New records of Glironia venusta, Thomas, 1912 (Mammalia, Didelphidae), from the Amazon and Paraguay basins, Brazil

M. Santos-Filho^1,2, M.N.F. da Silva², B.A. Costa³, C.G. Bantel², C.L.G. Vieira³, D.J. Silva^1,2, and A.M.R. Franco²

¹ Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Rua São Pedro, s/n, Cavalhada, Cep. 78 200 000, Cáceres, MT, Brasil, Fone (5565) 3221 0048 <MSantosFilho@gmail.com>. ² Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazônia/Coleção de Mamíferos, Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, Caixa Postal 478, CEP: 69.011-970, Manaus-AM, Brasil, Tel. (5592) 3643 3209, Fax (5592) 3643-3341, <nazareth@inpa.gov.br>. ³ Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida Fernando Ferrari, s/nº, Goiabeiras CEP 29060-900 Vitória-ES, Brasil.

ABSTRACT: Glironia venusta is a rare and poorly known species of tropical South America. There are few records and museum specimens. Likewise, little is known about its ecology and distribution. For Brazil, previous records had been noted in the states of Amazonas, Rondônia and Pará, all within the Amazon basin. We report the capture of a young female in Rondônia and an adult male in southwest Mato Grosso state, both in Tomahawk-type traps on lianas ~1.5m above the ground. Specimens were deposited at the mammals collection of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, with collection numbers 4577 and 5237. The latter specimen is the first ever recorded of this species in Mato Grosso and in the Paraguay River basin, and represents a distribution extension of more than 1000 km. Unfortunately, the forest fragment where this specimen was collected-surrounded by rural agricultural settlements-was burned shortly afterwards.

RESUMEN: Nuevos registros de Glironia venusta, Thomas, 1912 (Mammalia, Didelphidae), para la cuenca amazónica de Brasil. Poco se conoce sobre la ecología y distribución de Glironia venusta, en apenas algunos registros y una decena de especímenes en colecciones. Para Brasil, se conocía solo de los estados de Amazonas, Rondonia y Pará, en la cuenca amazónica. Una hembra joven fue colectada en Rondonia y un macho adulto en el estado de Mato Grosso, ambos con trampas tipo Tomahawk colocadas en lianas, a aproximadamente 1.5 metros de altura. Ambos especímenes están depositados en la Colección de Mamíferos del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones de la Amazonia (INPA) (números INPA 4577 y 5237). El ejemplar del suroeste de Mato Grosso es el primer registro para el estado y para la cuenca del alto río Paraguay, expandiendo más de 1000 kilómetros la distribución de la especie. El área de colecta fue quemada completamente poco después del registro y actualmente se encuentra rodeada de asentamientos rurales.

Key words. Amazonia. Cerrado. Range extension.

Palabras clave. Amazonia. Cerrado. Distribución.

   Glironia venusta is a medium to small marsupial that has been registered in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil (Marshall, 1978; da Silva and Langguth, 1989; Emmons and Feer, 1997; Tarifa and Anderson, 1997), and some doubtful records from Colombia (Díaz and Willig, 2004). Little is known about its ecology and distribution, and only a few specimens have been deposited in museum collections. In Brazil, the species has been registered for the states of Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia.
   One specimen collected by us represents the first record for Mato Grosso state. The individual was collected on February 13, 2004 in the municipality of Mirassol d'Oeste in a 7.035 ha area of semi-deciduous, dry seasonal sub-montane forest (15º 33' 50.0" S, 58º 00' 22.4" W) in the Rio Cabaçal valley, a tributary of the upper Paraguay River. Thus, it also represents the first record ever for the Paraguay Basin. The specimen was captured in a Tomahawk trap, baited with banana and peanut butter, attached to a liana 1.5 m above the ground. The voucher specimen (skin and skull) was deposited at the mammals collection of the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas. This specimen (INPA number 5237, original number MSF 564 - field number of Manoel dos Santos Filho) is an adult male with the fourth maxillary molars erupted. The external measurements (in mm) and mass (in gr.) are as follow: length total, 403; length tail, 215; length foot, 34; length ear, 28; mass 129. The ear and foot measurements were larger than the range given by Emmons and Feer (1997).
   At Rondônia, the first specimen recorded was released without having taken any body measurements or determining its sex (Bernarde and Rocha, 2003). More recently (17 March 2004), we collected another individual at Teotônio, on the right bank of the Madeira River, 19 Km SW of Porto Velho, in open terra firme forest (8º 52' 27"S, 64º 0' 28" W). This specimen (INPA number 4577; original number BAC 80 - field number of Bárbara Andrade Costa; skin and skull) is a young female. It was collected in a Tomahawk trap, baited with banana and peanut butter, attached to a liana 1.5 m above the ground. The external measurements (in mm) and mass (in gr.) are as follow: length total, 359; length tail, 191; length foot, 26; length ear, 31; mass 83. This is the fourth known voucher specimen from Brazil, all of which are deposited at the mammal's collection at INPA.
   Although most authors (Marshall, 1978; Emmons and Feer, 1997) consider G. venusta to be an exclusively arboreal species with highly developed hallux, the individual registered by Bernarde and Rocha (2003) was captured in pitfall trap. Individuals reported by us and by Díaz and Willig (2004) were captured with live traps placed in the understory, indicating that the species uses the lower strata of the forest and sometimes moves on the ground.
   The collection area in Mato Grosso has recently been declared a private forest reserve ("reserva legal"), according to Brazil 's Forest Code. Selective logging was carried out in the past, and forest fires are now frequent. The actual collection locale consisted of secondary vegetation including lianas and weedy undergrowth on the slope of a small hill. Some of the predominant trees found in the area include Cariniana, Aspidosperma, Cedrela and Piptadenia (Amaral and Fonzar, 1982). Nearby is a settlement of landless people belonging to the Movimento Sem Terra (MST), which has been completely deforested. Such forest formations surrounded by Cerrado savannas are being rapidly destroyed, fragmented and isolated within the growing matrix of cattle pasture. Very few forest fragments larger than 1000 ha remain. For this reason, further studies of small mammal populations in forest fragments are critical and urgent for understanding, documenting, and preserving this little known opossum. Much of the small mammals works carried out currently in this part of Brazil are associated with environmental impact studies for hydroelectric dams. Funding for more comprehensive and ongoing field studies is urgently needed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

   We would like to thank Mauricio E. Graipel (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina/Lamaq), Pablo R. Gonçalves (Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), David Flores and Mónica Díaz (Universidad Nacional de Tucuman) for suggestions on the manuscript. Thanks also to Glenn H. Shepard Jr. for editorial assistance on the final draft. This research was partially supported by CAPES and Furnas Centrais Elétricas.

LITERATURE CITED

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BERNARDE PS and VJ ROCHA. 2003. New record of Glironia venusta (Bushy-Tailed Opossum) (Mammalia, Glironiidae) for the state of Rondônia - Brazil. Biociências 11:183-184.         [ Links ]

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Recibido 7 diciembre 2006.
Aceptación final 10 abril 2007.