Browsing by Author "Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-"
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Item Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 1, Primates. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 351)(American Museum of Natural History., 2011) Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-;This report is the first installment of a monographic study of mammalian diversity and ethnomammalogy in a sparsely inhabited rainforest region between the Yavarí and Ucayali rivers in northeastern Peru. Our study is based on several large collections of mammals (totaling about 3500 specimens) made at various localities in this region between 1926 and 2003, and on our long-term ethnobiological and linguistic fieldwork with the Matses, a Panoan-speaking group of indigenous Amazonians who still obtain most of their dietary protein by hunting mammals. Our primary objectives are to document the species richness of the regional fauna through taxonomic analysis of collected specimens, and to assess the detail and accuracy of Matses knowledge of mammalian natural history by linguistic analysis of recorded interviews. The regional primate fauna is definitely known to consist of at least 14 species documented by collected specimens and/or repeated sightings of taxa with visually conspicuous diagnostic traits. This fauna includes three atelids (Alouatta seniculus, Ateles belzebuth, Lagothrix lagothricha), eight cebids (Aotus nancymaae, Callimico goeldii, Callithrix pygmaea, Cebus albifrons, Cebus apella, Saguinus fuscicollis, Saguinus mystax, Saimiri sciureus), and three pitheciids (Cacajao calvus, Callicebus cupreus, Pithecia monachus). All 14 species are known to occur sympatrically at one inventory site, but Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii) is rare and uakaris (Cacajao calvus) seem to be patchily distributed, so some local faunas may have only 12 or even fewer species. This regional fauna is unique because neighboring interfluvial regions lack some species that are present in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve, and because some species that are present in neighboring interfluvial regions are not known to occur between the Yavarí and the Ucayali. Matses knowledge about primate natural history is clearly correlated with size and cultural importance. For example, information obtained from standardized interviews about spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth, a large game species) can be parsed into 86 observations about its ecology and/or behavior, whereas interviews about pygmy marmosets (Callithrix pygmaea, a small nongame species) contain only nine observations on these topics. Item-by-item comparisons of Matses observations about spider monkeys with the published results of scientific field research suggests that the Matses are generally accurate observers of primate natural history, a conclusion that is additionally supported by comparing community patterns of resource use compiled from our interview data with community-ecological studies of primate faunas in the scientific literature. Most exceptions (discrepancies between Matses observations and the scientific literature) can be explained by cultural inattention to small nongame species. Although these results suggest that archiving native Amazonian knowledge about mammalian natural history might be a cost-effective alternative to lengthy fieldwork for some research objectives, there are significant linguistic barriers than can inhibit effective cross-cultural communication. Among the Matses, these include a surprisingly large number of zoologically redundant names (synonyms and hyponyms). Relevant primate examples are discussed in substantive detail.Item Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 2, Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Sirenia. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 417)(American Museum of Natural History., 2017-10-27) Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-This report continues our monographic analysis of mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavari-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru. Based primarily on specimens collected in the region from 1926 to 2003, interviews with Matses hunters, and published sight surveys of large mammals, we document the local occurrence of 33 species of xenarthrans, carnivores, perissodactyls, artiodactyls (including cetaceans), and sirenians. All of the species in these groups, with the exception of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), are recognized and named by the Matses, from whom we recorded extensive accounts of mammalian natural history. The local xenarthran fauna consists of nine species (Cabassous unicinctus, Priodontes maximus, Dasypus novemcinctus, D. pastasae, Bradypus variegatus, Choloepus hoffmanni, Cyclopes didactylus, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla), all