A survey of acarine ectoparasites of bats (Chiroptera) in Malaysia.

A comprehensive 8-yr survey of acarine ectoparasites (ticks and mites) of bats was carried out in 18 localities from 2002 to 2009. Most of the surveys were conducted during 14 national biodiversity scientific expeditions throughout Malaysia. The objective was to identify acarines of known public health importance from bats and thus determine whether there is any potential public health risk in Malaysia. Trapping of bats was conducted using Harp traps and Mist nets. In total, 1,579 individuals comprising of 6 families and 52 species of bats were examined alive. In general, 25.6% of the bats were infested with acarines. Infestation rates of ticks, mesostigmatid mites, and chiggers on bats examined were 0.4, 10.4, and 14.7%, respectively. Their prevalence and mean intensity were tabulated. Genera of ticks extracted were Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Ixodes, and Ornithodoros. Of these genera, only two species can be identified to species level and they are Amblyomma cordiferum and Ixodes simplex. In total, 8 genera and 15 species of mesostigmatid mites were found; the species were Ancystropus eonycteris, Ancystropus zeleborii, Echinonysus nasutus, Laelaps aingworthae, Laelaps nuttalli, Laelaps sanguisugus, Laelaps sculpturatus, Longolaelaps longulus, Longolaelaps whartonii, Meristaspis lateralis, Meristaspis macroglossi, Paraperiglischrus rhinolophinus, Spinturnix acuminatus, Spinturnix americanus, and Spinturnix bakeri. Chiggers on bats were represented by 12 genera and 6 species; the species identified were Gahrliepia fletcheri, Riedlinia lipoxena, Trombigastia cadei, Walchiella impar, Walchiella oudemansi, and Whartonia caobangensis. The study produced an up-to-date list of acarine ectoparasites of bats in Malaysia where a total of 38 genera and 47 species of acarines were listed. Findings of the study demonstrated that 5 genera and 1 species of acarines that may pose potential health risks, can be found on bats.

Taxonomic study of the genus Myrmarachne of Borneo (Araneae: Salticidae).

Twenty-two species of the genus Myrmarachne are reported from Borneo in the present study. Among those, eight are new to science, M. acromegalis sp. nov., M. alticephalon sp. nov., M. brevichelicera sp. nov., M. crassembolus sp. nov., M. cyrtodens sp. nov., M. endoi sp. nov., M. lambirensis sp. nov. and M. sabahna sp. nov. The following synonymies are proposed: Myrmarachne topali Zabka, 1985 syn. nov. as a junior synonym of M. hanoii Zabka, 1985, M. gigantea Zabka, 1985 syn. nov. as a junior synonym of M. maxillosa (C. L. Koch, 1846). The females of M. assimilis Banks, 1930, M. biseratensis Badcock, 1918, M. gedongensis Badcock, 1918, M. markaha Barrion & Litsinger, 1995 and M. shelfordii Peckham & Peckham, 1907 are described for the first time.

The rise of hyperabundant native generalists threatens both humans and nature.

In many disturbed terrestrial landscapes, a subset of native generalist vertebrates thrives. The population trends of these disturbance-tolerant species may be driven by multiple factors, including habitat preferences, foraging opportunities (including crop raiding or human refuse), lower mortality when their predators are persecuted (the 'human shield' effect) and reduced competition due to declines of disturbance-sensitive species. A pronounced elevation in the abundance of disturbance-tolerant wildlife can drive numerous cascading impacts on food webs, biodiversity, vegetation structure and people in coupled human-natural systems. There is also concern for increased risk of zoonotic disease transfer to humans and domestic animals from wildlife species with high pathogen loads as their abundance and proximity to humans increases. Here we use field data from 58 landscapes to document a supra-regional phenomenon of the hyperabundance and community dominance of Southeast Asian wild pigs and macaques. These two groups were chosen as prime candidates capable of reaching hyperabundance as they are edge adapted, with gregarious social structure, omnivorous diets, rapid reproduction and high tolerance to human proximity. Compared to intact interior forests, population densities in degraded forests were 148% and 87% higher for wild boar and macaques, respectively. In landscapes with >60% oil palm coverage, wild boar and pig-tailed macaque estimated abundances were 337% and 447% higher than landscapes with <1% oil palm coverage, respectively, suggesting marked demographic benefits accrued by crop raiding on calorie-rich food subsidies. There was extreme community dominance in forest landscapes with >20% oil palm cover where two pig and two macaque species accounted for >80% of independent camera trap detections, leaving <20% for the other 85 mammal species >1 kg considered. Establishing the population trends of pigs and macaques is imperative since they are linked to cascading impacts on the fauna and flora of local forest ecosystems, disease and human health, and economics (i.e., crop losses). The severity of potential negative cascading effects may motivate control efforts to achieve ecosystem integrity, human health and conservation objectives. Our review concludes that the rise of native generalists can be mediated by specific types of degradation, which influences the ecology and conservation of natural areas, creating both positive and detrimental impacts on intact ecosystems and human society.

