Leandro O. Salles

Upper molar morphology and relationships among higher taxa in bats

Abstract We reviewed topographical homologies in the upper tooth morphology of bats and analyzed the implications to relationships among higher taxa within Chiroptera. A standardized terminology for the upper molars of bats is proposed, taking into consideration the nomenclature adopted for tribosphenic mammals. Major patterns of variation in crown morphology of chiropteran upper molars were reevaluated, and 2 new structures were identified: mesoconule and mesoconule crista. The main controversies in the literature regarding terminology and structural identity in the upper molars of chiropterans are discussed. Forty-eight dental morphological characters are presented for extant bats and the extinct Icaronycteridae, with the exception of Pteropodidae, which has lost the tribosphenic dental pattern. These were combined with 191 characters of other morphological systems from the literature. The tree obtained from parsimony analyses mostly agrees with previous proposals based on morphology. However, major differences were found: the position of Noctilionoidea at the base of the radiation of modern microchiropterans, which formed a trichotomy with Yinochiroptera (including Emballonuridae) and the remaining Yangochiroptera; Antrozoinae disassociated from the other Vespertilionidae, forming a poorly supported clade with Mystacinidae and Molossidae; and the relationship between the sister taxa Myotinae and Miniopterinae within Vespertilionidae.

Quaternary Bats from the Impossível-Ioiô Cave System (Chapada Diamantina, Brazil): Humeral Remains and the First Fossil Record of Noctilio leporinus (Chiroptera, Noctilionidae) from South America

ABSTRACT The partially submerged Impossível-Ioiô cave system located in the karst region of Chapada Diamantina in Bahia (Brazil) has recently been the target of extensive paleontological studies. Here we provide the first report of fossil bats from this cave system, in which we recognize six species based on humeral remains: Furipterus horrens, Chrotopterus auritus, Mormoops cf. megalophylla, Pteronotus gymnonotus, Pteronotus parnellii, and Noctilio leporinus. Morphology of the humerus of these taxa is described in a comparative framework to document taxonomic assessments and provide a basis for future studies of fossil bat faunas. The relevance of the new records reported here is evaluated at a broader continental scale, as well as in contrast with the recent bat fauna of the region. The record of Noctilio leporinus stands as the first fossil occurrence of this species on the South American continent.

Fossil peccaries of Late Pleistocene/Holocene (Cetartiodactyla, Tayassuidae) from underwater caves of Serra da Bodoquena (Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil)

Abstract New records of Catagonus stenocephalus and Tayassu pecari are reported from the karst of Serra da Bodoquena, located at a south-western portion of Brazil near the border with Paraguay. Skull and lower jaw fragments at different stages of mineralisation were retrieved from two limestone underwater caves, Japonês and Nascente do Formoso, associated with clay and sand deposits with no retrievable stratigraphy. C14 dating of fossil mammals from these caves was attempted, but so far no success was achieved, but the inferred age for the associated paleofauna of these caves is Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The morphology of these fossil peccaries, from the most south-western known population in Brazil, is detailed and paleoecological implications are considered.

Brazilian legislation on genetic heritage harms Biodiversity Convention goals and threatens basic biology research and education.

Beginning in November 2018, Brazilian legislation regulating access to genetic heritage and associated traditional knowledge will cause a bureaucratic collapse of Biodiversity research in Brazil. Law number 13.123/2015 and Decree 8772/2016 impose severe barriers to basic and applied research, and to international cooperation by introducing mandatory registry of research access to native organisms in Brazil. This legal framework was meant to improve governmental control over systems of biotechnology research using genetic material and associated chemical compounds, which are central points of the Nagoya Protocol (CBD 2011) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD 1992, 2012). However, the requirements imposed by the mandatory registry of research in the new National System for Governance of Genetic Heritage and Associated Traditional Knowledge (SisGen), the system of Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), and the need to record access to organismal data prior to publication of scientific results or exportation of specimens for scientific research are technically impracticable and not part of the Nagoya Protocol or CBD ..