevos eclosionan larvas planctónicas ciliadas, que evolucionan a gusanos juveniles, los cuales se desarrollan en el interior de tubos mucosos secretados por ellos mismos, hasta alcanzar el estado adulto. Tras una reproducción de tipo sexual las hembras ponen los huevos cerrándose el ciclo.

Molecular phylogeography of the Woodland Ringlet (Erebia medusa [Denis and Schiffermüller] 1775) in Europe

Phylogeography is a recent field of biological research that links phylogenetics to biogeography through deciphering the imprint that evolutionary history has left on the genetic structure of extant populations. During the cold phases of the successive ice ages, which drastically shaped species’ distributions since the Pliocene, populations of numerous species were isolated in refugia where many of them evolved into different genetic lineages. My dissertation deals with the phylogeography of the Woodland Ringlet (Erebia medusa [Denis and Schiffermüller] 1775) in Central and Eastern Europe. This Palaearctic butterfly species is currently distributed from central France and south eastern Belgium over large parts of Central Europe and southern Siberia to the Pacific. It is absent from those parts of Europe with mediterranean, oceanic and boreal climates. It was supposed to be a Siberian faunal element with a rather homogeneous population structure in Central Europe due to its postglacial expansion out of a single eastern refugium. An already existing evolutionary scenario for the Woodland Ringlet in Central and Eastern Europe is based on nuclear data (allozymes). To know if this is corroborated by organelle evolutionary history, I sequenced two mitochondrial markers (part of the cytochrome oxydase subunit one and the control region) for populations sampled over the same area. Phylogeography largely relies on the construction of networks of uniparentally inherited haplotypes that are compared to geographic haplotype distribution thanks to recent developed methods such as nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA). Several ring-shaped ambiguities (loops) emerged from both haplotype networks in E. medusa. They can be attributed to recombination and homoplasy. Such loops usually avert the straightforward extraction of the phylogeographic signal contained in a gene tree. I developed several new approaches to extract phylogeographic information in the presence of loops, considering either homoplasy or recombination. This allowed me to deduce a consistent evolutionary history for the species from the mitochondrial data and also adds plausibility for the occurrence of recombination in E. medusa mitochondria. Despite the fact that the control region is assumed to have a lack of resolving power in other species, I found a considerable genetic variation of this marker in E. medusa which makes it a useful tool for phylogeographic studies. In combination with the allozyme data, the mitochondrial genome supports the following phylogeographic scenario for E. medusa in Europe: (i) a first vicariance, due to the onset of the Würm glaciation, led to the formation of several major lineages, and is mirrored in the NCPA by restricted gene flow, (ii) later on further vicariances led to the formation of two sub-lineages in the Western lineage and two sub-lineages in the Eastern lineage during the Last Glacial Maximum or Older Dryas; additionally the NCPA supports a restriction of gene flow with isolation by distance, (iii) finally, vicariance resulted in two secondary sub-lineages in the area of Germany and, maybe, to two other secondary sub-lineages in the Czech Republic. The last postglacial warming was accompanied by strong range expansions in most of the genetic lineages. The scenario expected for a presumably Siberian faunal element such as E. medusa is a continuous loss of genetic diversity during postglacial westward expansion. Hence, the pattern found in this thesis contradicts a typical Siberian origin of E. medusa. In contrast, it corroboratess the importance of multiple extra-Mediterranean refugia for European fauna as it was recently assumed for other continental species.