Global relationships between tree-cavity excavators and forest bird richness.

Global monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change can be aided by the effective use of indicators. Tree-cavity excavators, the majority of which are woodpeckers (Picidae), are known to be useful indicators of the health or naturalness of forest ecosystems and the diversity of forest birds. They are indicators of the latter due to shared associations with particular forest elements and because of their role in facilitating the occurrence of other species through the provision of nesting cavities. Here, we investigated whether these positive correlations between excavators and other forest birds are also found at broad geographical scales. We used global distribution maps to extract richness estimates of tree-cavity nesting and forest-associated birds, which we grouped by zoogeographic regions. We then created generalized least-squares models to assess the relationships between these groups of birds. We show that richness of tree-cavity excavating birds correlates positively with that of secondary cavity nesters and other forest birds (generalists and specialists) at global scales, but with variation across zoogeographic regions. As many excavators are relatively easy to detect, play keystone roles at local scales and are effective management targets, we propose that excavators are useful for biodiversity monitoring across multiple spatial scales and geographical regions, especially in the tropics.

A review of the feather mite family Gabuciniidae Gaud amp; Atyeo (Acariformes: Astigmata: Pterolichoidea) of Brazil, with descriptions of eleven new species.

The feather mite family Gabuciniidae currently includes 16 genera and approximately 65 described species associated with birds of nine orders, with the greatest diversity on Accipitriformes. In this study, 11 new species are described from the following hosts: Aetacarus accipiter sp. nov. from the Bicolored Hawk Accipiter bicolor (Vieillot, 1817) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), Capitolichus campoflicker sp. nov. from the Campo Flicker Colaptes campestris (Vieillot, 1818) (Piciformes: Picidae), Coraciacarus cabure sp. nov. from the Barred Forest-falcon Micrastur ruficollis (Vieillot, 1817) (Falconiformes: Falconidae), Coraciacarus peixefrito sp. nov. from the Pheasant Cuckoo Dromococcyx phasianellus (Spix, 1824) (Cuculiformes: Cuculidae), Gabucinia neotropica sp. nov. from the Curl-crested Jay Cyanocorax cristatellus (Temminck, 1823) (type host) and C. chrysops (Vieillot, 1818) (Passeriformes: Corvidae), Hieracolichus caboclo sp. nov. from the Savanna Hawk Buteogallus meridionalis (Latham, 1790) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), Hieracolichus falcon sp. nov. from the Southern Caracara Caracara plancus (Miller, 1777) (Falconiformes: Falconidae), Piciformobia adjuncta sp. nov. from the Guira Cuckoo Guira guira (Gmelin, 1788) (Cuculiformes: Cuculidae), Proaposolenidia bicolor sp. nov. from the Bicolored Hawk Accipiter bicolor (Vieillot, 1817) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), Proaposolenidia plumbea sp. nov. from the Plumbeous Kite Ictinia plumbea (Gmelin, 1788) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), and Tocolichus toco sp. nov. from the Toco Toucan Ramphastos toco Statius Müller, 1776 (Piciformes: Ramphastidae). In addition, two new combinations are proposed, Proaposolenidia ostoda (Gaud, 1983) comb. nov. and Aetacarus hirundo (Mégnin Trouessart, 1884) comb. nov., both transferred from the genus Hieracolichus. With the addition of these new species, the number of gabuciniids described from the Neotropical region has increased from 14 to 25 species. These findings indicate that Brazil is home to a large diversity of undescribed gabuciniids, which is not surprising considering the vast bird fauna of this country, and especially since most avian species from Brazil have yet to be investigated for their feather mites.

Complex biogeographic scenarios revealed in the diversification of the largest woodpecker radiation in the New World.

Phylogenetic relationships and patterns of evolution within Melanerpes, one of the most diverse groups of New World woodpeckers (22-23 lineages), have been complicated due to complex plumages and morphological adaptations. In an attempt to resolve these issues, we obtained sequence data from four nuclear introns and two mitochondrial protein-coding genes for 22 of the 24 currently recognized species in the genus. We performed phylogenetic analyses involving Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference, species-tree divergence dating, and biogeographic reconstructions. Tree topologies from the concatenated and species-tree analyses of the mtDNA and nDNA showed broadly similar patterns, with three relatively well-supported groups apparent: (a) the Sphyrapicus clade (four species); (b) the typical Melanerpes clade, which includes temperate and subtropical dry forest black-backed species; and (c) the mostly barred-backed species, here referred to as the "Centurus" clade. The phylogenetic position of Melanerpes superciliaris regarding the rest of Melanerpes is ambiguous as it is recovered as sister to the rest of Melanerpes or as sister to a group including Sphyrapicus+Melanerpes. Our species tree estimations recovered the same well-delimited highly-supported clades. Geographic range evolution (estimated in BioGeoBEARS) was best explained by a DIVALIKE+j model, which includes vicariance, founder effect speciation, and anagenetic dispersal (range expansion) as important processes involved in the diversification of the largest radiation of woodpeckers in the New World.

Fruit consumption by four woodpecker species (PICIDAE: AVES) in semideciduous seasonal forest remnants of South Brazil

Este estudio se realizó entre 1990 y 1997, en dos fragmentos del bosque estacional semidecidual en el Estado de Paraná, Brasil, y examinó el consumo de frutas por cuatro especies de carpinteros (Melanerpes flavifrons, Veniliornis spilogaster, Colaptes melanochloros y Celeus flavescens). La dieta de estas especies fue evaluada a través de dos métodos complementarios: registros visuales y análisis de muestras fecales. Se obtuvieron 41 registros visuales y 23 muestras fecales, de que más de la mitad contenían semillas de un o más especies, en cantidades variables (1 a 100). En todo, fueron identificadas trece especies de frutas, cuyas características se presentan y discuten. Al contrario de lo esperado, el consumo de frutas fue más grande durante el periodo de menos disponibilidad de este recurso en las áreas estudiadas, es decir, entre octubre y marzo. Desde que éste es el periodo en que la mayoría de estas aves se reproducen, y también la cumbre de disponibilidad de insectos, se discute el consumo de frutas cuanto a balanceo nutritivo y enérgico, sobre todo para las aves jóvenes que se mantienen en el nido. Datos sobre la captura de estas especies son presentados en detalle, con el objetivo de estimular otros estudios que pueden contribuir para el mejor entendimiento de la biología de los Picidae neotropicales.