Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths. Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n = 5,941), and Cyclopes sp. have the fewest (n = 240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n = 11,588), and the fewest data are recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n = 33). With regard to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n = 962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n = 12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become available very soon (i.e., Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans data set. Please cite this data paper when using its data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using these data.

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co‐occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data.

Records of snakes are common in fauna road-kill monitoring studies in different Brazilian regions. To determine the intentionality of snake road-killing on a Brazilian road, the following hypotheses were tested: (1) more fake snakes are intentionally killed on the road than objects not similar to snakes; (2) the time elapsed until the first intentional fake snake road-kill is less than that for dissimilar objects; (3) the proportion of intentional collisions with fake snakes does not depend on the type of vehicle; (4) objects positioned in the center of the road are more frequently road-killed than those positioned on the roadside; (5) variation in the number of intentional road-kills is linked to variation of vehicular traffic. Fake snakes and PET bottles were placed in different positions on the MG-010 road (Minas Gerais State), and monitored for 96 hours by cameras that recorded the movement of vehicles on the lane. The numbers of intentional snake road-kills and control objects presented no differences, and the time elapsed until the first intentional road-kills was also similar. Cars and trucks are the vehicle categories with highest incidence of collisions. Objects were struck more often when positioned in the center of the road. This study proves that intentional road-killing occurs and that any small object on the road is subject to being struck by a moving vehicle. This behavior by some drivers on Brazilian roads may pose a threat to the conservation of species that venture onto these roads.Keywords: wildlife-vehicle collisions; reptile conservation; human behavior; road ecology Resumo Registros de serpentes são recorrentes em trabalhos de monitoramento de fauna atropelada em diferentes regiões brasileiras. A fim de verificar se atropelamentos de serpentes em rodovias brasileiras ocorrem de maneira intencional, o presente estudo testou as seguintes hipóteses: (1) o número de atropelamentos intencionais de moldes de serpentes é maior do que o de atropelamentos intencionais de objetos não assemelhados com serpentes; (2) o tempo decorrido até o primeiro atropelamento intencional dos moldes de serpentes é menor do que de objetos não assemelhados; (3) a proporção de atropelamentos intencionais dos moldes de serpentes independe da categoria do veículo; (4) objetos posicionados no centro da rodovia são atropelados intencionalmente com maior frequência do que quando comparados aos posicionados nas margens; (5) a variação do número de atropelamentos intencionais está atrelada a variação do tráfego de veículos. Moldes de serpentes e garrafas pet foram dispostos em diferentes posições na rodovia MG-010 (Minas Gerais), e monitorados durante 96 horas, através de câmeras fotográficas que registraram o movimento dos veículos na pista. O número de atropelamentos intencionais de serpentes e objetos controle não apresentou diferença, assim como o tempo decorrido até o primeiro atropelamento intencional. Carros e caminhões constituem as categorias de veículos com maior incidência de atropelamento intencional. Quan...

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal‐central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation‐related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data.

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non‐detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non‐governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer‐reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non‐detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio‐temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large‐scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data.

O atropelamento de fauna silvestre em estradas é responsável pela perda direta de milhões de indivíduos anualmente no Brasil, sendo importante acessar, compreender e mitigar seus impactos. Apresentamos um diagnóstico sobre o atropelamento de mamíferos na bacia hidrográfica do alto Paraguai (BAP), com o objetivo de acessar o atual estado de conhecimento, identificar lacunas e propor medidas de conservação e mitigação. Os dados foram coletados através de uma revisão sistemática da literatura científica, posteriormente caracterizados de acordo com tipo de estudo, localidade na BAP, riqueza e status de conservação de espécies e taxas de atropelamento. Identificamos 15 estudos que realizaram monitoramentos sistemáticos de atropelamento, a maioria em estradas do Mato Grosso do Sul. Entre eles, 93% dos monitoramentos foram realizados por carro, com uma duração média de 14 meses. Compilamos 5.241 indivíduos atropelados, distribuídos em dez ordens e 47 espécies, sendo a ordem Carnivora a mais representativa. Doze espécies apresentaram o status de ameaçada de extinção em nível nacional; destas, o tamanduá-bandeira (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) possui as maiores médias de taxas de atropelamento. Nosso diagnóstico se mostrou importante para identificar espécies vulneráveis aos efeitos dos atropelamentos, nortear novas pesquisas e auxiliar nas estratégias em políticas públicas e mitigação de impactos.

The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer-reviewed and grey literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive dataset of inventories of mammal, bird and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete dataset comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil,

Atropelamento de animais em estradas é um dos impactos mais estudados emEcologia de Estradas no mundo. Atualmente diversos projetos e plataformas de ciência cidadã têm sido desenvolvidos para quantificar esse impacto, como é o caso do Sistema Urubu, a maior rede para conservação da biodiversidade brasileira. Trata-se de uma plataforma de ciência cidadã para coleta e gestão de dados de atropelamento de fauna selvagem, criada em 2014 pelo Centro Brasileiro de Estudos em Ecologia de Estradas. A principal ferramenta do sistema é um aplicativo, gratuito e disponível para Android e IOs, que conta hoje com mais de 23 mil usuários e mais de 24 mil registros. Seu grande diferencial, quando comparado a outros projetos e plataformas, está na confiabilidade dosdados, uma vez que possui um rigoroso processo de validação de registros realizado por especialistas das diferentes classes de fauna. Além disso, trata-se de uma plataforma que gerou publicação de vários artigos científicos, além de ter contribuído para estruturação da Estratégia Nacional para Mitigação de Impactos da Infraestrutura Viária na Biodiversidade (BioInfra Brasil) e para criação do Projeto de Lei 466/15, já aprovado pela Câmara dos Deputados.