With the Bromeliad Aechmea Huebneri 0274 and APVV-15-0134
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188 North-Western Journal of Zoology 2019, vol.15 (2) - Correspondence: Notes Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Monika Onderová and Association of Hemidactylus palaichthus Jana Fričová for their help in field. The handling of small mammals complies with the laws of the Slovak Republic (No. 2971108/06). Kluge, 1969 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) This work was supported by the grants VEGA 1/0084/18, APVV-14- with the bromeliad Aechmea huebneri 0274 and APVV-15-0134. Our thanks also go to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments on the manuscript and to David The Antilles leaf-toed gecko Hemidactylus palaichthus Kluge, McLean for revising the English language. 1969 is a South American member of the African-Atlantic References clade of the Hemidactylus geckos (Carranza & Arnold 2006). Čanády, A., Mošanský L., Stanko M. (2009): First knowledge of winter ecology It is distributed throughout islands of St. Lucia and Monos, of the mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882) from Slovakia Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suri- Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 61: 79-86. nam and northern Brazil (Hoogmoed 1973, Staton & Dixon Csanády, A., Stanko, M., Mošanský, L. (2019): Are there differences in the morphology of communal mounds of overwintering mound-building mice 1977, Vanzolini 1978, Rivero-Blanco & Dixon 1979, Powell (Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882) in Slovakia? Acta Zoologica Academiae 1990). Records for this species indicate that it reaches its Scientiarum Hungaricae 65: 167–180. southernmost distribution in the central Brazilian Amazonia Grulich, I. (1959): The importance of burrowing activities of the common mole (Talpa europaea) in Czechoslovakia. Práce Brněnské základny Československé (lower parts of the rivers Rio Negro, Purus and Madeira; akademie věd 21: 157–212. [in Czech with German summary] Avila-Pires 1995, Ribeiro-Júnior 2015). According to Kluge Hoff G., Frye F.L., Jacobson E.R. (1984): Diseases of amphibians and reptiles. (1969), H. palaichthus has been reported in apparently an- Plenum, New York. 784 pp. Hölzl, M., Hoi, H., Darolová, A., Krištofík, J. (2011): Insulation capacity of thropically undisturbed environments such as fences of littermounds built by Mus spicilegus: physical and thermal characteristics of farms, walls and posts inside villages, scrubby second building material and the role of mound size. Ethology, Ecology and growth and isolated vegetation (palms, logs) in areas of pas- Evolution 23: 49-59. Kwet, A. (2009): European reptile and amphibian guide. New Holland ture (Cunha 1981, Vanzoline 1978). O’Shea (1989) and Vitt & publishers. Kosmos Verlags – GmbH & Co. KG. Stutgard. 252 pp. Zani (1998) recorded the species in transitional forests be- Polley, L. (2005): Navigating parasite webs and parasite flow: emerging and re- tween lowland forests and open savannas. Ecological data emerging parasitic zoonoses of wildlife origin. International Journal for summarized by Rivero-Blanco & Dixon (1979), Avila-Pires parasitology 35: 1279-1294. Reiterová, K., Antolová, D., Zaleśny, G., Stanko, M., Špilovská, S., Mošanský, L. (1995) and Ribeiro-Júnior (2015) report that the species (2013): Small rodents—permanent reservoirs of toxocarosis in different commonly inhabits semi-open to open habitats (dry zones), habitats of Slovakia. Helminthologia 50: 20-26. including disturbed and perianthropic areas. It was also Regosin, J.V., Windmiller, B.S., Reed, J.M. (2003): Influence of abundance of small-mammal burrows and conspecifics on the density and distribution of found on dwellings and other buildings (Staton & Dixon spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) in terrestrial habitats. Canadian 1977). In addition, Kluge (1969) and Avila-Pires (1995) re- Journal of Zoology 81: 596–605. ported that H. palaichthus is partially sympatric with the Roznik, E.A., Johnson, S.A. (2009): Burrow use and survival of newly metamorphosed gopher frogs (Rana capito). Journal of Herpetology 43: 431– Tropical house gecko H. mabouia (Moreau de Jonnès, 1818), 438. which is introduced in Brazil and widely distributed Searcy, C.A., Gabbai-Saldate, E., Shaffer, H.B. (2013): Microhabitat use and throughout anthropogenic habitats (Carranza & Arnold migration distance of an endangered grassland amphibian. Biological Conservation 158: 80–87. 