Three bird species new to Brazil from the Serra da Mocidade, a remote mountain in Roraima

AbstractFrom 15 January to 06 February 2016, we conducted an expedition to the Serra da Mocidade, a remote and previously unexplored mountain range in extreme northern Amazonian Brazil. There we encountered three bird species never before documented in Brazilian territory: Grallaria guatimalensis (Grallariidae) was photographed, audio recorded, video recorded and a single specimen collected; Catharus aurantiirostris (Turdidae) was similarly documented and a series of specimens collected; and a single individual of Parkesia motacilla (Parulidae) was photographed. All were found in the understory of montane forest at 1000–1550 m elevation. We interpret each of these as most likely representing a regularly occurring population on Mocidade. However, each had probably been overlooked in Brazil for a different reason and represents a distinct distributional pattern. Adding these novelties to Brazil’s previously published total of 1919 species clearly expresses the country’s position among the most bird-rich in the world, perhaps the richest, and suggests that further exploration of Brazil’s Amazonian mountains will yield more discoveries.

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Split-footed lacewings declined over time: indications from the morphological diversity of their antlion-like larvae

PalZ ◽

10.1007/s12542-021-00550-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gideon T. Haug ◽

Carolin Haug ◽

Serita van der Wal ◽

Patrick Müller ◽

Joachim T. Haug

Keyword(s):

Morphological Diversity ◽

Single Specimen ◽

Burmese Amber ◽

The Past ◽

The World ◽

Poor Group ◽

Outline Analysis ◽

Loss Of Diversity ◽

Over Time ◽

Antlion Larvae

AbstractNymphidae, the group of split-footed lacewings, is a rather species-poor group. Split-footed lacewings nowadays are restricted to Australasia, while fossil forms are also known from other areas of the world, indicating that the group was more species-rich and therefore likely diverse in the past. Split-footed lacewings have rather distinct larvae, roughly resembling antlion larvae, but differing from the latter especially with regard to the mandibles. Antlion larvae usually have three prominent teeth on each mandible, while at least extant larvae of split-footed lacewings only have a single prominent tooth per mandible. Fossils interpreted as larvae of split-footed lacewings are well known from amber from Myanmar (ca. 100 myr; Burmese amber) and by a single specimen from Baltic amber (about 40 myr). We here report additional fossil specimens from Myanmar amber, expanding the known record of fossil forms from six depicted specimens to 15. For the extant fauna, we could compile 25 larvae. We compare the diversity of shape of extant and fossil larvae through time using an outline analysis (based on elliptic Fourier transformation) of the head. The results of this analysis indicate that the morphological diversity, or disparity, of split-footed lacewing larvae was higher in the past than it is today. With this type of analysis, we can show a loss of diversity over time, without the necessity to identify the fossil larvae down to a narrow taxonomical range. A similar pattern has already been recognised in silky lacewings, Psychopsidae. This might indicate a general loss of diversity of lacewing larvae.

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Quelea quelea (weaver bird).

10.1079/cpc.66441.20210100283 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Robert Cheke

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Breeding Population ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Grain Crops ◽

The World ◽

Major Pest ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Economical Losses

Abstract The red-billed quelea is a small weaver bird native to sub-Saharan Africa and renowned for its attacks on small-grain crops within Africa. It is the most numerous bird species in the world, with peak post-breeding population estimated at 1,500,000,000. The red-billed quelea is mainly granivorous, except when feeding its chicks insects or when eating insects prior to migration or breeding, and it relies on a supply of grass seeds to survive. When unable to find grass seeds or when opportunities arise, quelea will attack crops. It is a major pest throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and can cause significant economical losses.

