Diversity and richness of small mammals at a well-conserved site of The Yungas in Jujuy Province, Argentina

Abstract

We present the results obtained from 12 small-mammal surveys conducted between 1996 and 2013 in “Finca Las Capillas”, province of Jujuy, Argentina. This region has been formally recognized as an “Area of Importance for the Conservation of Bats” (AICOM) based on the diversity of species detected in our previous studies. This site in the Yungas forests of northwestern Argentina still maintains an excellent conservation status due to restrictions to human activities involving deforestation and limitations to cattle-raising imposed 50 years ago. A total of 39 species belonging to three orders, namely, Didelphimorphia, Chiroptera and Rodentia, were recorded. The species accumulation curve revealed that our records represent 83–95% of the community, and with high diversity indexes. Several of the genera and species that we recorded from our collection trips have been included in the fauna of Argentina. Our previous studies and the present findings provide new records for the province or significant extensions to previously known distributions of several taxa of small mammals. These results show that the site represents an icon for conservation in such a fragmented and exploited area as the Yungas in Argentina today.

New records of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) for a southern locality of the Argentine Yungas

“…In other studies in Argentina, this species was also found roosting inside buildings (López Berrizbeitia & Díaz 2013;Lutz 2013). The high abundance of Sturnira lilium is also coincident with other several studies made in tropical (Kalko & Handley 2001) and subtropical environments (Moya et al 2008;Gamboa Alurralde et al 2016), where bat assemblages are dominated by frugivorous species. Although most species of bats are insectivorous (Shiel et al 1997), in tropical environments they are usually not the dominant guild, whereas at higher latitudes the importance of insectivores in the structure of bat communities increases, as recorded in this study.…”

Siphonaptera associated with small mammals (Didelphimorphia, Chiroptera, and Rodentia) from northwestern Argentina

“…The Yungas Forests have the greatest number of species of fleas, followed by the Monte Desert of Mountains and Isolated Valleys, Dry Chaco, High Andes, and Puna. The higher diversity in the Yungas Forests is a reflection of an area with the greatest diversity in the Neotropical region (Mittermeier et al 1999), including mammals (Barquez et al 2006;Gamboa-Alurralde et al 2015) with the sigomodontine rodents and bats (Díaz and Barquez 2007;Barquez and Díaz 2009;Gamboa Alurralde et al 2016; Gamboa Alurralde 2017). These small mammals were the main hosts for the families Rhopalopsyllidae and Ischnopsyllidae, two of the most diverse in the Yungas Forests.…”

First record of Histiotus velatus I. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1824 (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in Salta province, Argentina

“…2). The new record of H. velatus from the province of Salta adds a new locality to Northwestern Argentina, because the only known previous record was from Jujuy province (Barquez andDíaz 2001, 2007;Barquez 2006;Gamboa Alurralde et al 2016). The first records of this species for Argentina were obtained in 1970 in the province of Misiones, while the specimens from Jujuy (in the northwest) were obtained in 1997, almost 30 years later, and then recently in 2012, after continuous efforts for collecting bats, which reflects the scarcity and rarity of the species in the country.…”