This study aimed to investigate the species of felids that inhabit the Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Parnaso) and gastrointestinal parasites at various stages of their life cycles in the feces of these animals. Between 2013 and 2015, felid feces were collected from trails in Parnaso. The sampling points were georeferenced. A total of 82 fecal samples were processed, of which 79 were collected on the ground, two from captured felids and one from a necropsied animal. All samples underwent coproparasitological techniques. Samples collected from the environment underwent additional trichological analysis. Fur patterns corresponding to Leopardus guttulus, Leopardus pardalis, Leopardus wiedii and Puma yagouaroundi were observed in 32 of the samples collected on the soil. High frequency of potentially parasitic evolving forms (88.6%) was observed in felid feces, particularly eggs of the family Diphyllobothriidae (68.6%). Besides, were also detected, eggs of superfamily Ascaridoidea (42.9%), nematode larvae (28.6%), eggs of order Strongylida (28.6%), Capillaria sp. (8.6%), Trichuris sp. (8.6%), eggs of order Spirurida (2.9%), unsporulated coccidian oocysts (8.6%) and Eimeria sp. (2.9%). Felid feces presented higher frequency of polyparasitism (60%) than monoparasitism (28.6%).

A utilização de armadilhas fotográficas na amostragem de longa duração de mamíferos terrestres pode fornecer informações precisas sobre o estado de conservação de uma área. No entanto, em toda a região sudeste do Brasil, apenas outros dois estudos realizaram esforço amostral comparável ao realizado neste estudo entre 2010 e 2012, para quatro trilhas em floresta montana no Parque Nacional do Itatiaia (PNI = 3.885 dias-armadilha) e no Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos (PARNASO = 9.197 dias-armadilha). O número de registros fotográficos foi 377 (PARNASO) e 158 (PNI), com respectivamente 15 e 22 espécies identificadas, sendo a maior parte destas consideradas ameaçadas de extinção, contando com últimos registros para mais de 60 anos atrás. Além dos registros de novas ocorrências para estas UC, como o tatu-de-rabo-mole-grande (Cabassous tatouay), nossos resultados também revelaram desequilíbrio na estrutura da comunidade presente no PARNASO para onde apenas quatro espécies foram responsáveis por 77,9% dos registros, com presença dominante do cão doméstico (Canis lupus familiaris). As espécies mais registradas no PNI foram respectivamente a onça-parda (Puma concolor), o porco-queixada (Tayassu pecari) e a paca (Cuniculus paca), enquanto que no PARNASO foram a onça-parda, o cão doméstico, e o gambá (Didelphis aurita). Nossos resultados apontam para a necessidade de controle e do manejo de espécies exóticas, como cão doméstico identificado em elevada frequência no PARNASO, e que pode influenciar negativamente no estado de conservação e estrutura da comunidade.

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.

BACKGROUND Toxoplasma gondii is a apicomplexan parasite of virtually all warm-blooded species. All true cats (Felidae) can act as definitive hosts for this parasite by shedding resistant oocysts into the environment. However, the patterns of oocysts shedding are only partially understood in domestic cats and largely unknown in wild felids.OBJECTIVES We carried out molecular analysis of 82 faecal samples from wild felids collected in the Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Parnaso), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.METHODS We screened samples for T. gondii DNA using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) targeting the 529bp DNA fragment. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive samples were genotyped using 15 microsatellite markers. RESULTSOnly one faecal sample from a Puma yagouaroundi was PCR-positive [cycle threshold (Ct) = 26.88]. This sample was contaminated by a T. gondii strain of BrIII lineage, a common lineage in domestic animals from Brazil.MAIN CONCLUSIONS This first report of T. gondii in faeces of wild South American felids in their natural environment indicates infrequent oocyst shedding and suggests a role of acquired immunity in limiting re-excretion as in domestic cats. The presence of a domestic strain of T. gondii in a faecal sample from a wild felid at very low concentrations (not detected by microscopy) is consistent with the hypothesis of host-parasite co-adaptations limiting the circulation of T. gondii strains between domestic and wild environments.