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Flora vascular da Serra da Pedra Branca, Caldas, Minas Gerais e relações florísticas com áreas de altitude da Região Sudeste do Brasil

Biota Neotropica ◽

10.1590/s1676-06032013000400019 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 201-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Munike Gonçalves de Rezende ◽

Ricardo Cunha Loyola Elias ◽

Fátima Regina Gonçalves Salimena ◽

Luiz Menini Neto

Keyword(s):

New Records ◽

Vascular Plant ◽

Montane Forest ◽

Minas Gerais ◽

The State ◽

Mountain Range ◽

Floristic Similarity ◽

Floristic Survey ◽

Ombrophilous Forest ◽

Southeastern Region

Serra da Pedra Branca (SPB) is a mountain range located in the Southwestern portion of the state Minas Gerais, in the municipality of Caldas (21°58′-21°55′S, 46°24′-46°22′W). It is a striking feature in the landscape, between 1100 and 1780 m.s.m., in a region that is part of the Atlantic Forest Domain and is considered as a priority area for conservation of the flora in Minas Gerais state. The vegetation is composed by a mosaic of “campo de altitude” (which occupy the greatest extension in the area), Seasonal Semidecidual Montane Forest, Dense Ombrophilous High-Montane Forest and Mixed Ombrophilous Forest. The aims of this study was the elaboration of a floristic survey of SPB added to the specimens collected by Anders Fredrik Regnell in the nineteenth century in Caldas and to analyze its floristic similarity with altitude areas of the Southeastern Region of Brazil. There were recorded 502 vascular plant species, distributed in 274 genera and 100 families. The majority of recorded species present herbaceous habit, terricolous, saxicolous and/or rupicolous (representing around 58% of recorded species), predominantly occurring in the “campo de altitude” (ca. 46%). The richest families were Polypodiaceae (20 spp.) and Dryopteridaceae (10 spp.) among the ferns, and Orchidaceae (56 spp.), Asteraceae (27 spp.) and Fabaceae (26 spp.) among the angiosperms. Just one species of gymnosperm was recorded, Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze (Araucariaceae). Five new records were made for the Minas Gerais flora, 13 species are cited as threatened with extinction in the state and at least six are endemic to SPB. Amongst 127 species collected in XIX century in the region, only 29 collected again, while 375 new records were made for SPB. The analysis of floristic similarity performed between the flora of SPB and other altitude areas of Southeastern Region revealed isolation of SPB in relation to other areas, highlighting its floristic peculiarity, which can probably be explained by its location in a distinct hydrographic basin. The vegetation of the SPB must be considered as endangered since the presence of endemic species and/or threatened species, associated with local environmental conditions suffering accelerated rate of destruction, highlight the need for urgent actions to preserve local biodiversity.

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Co-occurrence Patterns of Bird Species in the World

Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment ◽

10.11614/ksl.2017.50.4.478 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. 478-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Young Min Kim ◽

Sungwon Hong ◽

Yu Seong Lee ◽

Ki Cheol Oh ◽

Gu Yeon Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

The World ◽

Occurrence Patterns

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Amazing Glacier Stuff

Glaciers ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199367252.003.0013 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Jorge Daniel Taillant

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Rocky Mountains ◽

Central Andes ◽

Mountain Range ◽

Outburst Floods ◽

The World ◽

Industrial Use ◽

Mitigating Circumstances ◽

Story Building ◽

At Home

This chapter is about what glaciers—and particularly what glacial and periglacial melt—mean to people and communities around the world. We often don’t realize that people interact daily with glaciers. Some go to visit and hike on glaciers or to photograph them for their magnificent beauty. Some ski on glaciers. Others extract water from glaciers for personal and industrial use. Others fear glaciers for their potent fury and destruction. People and communities are adapting to climate change and its impacts on glaciers, sometimes without even knowing it. Others are very aware of glacier vulnerability and are taking measures to address the changing cryosphere. They are mitigating circumstances and are adapting to impacts. In this chapter, we share stories and facts about glaciers and periglacial environments, which most people are probably unfamiliar with, and we explain how lives in these environments are changing due to climate change. Few people have heard of glacier tsunamis, but they exist, they’re real, they’re ferocious, and they can kill. Scientists call them glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs). And as climate change deepens, more and more GLOF phenomena can be expected. Imagine you live at the foot of a mountain range like the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayas, or the Central Andes. On a nice sunny day, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance, maybe 20 or 30 km (12–18 mi) out, maybe even more. You are sitting at home when all of a sudden you feel shaking and hear a rumble. People start screaming. You look out the window and see people running frantically and erratically about. Then a woman yells, “The mountain! It’s coming! Run!” Imagine a large glacier the size of a dozen or so city blocks, perched atop a mountain. It’s 180 meters thick (600 ft), which is as tall as a sixty-story building. Below it, time and climate have formed a lake, a glacier lake occupying the same spot where the glacier once rested, pushing rock and earth out and forward as the glacier flowed downhill when it was solidly frozen and healthy.

