Vinicius Guerra

Metazoan endoparasites of 18 anuran species from the mesophytic semideciduous Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil

ABSTRACT Brazil has the richest anuran biodiversity in the world and many species have not yet been studied for parasites. One hundred and forty frogs belonging to 18 species (Rhinella schneideri, Dendropsophus aff. minutus, Dendropsophus nanus, Hypsiboas albopunctatus, Hypsiboas punctatus, Hypsiboas raniceps, Phyllomedusa tetraploidea, Pseudis platensis, Scinax fuscovarius, Trachycephalus typhonius, Leptodactylus chaquensis, Leptodactylus fuscus, Leptodactylus aff. latrans, Leptodactylus mystacinus, Leptodactylus podicipinus, Physalaemus cuvieri, Physalaemus nattereri and Elachistocleis bicolor) collected in aquatic habitats in forest remnants and surrounding agricultural landscapes in southern Brazil were examined for endoparasites. Twenty-four species of endoparasites were identified among 21 adult and three larval individuals: one species of Monogenea, Polystoma lopezromani; eight species of Digenea, Catadiscus marinholutzi, Catadiscus propinquus, Choledocystus simulans, Gordoderina sp., Neohaematoloechus neivai, Rauschiella lenti, Rauschiella linguatula, Rauschiella repandum; one species of Cestoda, Ophiotaenia sp.; one species of Acanthocephala, Centrorhyncus sp.; 12 species of Nematoda, Aplectana sp., Aplectana travassosi, Cosmocerca podicipinus, Raillietnema sp., Schrankiana formolusa, Falcaustra mascula, Oxyascaris oxyascaris, Ochoterenella digiticauda, Physaloptera sp., Brevimulticecum sp., Rhabdias sp., Parapharyngodon hylidae; and one species of Annelida, Dero (Allodero) lutzi. The endoparasite fauna found is constituted by generalist species. Two new records of occurrence in Brazil and 33 new host records are reported.

Parasitism by larval tapeworms genus Spirometra in South American amphibians and reptiles: new records from Brazil and Uruguay, and a review of current knowledge in the region.

Spargana are plerocercoid larvae of cestode tapeworms of the genus Spirometra, Family Diphyllobothriidae, parasitic to frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals. This parasitic disease in humans can be transmitted through the use and consumption of amphibians and reptiles. The available knowledge about Spirometra in South America is scarce, and there are only a few reports on the occurrence of sparganum in amphibians and reptiles, many of them published in old papers not easily available to researchers. In this work we present a review on this topic, provide new records in two species of amphibians and 7 species of reptiles from Brazil and Uruguay respectively. We also summarize current knowledge of Spirometra in the continent, along with an updated of host taxonomy. We could gather from the literature a total of 15 studies about amphibian and reptile hosts, published between 1850 and 2016, corresponding to 43 case reports, mostly from Brazil (29) and Uruguay (8), Argentina (3), Peru (2), and Venezuela (1); the majority of them related to reptiles (five lizards and 26 snake species), and 14 corresponded to amphibians (9 anurans). Plerocercoid larvae were located in different organs of the hosts, such as subcutaneous tissue, coelomic cavity, peritoneum, and musculature. The importance of amphibians and reptiles in the transmission of the disease to humans in South America is discussed. Relevant issues to be studied in the near future are the taxonomic characterization of Spirometra in the region and the biological risk of reptile meat for aboriginal and other rural communities.

Variation of the advertisement call of Physalaemus centralis Bokermann, 1962 (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in the Cerrado of central Brazil

ABSTRACT Acoustic signals are employed to support the correct designation of species and enables the discrimination between individuals. We analyzed both intra and interindividual variability of the advertisement call of Physalaemus centralis on the basis of specimens recorded in eight localities of the Cerrado in central Brazil. Within-individual variation, most of the call parameters were static properties. Both spectral and temporal call properties were dynamic between individuals. All call proprieties varied more between individuals than within an individual. Our study adds important data for future studies on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the P. cuvieri clade.

Vocalizations and Bioacoustic Analysis of Boana jaguariaivensis (Caramaschi, Cruz, and Segalla, 2010) (Anura: Hylidae)

Abstract. Acoustic signals are the main communication mechanisms in anuran amphibians. Herein is described the vocal repertoire, call variation, and calling site of Boana jaguariaivensis from a population of the Tibagi, Paraná State, southern Brazil. Seventeen males were recorded in December 2012 and February 2013. Males of B. jaguariaivensis used shrubs, herbs and grass as calling sites, and the eggs were deposited on branches in the water body. The advertisement call was composed of 1–4 notes with harmonic structure. Call B was composed of a single, pulsed note with harmonic structure. The distress call was composed of a single, pulsed harmonic note. All spectral parameters had static properties, whereas all temporal parameters had dynamic properties. Also, all acoustic properties varied more between than within males. The variation observed in the acoustic parameters of B. jaguariaivensis advertisement calls was not influenced by body size or air temperature. Data on vocal repertoires and factors that can change acoustic parameters are important for progress in research on the taxonomy, phylogeny and evolution of anuran amphibians.