of which are represented by examined specimens. Only two xenarthrans (D. pastasae and C. hoffmanni) are primary game species for the Matses, who are familiar with many aspects of their biology that were previously unrecorded in the scientific literature. However, Matses interviews also provide important new information about the behavior of D. novemcinctus (a secondary game species) and M. tridactyla, neither of which has previously been studied in rainforested environments. The local carnivore fauna consists of 16 species (Atelocynus microtis, Speothos venaticus, Leopardus pardalis, L. wiedii, Panthera onca, Puma concolor, Pu. yagouaroundi, Eira barbara, Galictis vittata, Mustela africana, Lontra longicaudis, Pteronura brasiliensis, Bassaricyon alleni, Nasua nasua, Potos flavus, Procyon cancrivorus), most of which are represented by examined specimens; six species without preserved voucher material are known from camera-trap photographs and/or unambiguous sightings by Matses hunters and field biologists. Although the coati (N. nasua) is the only carnivore occasionally hunted by the Matses for food, Matses interviews are richly informative about the natural history of other species, notably including S. venaticus, Leopardus spp., Pa. onca, Puma spp., and E. barbara. All of the local ungulates (Tapirus terrestris, Pecari tajacu, Tayassu pecari, Mazama americana, M. nemorivaga) are hunted by the Matses for food, and the hunters we interviewed are correspondingly well informed about the natural history of most of these species, with the exception of the seldom-encountered gray brocket (M. nemorivaga). Both species of local cetaceans (Inia geoffroyi, Sotalia fluviatilis) are familiar to the Matses, although neither is eaten. The xenarthrans, carnivores, ungulates, and aquatic mammals that inhabit the Yavari-Ucayali interfluve are all widespread species, so this component of the regional fauna, as currently understood, is not biogeographically distinctive, nor is it extraordinarily diverse (by western Amazonian standards). Although we discuss several noteworthy taxonomic and nomenclatural issues relevant to these taxa, the principal contribution of this report consists in the natural history information compiled from our Matses informants and the resulting overview of local community structure as defined by diurnal activity, locomotion, social behavior, and trophic relationships.Item Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 3, Marsupials (Didelphimorphia). (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 432)(American Museum of Natural History., 2019-06-14) Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-; Jansa, Sharon A.This report is the third in our monographic series on mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru. Based on taxonomic analysis of specimens collected in the region, we document the occurrence of 19 species of marsupials in the genera Caluromys, Glironia, Hyladelphys, Marmosa, Monodelphis, Metachirus, Chironectes, Didelphis, Philander, Gracilinanus, and Marmosops. Our principal taxonomic results include the following: (1) we provide a phylogenetic analysis of previously unpublished mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data for Caluromys that supports the reciprocal monophyly of all currently recognized species in the genus but reveals substantial heterogeneity in one extralimital taxon; (2) we explain why Marmosa constantiae is the correct name for the southwestern Amazonian taxon previously known as Mar. demerarae, and we diagnose Mar. constantiae from Mar. rapposa, a superficially similar species from southern Peru, eastern Bolivia, and central Brazil; (3) we explain why Mar. rutteri is the correct name for one of the Amazonian species currently known as Mar. regina, and we restrict the latter name to the transAndean holotype; (4) we recognize Metachirus myosuros as a species distinct from Met. nudicaudatus based on morphological comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis of new mtDNA sequence data; and (5) we name a new species of Marmosops to honor the late Finnish-Peruvian naturalist Pekka Soini. Of the 19 marsupial species known to occur in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve, 16 have been recorded in sympatry at Nuevo San Juan, the Matses village where we based most of our fieldwork from 1995 to 1999. We explain why we believe the marsupial species list from Nuevo San Juan to be complete (or nearly so), and we compare it with a species list obtained by similarly intensive fieldwork at Paracou (French Guiana). Although Nuevo San Juan and Paracou are 2500 km apart on opposite sides of Amazonia, the same opossum genera are present at both sites, the lists differing only in the species represented in each fauna. We briefly discuss current explanations for spatial turnover in species of terrestrial vertebrates across Amazonian landscapes and provide evidence that