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Conservation success for two Bermudan bird species

Oryx ◽

10.1017/s0030605300018974 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 138-143

Author(s):

Christopher Lever

Keyword(s):

Bird Species ◽

Habitat Destruction ◽

Forthcoming Book ◽

The World ◽

Successful Rehabilitation ◽

Rats And Mice ◽

Domestic Stock

The plight of indigenous birds on oceanic archipelagoes often makes depressing reading, as the author points out in his forthcoming book, Naturalized Mammals of the World. Habitat destruction by domestic stock and predation by accidentally introduced rats and mice are the major causes. In Bermuda this discouraging trend has been reversed by the successful rehabilitation of two species within the space of a quarter of a century.

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The Itombwe Massif, Democratic Republic of Congo: biological surveys and conservation, with an emphasis on Grauer's gorilla and birds endemic to the Albertine Rift

Oryx ◽

10.1046/j.1365-3008.1999.00076.x ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 301-322 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ilambu Omari ◽

John A. Hart ◽

Thomas M. Butynski ◽

N. R. Birhashirwa ◽

Agenonga Upoki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Democratic Republic ◽

Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽

Natural Habitat ◽

Bird Species ◽

Single Specimen ◽

Biological Surveys ◽

Albertine Rift ◽

Nest Sites ◽

Traditional Authorities ◽

Over Exploitation

AbstractIn 1996, the first major biological surveys in the Itombwe Massif in over 30 years revealed that significant areas of natural habitat and remnant faunal populations remain, but that these are subject to ongoing degradation and over-exploitation. At least 10 areas of gorilla Gorilla gorilla graueri occurrence, including eight of 17 areas identified during the first survey of the species in the massif in 1959, were found. Seventy-nine gorilla nest sites were recorded and at least 860 gorillas were estimated to occupy the massif. Fifty-six species of mammals were recorded. Itombwe supports the highest representation, of any area, of bird species endemic to the Albertine Rift highlands. Twenty-two of these species were recorded during the surveys, including the Congo bay owl Phodilus prigoginei, which was previously known from a single specimen collected in Itombwe nearly 50 years ago. No part of Itombwe is officially protected and conservation initiatives are needed urgently. Given the remoteness and continuing political instability of the region, conservation initiatives must collaborate with traditional authorities based in the massif, and should focus at the outset on protecting the gorillas and limiting further degradation of key areas.

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The fossil mite family Archaeorchestidae (Acari, Oribatida) II: redescription of Plategeocranus sulcatus and family-group relationships

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.3051.1.2 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 3051 (1) ◽

pp. 14 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

EKATERINA A. SIDORCHUK ◽

ROY A. NORTON

Keyword(s):

Type Species ◽

World Ocean ◽

Oribatid Mite ◽

Single Specimen ◽

Type Specimens ◽

The World ◽

Senior Synonym ◽

Group Relationships ◽

Mite Family ◽

Direct Investigation

The oribatid mite family Archaeorchestidae was proposed based on a single specimen of Archaeorchestes minguezae Arillo & Subías, 2000, from Lower Cretaceous amber (Spain). In a previous paper we redescribed Strieremaeus illibatus Sellnick, 1918, from Eocene Baltic and Rovno amber, and considered Strieremaeus a senior synonym of Archaeorchestes. Herein, we transfer a second genus, Plategeocranus, to Archaeorchestidae. This is based on a redescription of the type species, P. sulcatus (Karsch, 1884), using non-type specimens (44 adults and 2 immatures from Baltic and Rovno ambers). Among these are eight Baltic amber specimens identified by Max Sellnick and currently housed in two museums in Kaliningrad: from the Museum of the World Ocean we designate specimen #39 as neotype and specimens 22, 30, 33, 35 and 37 as paraneotypes; from the Kaliningrad Museum of Amber we designate specimens 197-22 and 197-54 as paraneotypes. The contention of Arillo and Subías that Archaeorchestidae is a member of Zetorchestoidea (Eremaeoidea auct.), and is the extinct sister-family of Zetorchestidae, is supported with additional characters that relate to leg setation and the morphology of immatures. The possible inclusion of another Cretaceous fossil mite, Rasnitsynella punctulata Krivolutsky, in Archaeorchestidae or Zetorchestoidea was rejected, leaving it in Plateremaeidae pending the direct investigation of specimens. New diagnoses are presented for Plategeocranus, Archaeorchestidae, and Zetorchestoidea.