The aggressive call of Dendropsophus cruzi (Pombal & Bastos, 1998) (Anura; Hylidae) in Central Brazil

Dendropsophus cruzi (Pombal Bastos, 1998) is a small hylid (male snout-to-vent length = 16.3-19.4 mm; female SVL = 21.3-25.0 mm) that is allocated in the D. microcephalus group (Faivovich et al. 2005). It is commonly found in Open and forested areas from Central Brazil to Provincia Velasco, Departamento de Santa Cruz, Bolivia (Frost 2017; Tessarolo et al. 2016). Pombal Bastos (1998) described the advertisement call of D. cruzi as a single pulsed note. Posteriorly, studies uncovered relationships between dominant frequency variation in the advertisement calls of D. cruzi and variation in the SVL and mass of males (Bastos et al. 2003), as well as the existence of a clinal geographic pattern in the variation of acoustic parameters of these calls (Tessarolo et al. 2016). However, the acoustic communication in anurans is usually mediated by more than one vocalization type (Toledo et al. 2015). Due the importance of call types in the social context of anurans (e.g., Reichert 2011; Forti et al. 2017), we expand the vocal repertoire of D. cruzi by describing its aggressive call.

Nesting patterns among Neotropical species assemblages: can reserves in urban areas be failing to protect anurans?

Nestedness among species assemblages implies that sites of lower species richness are subsets of richer sites in a regional species pool. This nestedness is a reflection of a non-random process of species loss as a consequence of factors that promote the disaggregation of assemblages. The impoverishment of assemblage diversity is more often observed in fragmented landscapes. This non-random process has important implications for conservation. We recorded 95 species of anurans across 22 protected areas, of which 11 sites were in an urban matrix and 11 were in a non-urban matrix. We found that sites in the urban matrix had lower richness and high values of nestedness with no spatial autocorrelation among geographic distances and species composition. Thus, species were non-randomly distributed across the landscape and a nested pattern was documented from non-urban matrix sites to urban matrix sites. The impoverishment of assemblages toward the urban matrix sites may suggest that protected areas in an urban matrix are less suitable for anuran conservation than those in a non-urban matrix sites. Both the ecological revitalization of protected areas in urban matrix and protection of non-urban forested sites are needed for the conservation of Neotropical anurans.

The advertisement calls of Brazilian anurans: Historical review, current knowledge and future directions

Advertisement calls are often used as essential basic information in studies of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, conservation, taxonomy or biodiversity inventories. Yet the description of this type of acoustic signals is far to be completed, especially in tropical regions, and is frequently non-standardized or limited in information, restricting the application of bioacoustics in science. Here we conducted a scientometric review of the described adverstisement calls of anuran species of Brazil, the world richest territory in anurans, to evaluate the amount, standard and trends of the knowledge on this key life-history trait and to identify gaps and directions for future research strategies. Based on our review, 607 studies have been published between 1960 to 2016 describing the calls of 719 Brazilian anuran species (68.8% of all species), a publication rate of 10.6 descriptions per year. From each of these studies, thirty-one variables were recorded and examined with descriptive and inferential statistics. In spite of an exponential rise over the last six decades in the number of studies, described calls, and quantity of published metadata, as revealed by regression models, clear shortfalls were identified with regard to anuran families, biomes, and categories of threat. More than 55% of these species belong to the two richest families, Hylidae or Leptodactylidae. The lowest percentage of species with described calls corresponds to the most diverse biomes, namely Atlantic Forest (65.1%) and Amazon (71.5%), and to the IUCN categories of threat (56.8%), relative to the less-than-threatened categories (74.3%). Moreover, only 52.3% of the species have some of its calls deposited in the main scientific sound collections. Our findings evidence remarkable knowledge gaps on advertisement calls of Brazilian anuran species, emphasizing the need of further efforts in standardizing and increasing the description of anuran calls for their application in studies of the behaviour, ecology, biogeography or taxonomy of the species.

Reptile surveys reveal high species richness in areas recovering from mining activity in the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract Our study determines the reptile species richness, composition, and habitat use in three areas recovering from mining activity in addition to the adjacent pristine and anthropized areas of a priority region for biodiversity conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado. We also compared our data with published surveys on the Cerrado domain in order to identify areas with unique species composition and/or areas where the reptile composition is more homogeneous. The survey was conducted in the municipality of Niquelândia, northern Goiás state, central Brazil, and involved reptile samplings from different physiognomies and water bodies. We found 47 species, including one crocodilian, one chelonian, two amphisbaenians, 17 lizards, and 26 snakes. The list includes 37 species with large geographic distribution, occurring in other morphoclimatic domains, as well as 10 species which are endemic to the Cerrado. Some species recorded for the region are listed in the Appendices I and II of the CITES. Many reptile species were frequently associated with anthropogenic habitats, while others seem to depend on remnants of pristine habitats. Low similarity was found among the 32 sites considered across the Cerrado domain. Ten sites located in Cerrado regions in contact with the adjacent domains have unique reptile composition, whereas most sites largely located in the central area of the domain have reptile communities which are more homogeneous among them. It is important to conduct long-term studies to have patterns of reptile species composition recognized as well as population decline and/or local extinctions and effective reptile conservation actions, with focus on these sites considering their unique species.