the upper Amazon is a significant dispersal barrier for marsupials. Marsupials are not important to the Matses in any way. In keeping with their cultural inattention to mammals that are inconspicuous, harmless, and too small to be of dietary significance, the Matses lexically distinguish only a few kinds of opossums, and they are not close observers of opossum morphology or behavior.Item Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 4, Bats (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 451)(American Museum of Natural History., 2021-08-27) Velazco, Paúl M.; Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-; Simmons, Nancy B.In this report, the fourth of our monographic series on mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogyin the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru, we document the occurrence of 98 species of bats, including 11 emballonurids, 2 noctilionids, 66 phyllostomids, 1 furipterid, 4 thyropterids, 7 vespertilionids, and 7 molossids. New species based on specimens collected in this region (Peropteryx pallidoptera, Micronycteris matses, Hsunycteris dashe, Sturnira giannae, and Thyropterawynneae) have already been described elsewhere, but noteworthy distributional and taxonomicresults newly reported here include the first specimen of Diclidurus isabella from Peru and the diagnosis of Glossophaga bakeri as a species distinct from G. commissarisi. Lists of examined voucher specimens, identification criteria, essential taxonomic references, and summaries of natural history observations are provided for all species. Original natural history information reported herein includes numerous observations of roosting behavior obtained by indigenous Matses collaborators. We assess the Yavarí-Ucayali bat inventory for completeness and conclude that more species remain to be discovered in the region, where as many as 116 species might be expected. Most of the “missing” species (those expected based on geographic criteria but not actually observed) are aerial insectivores, a guild that is notoriously difficult to sample by mistnetting. Of the 98 species in the observed regional fauna, only 71 are known to occur sympatrically at Jenaro Herrera, by far the best-sampled locality between the Yavarí and Ucayali rivers. Faunal comparisons with extralimital inventories (e.g., from Brazil, Ecuador, and French Guiana) suggest that frugivorous bats are substantially more speciose in western Amazonia than in eastern Amazonia, a result that is consistent with previous suggestions of an east-to-west gradient in the trophic structure of Amazonian mammal faunas. As previously reported, the Matses have only a single name for “bat,” but they recognize the existence of many unnamed local species, which they distinguish on the basis of morphology and behavior. However, by contrast with the well-documented accuracy of Matses observations about primates and other game species, recorded Matses monologs about bat natural history contain numerous factual errors and ambiguities. Linguistic underdifferentiation of bat diversity and inaccurate natural history knowledge are both explained by cultural inattention to small, inedible, and inoffensive nocturnal fauna.Item Mammalian diversity and Matses ethnomammalogy in Amazonian Peru. Part 5, Rodents. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 466)(American Museum of Natural History., 2024-04-18) Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-; Giarla, Thomas C.In this report, the fifth and last of our monographic series on mammalian diversity and ethnomammalogy in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluvial region of northeastern Peru, we document the local occurrence of 40 species of rodents, including 5 sciurids, 17 cricetids, 1 caviid, 1 cuniculid, 2 dasyproctids, 1 dinomyid, 2 erethizontids, and 11 echimyids. The following substantive taxonomic results, among others, are reported: (1) We discuss current issues of sciurid classification and treat all New World tree squirrels (Sciurini), except North American Tamiasciurus, as members of the genus Sciurus; the proposed subgeneric classification is monophyletic, and it conserves longstanding binomial usage for most species. (2) We describe a new species of squirrel, Sciurus (Hadrosciurus) pachecoi, which had previously been identified as a distinct lineage by molecular analyses. (3) We discuss the nominal taxa currently synonymized with S. (H.) pyrrhinus and comment on the application of names to phenotypes and mitochondrial haplogroups. (4) The currently accepted type locality of S. (H.) spadiceus (Cuiabá) cannot be correct; instead, documentary evidence suggests that the holotype must have been collected near Santarém. (5) Sciurus flaviventer appears to be the only valid species of Microsciurus (sensu lato) that occurs in the Amazonian lowlands; Amazonian records of taxa previously reported in the literature as M. sabanillae and M. "species 