Sergio Solari

Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira. This zoonotic disease affects humans, domestic animals and wild animals. Colombia is considered an endemic country for leptospirosis; Antioquia is the second department in Colombia, with the highest number of reported leptospirosis cases. Currently, many studies report bats as reservoirs of Leptospira spp. but the prevalence in these mammals is unknown. The goal of this study was to better understand the role of bats as reservoir hosts of Leptospira species and to evaluate the genetic diversity of circulating Leptospira species in Antioquia-Colombia. We captured 206 bats in the municipalities of Chigorodó (43 bats), Carepa (43 bats), Apartadó (39 bats), Turbo (40 bats), and Necoclí (41 bats) in the Urabá region (Antioquia-Colombia). Twenty bats tested positive for Leptospira spp. infection (20/206—9.70%) and the species of infected bats were Carollia perspicillata, Dermanu...

The mechanisms that mediate the formation and coexistence of species assemblages have been a historical issue in evolutionary ecology, raising the question of whether these assemblages are shaped at random or are influenced by biotic and abiotic processes. An increasingly popular hypothesis points out that certain patterns or " assemblage rules " determine coexistence patterns within assemblages at a regional or continental scale. Thus, morphological and ecological similarities could influence the degree and intensity of competition between species. Considering the morphology of organisms within an environmental framework, we could assess the morphology and understand the ecological role of a given species within the assemblage. This study assesses the similarities and differences of Andean rodents within local assemblages through a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), using craniodental characters of these species to establish whether the relationships between morphometry and coexistence provide evidence to explain assemblage structure patterns. We measured rodent specimens deposited in the Colección Teriológica of the University of Antioquia, collected from the Western and Central cordilleras of Colombia. We recorded 15 cranioden-tal variables from all specimens, which were analyzed with a PCA to search for a general organization pattern within assemblages. Afterwards, we plotted the scores for principal components 1 and 2 to evidence the separation or clustering of specimens in an Euclidean space. We recorded 424 specimens from 10 genera and 18 species of the family Cricetidae, with the genera Nephelomys and Thomasomys showing the largest number of specimens. In the overall PCA, the first three components account for 85.1 % of the variation, with 63.9 % for PC1. The variables with the greatest contributions to PC1 were ZPW, AW and MFW; to PC2, IFL, ZPW and MFW; and to PC3, IFL, OL and ML. We detected some overlapping and scattering patterns among species at the morphospace defined by PC1 and PC2. We recovered an arrangement of species that shows differences in size and shape between them (as a function of their morphology), as evidenced in the scatter plots for the regional and local analyses. Besides, we did not find a general pattern for the load of variables, although some of these accounted for a larger part of the variation in the overall and local analyses (ZPW, MFW, IFL, ML and RL), indicating the segregation among species. Although the local analyses revealed a similar pattern with these loads changing from site to site, five variables account for the largest variation, what we interpret as a key role to determine the morphometric and/or ecological segregation among species. We believe this first approximation shows the value of ecomorphological studies in understanding patterns of diversity and geographic replacement of species; these patterns should be integrated with analyses of ecological aspects to understand the coexistence of species within local assemblages. Los mecanismos que intervienen en la formación y coexistencia de ensamblajes de especies han sido un tema histórico en ecología evoluti-va, de allí surge la pregunta si los ensamblajes de especies se forman aleatoriamente o si son influenciados por procesos bióticos y abióticos. Una hipótesis de popularidad creciente indica que los patrones de coexistencia en un ensamblaje, tanto a nivel regional como continental, son de-terminados por ciertos patrones o " reglas de ensamblaje ". Así, el grado e intensidad de la competencia entre especies pueden ser influenciados por su similitud morfológica y ecológica. Considerando la morfología de los organismos formando parte de un esquema ambiental podríamos lograr describir dicha morfología y entender la función ecológica de dicha especie al interior del ensamblaje. Este estudio evalúa las similitudes y diferencias en ensamblajes locales de roedores andinos por medio de Análisis de Componentes Principales (ACP), utilizando aspectos de la morfología cráneo-dental de las especies para establecer si las relaciones entre la morfometría y la coexistencia proporcionan evidencia de pa-trones de estructuración de los ensamblajes. Se midieron especímenes de la Colección Teriológica de la Universidad de Antioquia, provenientes de las Cordilleras Central y Occidental Colombianas. Se usaron 15 medidas craneales para todos los especímenes, realizando luego un ACP para explorar la existencia de un patrón de organización general a nivel de ensamblajes. Por último, se representaron los valores de los componentes principales 1 y 2 en gráficas de dispersión para visualizar la separación y/o aglomeración de especímenes en el espacio euclidiano. Se registra-ron un total de 424 especímenes pertenecientes a 10 géneros y 18 especies de la familia Cricetidae, con el mayor número de individuos en los géneros Nephelomys y Thomasomys. En el ACP total los primeros tres componentes contienen 85.1 % de la variación, con 63.9 % para el CP1. Las variables que más aportan al CP1 son ZPW, AW y MFW; al CP2, IFL, ZPW and MFW y al CP3, IFL, OL and ML. Se observan algunos patrones de superposición y dispersión de especies en el morfoespacio definido por el CP1 y CP2. Se logró apreciar un arreglo de especies en el cual se encuentran diferencias en tamaño y forma entre las especies (en función de su morfología), esto se evidencia en las gráficas de dispersión tanto del análisis regional como de los análisis locales. Además, no se encontró un patrón definido en las cargas de las variables, aunque algunas apor-taron mayor variación en el análisis total y en los individuales (ZPW, MFW, IFL, ML y RL), determinando la segregación entre especies. A pesar de que en los análisis de cada localidad estos aportes se reparten de forma diferente, cinco variables están aportando la mayor variación, por lo que se infiere que serían claves en determinar la separación morfométrica y/o ecológica de las especies. Finalmente, esta primera aproximación muestra la utilidad de estudios ecomorfológicos para entender patrones de diversidad y reemplazo geográfico de especies, los cuales deberían integrarse con análisis de aspectos ecológicos para interpretar su coexistencia en un ensamblaje local.

Phyllostomidae (New World leaf-nosed bats), the second most speciose chiropteran family, is one of the best-known and well-studied chiropteran groups. Due to the ecological and morphological diversity of this family, comparative studies of phyllostomids abound in the literature, and numerous systematic and phylogenetic analyses have been published. Unfortunately, many of these studies have reached different conclusions concerning phyllostomid relationships, and have proposed different classification schemes. This has led to confusion, and highlighted the need for a well-supported and stable classification of the family, particularly at the level of subfamilies and tribes, areas of the greatest controversy. The goal of this paper is to provide morphological diagnoses of higher-level taxa (subtribes, tribes, and subfamilies). Herein we provide morphological diagnoses for 11 subfamilies (Macrotinae,

... Elevational ranges of species generally increase with elevation, in accordance with Stevens' extension of ... and poorly developed endemism in Andean bat communities contrast with patterns shown by ... and strongly endemic on the Altiplano and markedly zoned along the Eastern ...

PARTI CHAPTER 6 DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THYLAMYS (DlDELPHIDAE) IN SOUTH AMERICA, WITH EMPHASIS ON SPECIES FROM THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE ANDES Sergio Solari Departamento de Mastozoologia, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional ...