Assessing microhabitat, landscape features and intraguild relationships in the occupancy of the enigmatic and threatened Andean tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus pardinoides) in the cloud forests of northwestern Colombia.

Mesocarnivores play a key role in ecosystem dynamics through the regulation of prey populations and are sensitive to environmental changes; thus, they are often considered good model organisms for conservation planning. However, data regarding the factors that influence the habitat use of threatened small wild felids such as the Andean tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus pardinoides) are scarce. We conducted a two-year survey with 58 camera trap stations to evaluate the determinants of Andean tiger cat habitat use in three protected areas in the Middle Cauca, Colombia. We developed site occupancy models and found that Andean tiger cat habitat use increased with leaf litter depth at intermediate elevations and far from human settlements. Through conditional cooccurrence models, we found that Andean tiger cat habitat use was invariant to the presence of prey or potential intraguild competitors and killers/predators, but its detectability increased when they were present and detected. This suggests that Andean tiger cats may be more likely to be detected in sites with high prey availability. We found that Andean tiger cats preferred sites with deep leaf litter, which is a particular feature of cloud forests that provides suitable conditions for ambush hunting and hiding from intraguild enemies. Our results showed that Andean tiger cats avoided human settlements, which may minimize potential mortality risks in those areas. Moreover, the restricted use of middle elevations by Andean tiger cats suggested that they could be used as a sentinel species to track the effects of climate change since their suitable habitat is likely to be projected upward in elevation. Future conservation actions must be focused on identifying and mitigating human-related threats close to the Andean tiger cat habitat while preserving microhabitat conditions and the existing networks of protected areas.

Filling gaps in the knowledge of the Colombian Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae): new records, description of unknown males, and taxonomical notes.

Darwin wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) are parasitoids and a natural enemy of a wide range of holometabolous insects and spiders and are considered one of the largest families in the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, there are great gaps in the knowledge of this family in Colombia. This study aims to expand the knowledge of Darwin wasps in Colombia, through new records for the country and especially the department of Antioquia. We present the diagnosis and digital images of the recorded species, and we describe for the first time the males of three species of Dolichomitus Smith, 1877: D. mariajosae Araujo & Pádua, 2020; D. menai Araujo & Pádua, 2020; D. orejuelai Araujo & Pádua, 2020.

Two new Darwin wasp species of Eiphosoma Cresson, 1865 (Ichneumonidae: Cremastinae) from the northwestern Andes of Colombia.

Two new Darwin wasp species of Eiphosoma Cresson, 1865 (E. nigroandinum Fernandes sp. nov. and E. merceae Fernandes sp. nov.) are described from the northwestern Andes of Colombia. Furthermore, we propose the establishment of a new species-group, E. nigroandinum species-group, to encompass these newly described species. Additionally, we expand the geographical distribution of Eiphosoma vitticolle Cresson, 1865, and complement the findings with a map and digital images.

Marcadores FGF-23 y Klotho en enfermedad renal crónica y su implicación cardiovascular, una revisión sistemática / FGF-23 and Klotho markers in chronic kidney disease and its cardiovascular implication, a systematic review

La principal causa de mortalidad en enfermedad renal crónica (ERC), en el 80% de pacientes se da por enfermedad cardiovascular asociada, los parámetros bioquímicos clásicos del metabolismo óseomineral aún no logran explicar la progresión patológica por tanto, se ha empezado a estudiar nuevos marcadores con relación al daño cardiovascular, donde se ha encontrado al marcador FGF-23 y su correceptor Klotho, implicados en la génesis del daño cardiovascular y enfermedad óseomineral asociada al fosforo, que en conjunto causan remodelamiento cardiovascular, lo que ha empezado aclarecer aún más esta dinámica fisiopatológica. Esta revision busca conocer la implicación de los marcadores FGF-23 y Klotho en ERC y el riesgo cardiovascular asociado y para ello realizó una revision sistemática de literatura, indagando en bases biomédicas como COCHRANE, Embase, LILACS, Scielo, Pub-Med, EBSCO, Hinari, Sociedades médicas, así como tesauros MeSH propios de esta investigación.

The main cause of mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD), in 80% of patients, is due to associated cardiovascular disease, the classic biochemical parameters of bone-mineral metabolism will not yet be able to explain the pathological progression, therefore, new markers have begun to be studied in relation to cardiovascular damage, where the marker FGF-23 and its co-receptor Klotho have been found, involved in the genesis of cardiovascular damage and bone-mineral disease associated with phosphorus, which together cause cardiovascular remodeling , which has begun to further clarify this pathophysiological dynamic.This review seeks to know the implication of the FGF-23 and Klotho markers in CKD and the associated cardiovascular risk and for this purpose, a systematic review of the literature was carried out, investigating biomedical bases such as COCHRANE, Embase, LILACS, Scielo, Pub-Med, EBSCO, Hinari, Medical Societies, as well as MeSH thesauri specific to this research.

Five new species of Dolichomitus Smith from the tropical Andes, with a key for the South American species (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae).

Dolichomitus Smith is a widely distributed pimpline genus with more than seventy known species. There are eight species previously reported from South America: D. annulicornis (Cameron), D. bivittatus Townes, D. hypermeces Townes, D. jatai Loffredo & Penteado-Dias, D. longicauda Smith, D. megalourus (Morley), D. moacyri Loffredo & Penteado-Dias and D. zonatus (Cresson). In this paper, we describe five new species: D. mariajosae Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. menai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. orejuelai Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., D. pimmi Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov., and D. rendoni Araujo & Pádua, sp. nov. All have been collected in cloud forests in the Colombian tropical Andes. An illustrated key to the South American species of the genus is also provided.

Pimpla Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae) from Colombia.

Pimpla Fabricius is one of the largest genera within the subfamily Pimplinae, whose species are idiobiont endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera pupae and prepupae. A total of 13 species are known from Colombia, but they are difficult to identify because of their morphological complexity. Herein we record for the first time in Colombia the following species: P. albomarginata Cameron, P. caerulea Brullé and P. sumichrasti Cresson. Furthermore, we present the first identification key to female and male of the Colombian species, along with diagnoses, biological notes and images in vivo.

A new species of Pristimantis (Anura: Craugastoridae) from the cloud forests of Colombian western Andes.

The frogs of the genus Pristimantis are recognized for their characteristic reproductive mode and for their incredible diversity of species, becoming the genus with the highest number of species within tetrapod vertebrates. We describe here a new species of Pristimantis from the northwestern Andes of Colombia. The species was found between 2000-2500 m.a.s.l., mostly within moss hanging of tree branches in a tropical cloud forest. It can be easily distinguished from other Pristimantis species of the western Andes by the unique black and white patterning in the ventral surface and the flanks, the hourglass-shaped dorsal folds, and the prominent conical tubercles on eyelids, heels, and outer edge of tarsus. A phylogenetic analysis further supports its status of a lineage reciprocally monophyletic to P. satagius and separated by a genetic distance of 0.03; the latter species bear whitish rather than predominantly black ventral coloration. To the best of our knowledge, this species is only known from the 2,500 ha nature reserve Mesenia-Paramillo, despite other research on this area of the country. Therefore, the species is declared vulnerable while new evidence on its distribution range is accumulated.

A new species of Andean poison frog, Andinobates (Anura: Dendrobatidae), from the northwestern Andes of Colombia.

The poison frogs of the Colombian Andes, Pacific lowlands and Panama have been recently recognized as a new, monophyletic and well-supported genus: Andinobates. The species richness and distribution within Andinobates remain poorly understood due to the paucity of geographic, genetic and phenotypic data. Here we use a combination of molecular, bioacoustic and morphometric evidence to describe a new species of Andean poison frog: Andinobates cassidyhornae sp. nov. from the high elevation cloud forests of the Colombian Cordillera Occidental, in the northwestern Andes. The new species is associated to the bombetes group and characterized by a unique combination of ventral and dorsal color patterns. Data on 1119 bp from two mitochondrial markers allowed us to reject the null hypotheses that A. cassidyhornae sp. nov. is part of the phenotypically similar and geographically less distant species: A. opisthomelas, A. virolinensis or A. bombetes. The best available phylogenetic trees and the genetic distance to other Andinobates species further support this decision. Altogether, the advertisement call parameters unambiguously separated A. cassidyhornae sp. nov. calls from the calls of the three closest species. The new species adds to a poorly known and highly endangered genus of poison frogs that requires further studies and urgent conservation measures.