Eduardo G. Etchepare

Categorización del estado de conservación de los anfibios de la República Argentina

Through the participation of nine specialists from different institutions from all over Argentina and after more than a decade from the first Red List of threatened herpetofauna proposed by Asociacion Herpetologica Argentina in 2000, we assessed the conservation status of the argentine Testudines taxa, adding the new taxonomic, biological and ecological knowledge progresses made since then as well as applying methodological changes in the former assessment. As a result from the 14 turtles taxa recognized as present in Argentina, nine were included in the actual Red List under some degree of risk (three Critically Endangered, three Endangered, three Vulnerable). From the remaining ones, three were classified as Insufficiently Known and two as Not Threatened. In the classification of the three marine turtles that are frequently found in argentine coasts we adopted the IUCN (2011) Red List criteria. In relation with the former categorization, we included a new species registered in Argentina (Phrynops geoffranus, Insufficiently Known), added two synonymies, increased from one to three the species within

Temperate snake community in South America: is diet determined by phylogeny or ecology?

Communities are complex and dynamic systems that change with time. The first attempts to explain how they were structured involve contemporary phenomena like ecological interactions between species (e.g., competition and predation) and led to the competition-predation hypothesis. Recently, the deep history hypothesis has emerged, which suggests that profound differences in the evolutionary history of organisms resulted in a number of ecological features that remain largely on species that are part of existing communities. Nevertheless, both phylogenetic structure and ecological interactions can act together to determine the structure of a community. Because diet is one of the main niche axes, in this study we evaluated, for the first time, the impact of ecological and phylogenetic factors on the diet of Neotropical snakes from the subtropical-temperate region of South America. Additionally, we studied their relationship with morphological and environmental aspects to understand the natural history and ecology of this community. A canonical phylogenetical ordination analysis showed that phylogeny explained most of the variation in diet, whereas ecological characters explained very little of this variation. Furthermore, some snakes that shared the habitat showed some degree of diet convergence, in accordance with the competition-predation hypothesis, although phylogeny remained the major determinant in structuring this community. The clade with the greatest variability was the subfamily Dipsadinae, whose members had a very different type of diet, based on soft-bodied invertebrates. Our results are consistent with the deep history hypothesis, and we suggest that the community under study has a deep phylogenetic effect that explains most of the variation in the diet.

Culicidae (Diptera) community structure, spatial and temporal distribution in three environments of the province of Chaco, Argentina.

The aim of this work was to study the composition of the Culicidae community in three environments with different degrees of anthropic disturbance in the province of Chaco. The nonparametric richness estimator ACE was calculated to measure the completeness of the sampling in each environment, and the diversity of each environment (α-diversity) were estimated. The composition, abundance and uniformity of species from the different environments were compared by means of range-species curves. β-diversity was measured as species complementarity, which allowed us to know the degree of dissimilarity among the environments. The synanthropic index was estimated, identifying urban environment (synanthropic) species, eusynanthropic species, and wild species. The influence of climatic factors (mean temperature, relative humidity and rainfall) on the monthly and annual variations of the identified mosquito species was analysed using multilevel Poisson models with over-dispersion. The wild environment showed higher diversity and the semi-urban environment higher species richness. Despite having lower S and abundance, the urban environment showed greater diversity than semi-urban environment, although it also showed lower completeness, which means S could increase. Anthropogenic disturbance can lead to the elimination and/or modification or substitution of habitats, with the subsequent loss of richness in the more sensitive species of Culicidae fauna, although the conditions are also favourable for the settling of opportunistic and exotic species well-adjusted to disturbed environments. Most of the species abundances were positively influenced by the analysed climatic variables. The study area showed a rich Culicidae fauna of public health significance, with a risk of pathogen transmission, suggesting the need of further studies and the febrile and entomological surveillance.

Contomastix serrana (Cei & Martori, 1991). Primer registro para la provincia del Chaco (República Argentina)

Se da a conocer el hallazgo de Contomastix serrana para el Parque Natural Provincial Fuerte Esperanza, siendo este el primer registro para la provincia del Chaco, extendiendose 60 km al norte la distribucion de esta especie.

Distribución y comentarios sobre la dieta de Rhinella azarai (Anura, Bufonidae) en Corrientes, Argentina

En esta contribucion se dan a conocer nuevas poblaciones de R. azarai para la provincia de Corrientes (Argentina), y se brinda informacion sobre la composicion de la dieta de una de ellas.

Homonota fasciata Duméril y Bibron, 1839 (Reptilia, Squamata, Phyllodactylidae): Primer registro para la provincia de Corrientes (República Argentina)

Homonota fasciata Dumeril & Bibron,1839. Republica Argentina, Provincia de Corrientes,Departamento Bella Vista, Cuarta Seccion, ColoniaProgreso, Loma Sur, Toropi (28°35’55’’ S;59°03’38’’ W) (Figura 1). Colectores: EduardoEtchepare, Maria del Rosario Ingaramo, CamilaFalcione y Roberto Aguirre. 05 de abril de 2011. Secolectaron 4 ejemplares adultos (2 machos y 2 hembras)y 1 juvenil, depositados en la ColeccionHerpetologica de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste(UNNEC-11212, UNNEC-11213, UNNEC-11214, UNNEC-11215 y UNNEC-11216)