2" appear to be based on erroneous geographic coordinates and unexplained genotype/ phenotype discordance, respectively. (6) We discuss and illustrate the diagnostic morphological characters of Nectomys apicalis and N. rattus, which have broadly overlapping distributions in northern Peru. (7) We analyze cytochrome b sequence data from 143 specimens of Oecomys from western Amazonia and summarize evidence for multiple unnamed lineages; of these, three from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve are described as new species. (8) We question the recognition of O. tapajinus as a species distinct from O. roberti due to the lack of unambiguously diagnostic characters and the doubtful identity of the holotype of tapajinus. (9) We confirm sympatry between two species of Scolomys and provide revised diagnostic criteria for S. melanops and S. ucayalensis. (10) We report the only specimen of Dinomys branickii accompanied by definite locality data from Loreto department. (11) Proechimys quadruplicatus and P. steerei, closely related species previously thought to occur on opposite banks of the Peruvian Amazon, are both present in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve; diagnostic characters are tabulated for the six species of Proechimys now known to occur in our region. Despite intensive and methodologically complementary faunal-sampling efforts, our rodent inventory is probably incomplete; at least four additional species could be expected to occur in our region based on geographic range data. If all four do occur there, then our inventory is about 90% complete. Documented sympatric species richness at intensively sampled sites in our region is substantially less than the regional total, but because of methodological omissions, no site is believed to have been completely inventoried for rodents. In the absence of known barriers to mammalian dispersal within the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve, however, local (sympatric) species richness is probably constrained only by habitat availability. Matses knowledge of rodents is richly detailed for primary game species (Cuniculus paca and Dasyprocta fuliginosa) but is less detailed for less culturally important subsets of the fauna. As previously documented for other mammals (e.g., primates, xenarthrans, and ungulates), important game species are known by multiple names (including synonyms and hyponyms), whereas less culturally important but still salient species (e.g., squirrels) have single names, and many inconspicuous (e.g., small, nocturnal, and morphologically indistinguishable) species do not have unique identifiers. With the rodents treated in this report, the mammalian fauna of the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve is now known to include at least 201 species, but >20 additional species (mostly bats) could still be expected in the region based on geographic range data. Despite the probable incompleteness of our inventory, the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve is the only part of western Amazonia with an extensively documented mammal fauna. Therefore, the completion of this monographic series provides nomic resource for urgently needed mammalogical research in this ecologically intact but increasingly vulnerable region.Item A new species of nectar-feeding bat of the genus Hsunycteris (Phyllostomidae, Lonchophyllinae) from northeastern Peru. (American Museum novitates, no. 3881)(American Museum of Natural History., 2017-06-19) Velazco, Paúl M.; Soto-Centeno, J. Angel.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-; Voss, Robert S.; Simmons, Nancy B.A new species of the nectarivorous bat genus Hsunycteris is described from lowland Amazonian forest in northeastern Peru. The new species, H. dashe, can be distinguished from other congeners by its larger size; V-shaped array of dermal chin papillae separated by a wide basal cleft; metacarpal V longer than metacarpal IV; broad rostrum; lateral margin of infraorbital foramen not projecting beyond rostral outline in dorsal view; well-developed sphenoidal crest; large outer upper incisors; weakly developed lingual cusp on P5; and well-developed, labially oriented M1 parastyle. A phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome-b sequence data indicates that H. dashe is sister to a clade that includes all other species of the genus including H. cadenai, H. pattoni, and a paraphyletic H. thomasi. We provide a key based on craniodental and external characters of all four known species of Hsunycteris.Item A new species of Peropteryx (Chiroptera, Emballonuridae) from western Amazonia with comments on phylogenetic relationships within the genus. (American Museum novitates, no. 3686)(American Museum of Natural History., 2010) Lim, Burton K.; Engstrom, Mark D.; Reid, Fiona, 1955-; Simmons, Nancy B.; Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-We report the discovery of a new species of