2006, Rödder et al. 2008, Ribeiro-Júnior 2015), but also found Strube, C., Heuer, L., Janecek, E. (2013): Toxocara spp. infections in paratenic in natural areas away from dwellings (Vanzoline 1978, Sousa hosts. Veterinary parasitology 193: 375-389. & Freire 2010). Still, information about the habitat and natu- Szenczi, P., Bánszegi, O., Dúcs, A., Gedeon, C. I., Markó, G., Németh, I. & V. ral history of H. palaichthus remains limited. Altbäcker, V. (2011): Morphology and function of communal mounds of overwintering mound-building mice (Mus spicilegus). Journal of Mammalogy 92: 852-860. During short-term herpetological surveys at the Rio Negro Sustain- Szenczi, P., Kopcsó, D., Bánszegi, O., Altbäcker, V. (2012): The contribution of able Development Reserve (Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sus- the vegetable material layer to the insulation capacities and water proofing tentável do Rio Negro; Fig. 1) carried out in 2017–2018, a population of artificial Mus spicilegus mounds. Mammalian Biology-Zeitschrift für of H. palaichthus (Fig. 2A) associated with the bromeliad Aechmea Säugetierkunde 77: 327-331. huebneri (Fig. 3A) was detected in a relatively undisturbed white- Šustek, Z., Stanko, M. (2012): Beetles (Insecta Coleoptera) in the nests of mound-building mouse Mus spicilegus in four orographic units in Slovakia. sand forest habitats (Fig. 3B). This population occurs at the southern Muzeul Olteniei Craiova. Oltenia. Studii şi comunicări. Ştiinţele Naturii 28: 66-78. Key words: Mound-building mouse, hibernation, Slovakia, Article No.: e197501 Received: 14. May 2019 / Accepted: 26. June 2019 Available online: 30. June 2019 / Printed: December 2019 Alexander CSANÁDY1*, Michal STANKO2,3 and Ladislav MOŠANSKÝ2 1. University of Prešov, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Department of Biology, 17 novembra 1, 080 01 Prešov, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] 2. Institute of Parasitology, Slovak Academy of Science, SK-040 01 Košice, Slovakia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] 3. Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Science, SK-040 01 Košice, Slovakia. * Corresponding author, A. Csanady, E-mail: [email protected] Figure 1. Capture locations (stars) of Hemidactylus palaichthus in Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, northern Brazil. North-Western Journal of Zoology 2019, vol.15 (2) - Correspondence: Notes 189 Figure 3. Habitat of Hemidactylus palaichthus at the study area. A - Aechmea huebneri growth. B - General aspect of the campina eco- region. Figure 2. Species of geckos registered in bromeliad rosettes in the study area. A - Adult female Hemidactylus palaichthus specimen col- lected from the rosette of Aechmea huebneri. B - Adult male Gona- APL 22259, (SVL = 48.7 and 48.2 mm, respectively), ca. 84 todes humeralis in a rosette of an epiphytic bromeliad at a tall terra km W of Manaus (3.05392 S, 60.75458 W, 60 m a.s.l.), 15 Sep- firme forest. tember 2018; (ii) three adult females, APL 22268-22270, (SVL = 60.7, 61.2, 51.4 mm, respectively). An additional uncol- lected adult was observed ca. 81 km W of Manaus (3.04791 S, margin of the species’ known range, where practically no data are available. These findings are reported herein, in order to contribute 60.72994 W, 54 m a.s.l.), on 16 September 2018. All geckos to knowledge on the biology of this poorly studied gecko species. were found during the night between 20:00 and 22:30 h. The The Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve (RNSDR) is five females were active inside the rosettes of the large indi- part of the Lower Rio Negro Mosaic, a mixture of protected areas of vidual terrestrial or epiphytic bromeliad Aechmea huebneri high bio- and socio-cultural diversity. The RNSDR was created in (each bromeliad contained a single female). The two remain- 2008 by law 3.355 and has a total area of 103.086 ha. It lies west of the ing individuals were observed on the sandy ground near the confluence of the Rio Negro with the Solimões River, in the munici- same bromeliad species. Bromeliad inspection (approxi- palities of Manacapuru, Iranduba and Novo Airão, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. The RNSDR protects the following ecoregions: mately 50 bromeliads) revealed that most bromeliads con- igapós (flooded blackwater forests), tall dense terra firme forests (un- tained apparently viable H. palaichthus eggs, as well as shell flooded forests), campinarana (open low forests) and campina (open fragments of previously hatched eggs. Eggs were deposited low forests with the predominance of shrubs and grasslands). The in pairs or individually between the leaves in the basal part latter two ecoregions are also known as the Amazonian Caatinga of the bromeliad rosettes. and represent open low forests on infertile sandy soil (white sands) The field investigations carried out indicate that A. hueb- where sunlight can reach the ground. They form patches scattered neri in the campina ecoregion represents an important habitat across the landscape and isolated by a dense forest matrix (e.g. Ad- for H. palaichthus in the RNSDR. This gecko was not found eney et al. 2016, Ferreira et al. 2018). either in campinaranas or in the tall dense terra firme forests A total of seven H. palaichthus individuals in two isolated