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Rediscovery of the Cherry-throated Tanager Nemosia rourei in southern Espírito Santo, Brazil

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270900000095 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 97-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Claudia Bauer ◽

José Fernando Pacheco ◽

Ana Cristina Venturini ◽

Bret M. Whitney

Keyword(s):

Montane Forest ◽

Small Population ◽

Native Forest ◽

Single Individual ◽

Espírito Santo ◽

South Central ◽

Property Owners ◽

Espirito Santo ◽

Privately Owned ◽

Biological Reserve

We report the rediscovery of the Cherry-throated Tanager Nemosia rourei in southern Espírito Santo, Brazil, in February 1998, and the first substantive observations of its behaviour, vocalizations and other aspects of its natural history. Approximately 10 individuals, occasionally in groups of up to five birds, were located in humid montane forest at 1,100 m a.s.l. at the privately owned “Fazenda Pindobas IV” (20°19′S, 41°17′W). This small population appears to be safe, as the property owners are preserving the remaining native forest there, and hope soon to register the land as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN). The species probably also occurs at similar elevations on neighbouring fazendas. Past reports of the species are reviewed, and the accuracy of the type locality, “Muriaé, Minas Gerais” is re-evaluated. As a result, we suggest that our locality of rediscovery, Jatibocas, where Helmut Sick surely saw a group of eight birds in August 1941, and the Nova Lombardia (= Augusto Ruschi) Biological Reserve, where a single individual was certainly sighted by Derek Scott and others in October 1995, all in south-central Espírito Santo, be considered the only confirmed points of occurrence of the Cherry-throated Tanager.

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The birds of Korup National Park and Korup Project Area, Southwest Province, Cameroon

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s095927090000263x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 1-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Paul G. Rodewald ◽

Pierre-André Dejaifve ◽

Arthur A. Green

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Bird Species ◽

Montane Forest ◽

Lowland Forest ◽

Separate Species ◽

Forest Reserve ◽

Project Area ◽

Forest Bird ◽

Korup National Park ◽

First Time

A total of 390 bird species are known to occur in the Korup National Park (KNP) and the surrounding Korup Project Area (KPA). Although the avifauna of KNP is incompletely known, it is already among the most ornithologically diverse lowland forest sites i n Africa. The avian diversity of the KPA is increased by the montane forest bird species of the Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve (RHFR) and the Nta Ali Forest Reserve (NAFR). The lowland and montane forests of the KNP/KPA are very important to the conservation of African forest birds. Four species found in the Korup area are considered globally threatened, and four are considered near-threatened. In addition, 40 species were considered for threatened status, some of which are likely future additions to the threatened list. Twelve of Korup's 36 montane forest bird species are endemic to the montane areas of western Cameroon, eastern Nigeria, and Bioko (Fernando Po). The RHFR is especially important as a refuge for montane birds because much of the montane forest elsewhere in western Cameroon has been cleared for agriculture. Breeding phenology data are provided for many lowland forest species. Additionally, this report provides information on many rarely recorded species for western Cameroon, including several species not previously documented in the region. Kemp's Longbill Macrosphenus ketnpi was recorded for the first time in Cameroon. Because it is sympatric with the Yellow Longbill M. flavicans in Korup, additional evidence now exists for the contention that M. ketnpi and M.flavicans are separate species. The Yellow-chested Apalis Apalisflavidawas also documented for the first time in Cameroon.

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