White-Nose Syndrome Fungus in a 1918 Bat Specimen from France

White-nose syndrome, first diagnosed in North America in 2006, causes mass deaths among bats in North America. We found the causative fungus, Pseudogymnoascusdestructans, in a 1918 sample collected in Europe, where bats have now adapted to the fungus. These results are consistent with a Eurasian origin of the pathogen.

Drivers of Intensity and Prevalence of Flea Parasitism on Small Mammals in East African Savanna Ecosystems

The relative importance of environmental factors and host factors in explaining variation in prevalence and intensity of flea parasitism in small mammal communities is poorly established. We examined these relationships in an East African savanna landscape, considering multiple host levels: across individuals within a local population, across populations within species, and across species within a landscape. We sampled fleas from 2,672 small mammals of 27 species. This included a total of 8,283 fleas, with 5 genera and 12 species identified. Across individual hosts within a site, both rodent body mass and season affected total intensity of flea infestation, although the explanatory power of these factors was generally modest (<10%). Across host populations in the landscape, we found consistently positive effects of host density and negative effects of vegetation cover on the intensity of flea infestation. Other factors explored (host diversity, annual rainfall, anthropogenic disturbance, and soil properties) tended to have lower and less consistent explanatory power. Across host species in the landscape, we found that host body mass was strongly positively correlated with both prevalence and intensity of flea parasitism, while average robustness of a host species to disturbance was not correlated with flea parasitism. Cumulatively, these results provide insight into the intricate roles of both host and environmental factors in explaining complex patterns of flea parasitism across landscape mosaics.

Taxonomic revision of the olingos (Bassaricyon), with description of a new species, the Olinguito

We present the first comprehensive taxonomic revision and review the biology of the olingos, the endemic Neotropical procyonid genus Bassaricyon, based on most specimens available in museums, and with data derived from anatomy, morphometrics, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, field observations, and geographic range modeling. Species of Bassaricyon are primarily forest-living, arboreal, nocturnal, frugivorous, and solitary, and have one young at a time. We demonstrate that four olingo species can be recognized, including a Central American species (Bassaricyon gabbii), lowland species with eastern, cis-Andean (Bassaricyon alleni) and western, trans-Andean (Bassaricyon medius) distributions, and a species endemic to cloud forests in the Andes. The oldest evolutionary divergence in the genus is between this last species, endemic to the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and all other species, which occur in lower elevation habitats. Surprisingly, this Andean endemic species, which we call the Olinguito, has never been previously described; it represents a new species in the order Carnivora and is the smallest living member of the family Procyonidae. We report on the biology of this new species based on information from museum specimens, niche modeling, and fieldwork in western Ecuador, and describe four Olinguito subspecies based on morphological distinctions across different regions of the Northern Andes.

The hog-badger is not an edentate: systematics and evolution of the genus Arctonyx (Mammalia: Mustelidae)

Hog-badgers (mustelid carnivorans classified in the genus Arctonyx) are distributed throughout East and Southeast Asia, including much of China, the eastern Indian Subcontinent, Indochina and the large continental Asian island of Sumatra. Arctonyx is usually regarded as monotypic, comprising the single species A. collaris F. Cuvier, 1825, but taxonomic boundaries in the genus have never been revised on the basis of sizeable series from throughout this geographical range. Based on a review of most available specimens in world museums, we recognize three distinctive species within the genus, based on craniometric analyses, qualitative craniodental features, external comparisons, and geographical and ecological considerations. Arctonyx albogularis (Blyth, 1853) is a shaggy-coated, medium-sized badger widely distributed in temperate Asia, from Tibet and the Himalayan region to eastern and southern China. Arctonyx collaris F. Cuvier, 1825, is an extremely large, shorter-haired badger, distributed throughout Southeast Asia, from eastern India to Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The world's largest extant badger, A. collaris co-occurs with A. albogularis in eastern India and probably in southern China, and fossil comparisons indicate that its geographical range may have extended into central China in the middle Pleistocene. The disjunctly distributed species Arctonyx hoevenii (Hubrecht, 1891), originally described within the order ‘Edentata’ by a remarkable misunderstanding, is the smallest and darkest member of the genus and is endemic to the Barisan mountain chain of Sumatra. Apart from A. hoevenii, no other Arctonyx occurs on the Sunda Shelf below peninsular Thailand. The natural history of each species of Arctonyx, so far as is known, is briefly reviewed. No claim to original US Government works.

Species delimitation and distribution in Aporometra (Crinoidea:Echinodermata): endemic Australian featherstars

Aporometra Clark, 1938, which belongs to the monotypic Aporometridae, is a crinoid genus endemic to temperate Australian waters. It has been described as being ‘viviparous’ and is among the smallest of comatulids. The small size of specimens, and poor morphological justifications for specific diagnoses have created uncertainty over the number of species in the genus and their distributions. This study identified a suite of characters using data from scanning electron microscopy and mtDNA sequencing (CO1 and ND2) to assess the number of species of Aporometra. Specimens were obtained from museums and collected from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Type material was also examined when possible. Phylogenetic hypotheses were generated using maximum parsimony-based analyses of the separate and combined datasets. The results support the monophyly of Aporometra and the presence of two species, Aporometra wilsoni (Bell, 1888) and Aporometra occidentalis A. H. Clark, 1938, along the southern Australian coast. The status of the third nominal species, Aporometra paedophora (H. L. Clark, 1909), remains to be resolved, but it may be a junior synonym of A. wilsoni. Morphological diagnoses are reviewed. Aporometra occidentalis was only found in Western Australia, while A. wilsoni was found from Western Australia to Victoria. Phylogeographic differentiation between the western and southern populations of A. wilsoni is briefly discussed.