doglike bat (Peropteryx) from the lowland Amazonian forests of Ecuador and Peru. It has transparent wing membranes that are faintly tinged brown with pale-brown arms and digits; ears that are separated on the forehead; and a skull with small, shallow pterygoid pits that are anterolateral to an undivided basisphenoid pit and that are separated by a mesopterygoid extension. These characters distinguish the new species from morphologically similar species with which it was previously confused (P. leucoptera and P. macrotis). A molecular phylogenetic analysis of unlinked loci from each of the four genetic transmission systems of mammals (mitochondrial, nuclear-autosomal, X, and Y chromosomes) independently corroborated the placement of the new species as the sister taxon to a clade that includes P. kappleri, P. macrotis, and P. trinitatis; the basal lineage for the genus is P. leucoptera. This phylogeny suggests that transparent wings (sometimes described as "white" but actually lacking pigment), the traditional character used to diagnose Peronymus, is not a unique synapomorphy. Furthermore, based on a molecular dating analysis, the depth of divergence of Peropteryx is equivalent to that of another New World emballonurid genus (Balantiopteryx). Therefore, Peronymus does not warrant higher-level recognition as a subgenus or genus.Item Panoan languages and linguistics. (Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 99)(American Museum of Natural History., 2013-10-10) Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-Knowledge of Panoan languages and linguistics has increased significantly over the last several decades. The present paper draws upon this new information to produce a current internal classification of all the extant and extinct languages in the Panoan family based on lexical, phonological, and grammatical comparisons. This classification pays special attention to distinguishing dialects from independent languages and to mismatches that exist between linguistically defined languages and socially defined ethnic groups. An evaluation of previously proposed genetic relations to other language families is followed by a discussion of lexical borrowing and possible areal diffusion of grammatical features from and into neighboring non-Panoan languages and Kechua. The history of Panoan linguistics is chronicled from the first Jesuit and Franciscan vocabularies to the most recent contributions, and priorities for future research are suggested. A typological overview of Panoan phonology, morphology, and syntax is provided along with descriptions of some of the extraordinary linguistic features found in the family. Name taboos, postmortem word taboos, in-law avoidance languages, trade languages, ceremonial languages, and other ethnolinguistic phenomena found in the Panoan family are also discussed.Item Roosting ecology of Amazonian bats : evidence for guild structure in hyperdiverse mammalian communities. (American Museum novitates, no. 3870)(American Museum of Natural History., 2016-12-14) Voss, Robert S.; Fleck, David W. (David William), 1969-; Strauss, Richard E.; Velazco, Paúl M.; Simmons, Nancy B.The ecological mechanisms that sustain high species richness in Neotropical bat communities have attracted research attention for several decades. Although many ecologists have studied the feeding behavior and diets of Neotropical bats on the assumption that food is a limiting resource, other resource axes that might be important for species coexistence are often ignored. Diurnal refugia, in particular, are a crucial resource for bats, many of which exhibit conspicuous morphological or behavioral adaptations to the roost environment. Here we report and analyze information about roost occupancy based on >500 field observations of Amazonian bats. Statistical analyses of these data suggest the existence of distinct groups of species roosting (1) in foliage, (2) exposed on the trunks of standing trees, (3) in cavities in standing trees, (4) in or under fallen trees, (5) beneath undercut earth banks, and (6) in arboreal insect nests; additionally, we recognize other groups that roost (7) in animal burrows, and (8) in rocks or caves. Roosting-guild membership is hypothesized to have a filtering effect on Amazonian bat community composition because some types of roosts are absent or uncommon in certain habitats. Among other applications of our results, cross-classifying bat species by trophic and roosting guilds suggests that the often-reported deficit of gleaning animalivores in secondary vegetation by comparison with primary forest might reflect habitat differences in roost availability rather than food resources. In general, ecological and evolutionary studies of Neotropical bats would be enhanced by considering both trophic- and roosting-guild membership in future analyses, but additional fieldwork will be required to determine the roosting behavior of many data-deficient species.