Not by the light of the moon: Investigating circadian rhythms and environmental predictors of calling in Bornean great argus.

Great argus pheasants are known for their elaborate visual mating displays, but relatively little is known about their general ecology. The use of passive acoustic monitoring-which relies on long-term autonomous recorders-can provide insight into the behavior of visually cryptic, yet vocal species such as the great argus. Here we report the results of an analysis of vocal behavior of the Bornean great argus (Argusianus argus grayi) in Sabah, Malaysia, using data collected with 11 autonomous recording units. Great argus regularly emitted two call types, the long call and the short call, and we found that although both call types were emitted throughout the day, the short calls were more likely to occur during the morning hours (06:00-12:00LT). Great argus were less likely to call if there was rain, irrespective of the time of day. A substantial portion of calls at our site (~20%) were emitted between the hours of 18:00-06:00LT. We found that for nighttime calls, calling activity increased during new moon periods and decreased during periods of rain. We attribute the negative influence of rain on calling to increased energetic costs of thermoregulation during wet periods, and propose that the influence of the lunar cycle may be related to increased predation risk during periods with high levels of moonlight. Little is known about the behavioral ecology of great argus on Borneo, so it is difficult to know if the results we report are typical, or if we would see differences in calling activity patterns depending on breeding season or changes in food availability. We advocate for future studies of great argus pheasant populations using paired camera and acoustic recorders, which can provide further insight into the behavior of this cryptic species.

Temporal activity patterns suggesting niche partitioning of sympatric carnivores in Borneo, Malaysia.

To propose proper conservation measures and to elucidate coexistence mechanisms of sympatric carnivore species, we assessed temporal activity patterns of the sympatric carnivore species using 37,379 photos collected for more than 3 years at three study sites in Borneo. We categorized activity patterns of nine carnivore species (one bear, three civets, two felids, one skunk, one mustelid, one linsang) by calculating the photo-capturing proportions at each time period (day, night, twilight). We then evaluated temporal activity overlaps by calculating the overlap coefficients. We identified six nocturnal (three civets, one felid, one skunk, one linsang), two diurnal (one felid, one mustelid), and one cathemeral (bear) species. Temporal activity overlaps were high among the nocturnal species. The two felid species possessing morphological and ecological similarities exhibited clear temporal niche segregation, but the three civet species with similar morphology and ecology did not. Broad dietary breadth may compensate for the high temporal niche overlaps among the nocturnal species. Despite the high species richness of Bornean carnivores, almost half are threatened with extinction. By comparing individual radio-tracking and our data, we propose that a long-term study of at least 2 or 3 years is necessary to understand animals' temporal activity patterns, especially for sun bears and civets, by camera-trapping and to establish effective protection measures.

Brevity is not a universal in animal communication: evidence for compression depends on the unit of analysis in small ape vocalizations.

Evidence for compression, or minimization of code length, has been found across biological systems from genomes to human language and music. Two linguistic laws-Menzerath's Law (which states that longer sequences consist of shorter constituents) and Zipf's Law of abbreviation (a negative relationship between signal length and frequency of use)-are predictions of compression. It has been proposed that compression is a universal in animal communication, but there have been mixed results, particularly in reference to Zipf's Law of abbreviation. Like songbirds, male gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) engage in long solo bouts with unique combinations of notes which combine into phrases. We found strong support for Menzerath's Law as the longer a phrase, the shorter the notes. To identify phrase types, we used state-of-the-art affinity propagation clustering, and were able to predict phrase types using support vector machines with a mean accuracy of 74%. Based on unsupervised phrase type classification, we did not find support for Zipf's Law of abbreviation. Our results indicate that adherence to linguistic laws in male gibbon solos depends on the unit of analysis. We conclude that principles of compression are applicable outside of human language, but may act differently across levels of organization in biological systems.

COVID-19 and Heart Failure: The Big Challenge.

Patients with chronic heart failure (HF) are among the most vulnerable populations in the COVID era. HF patients infected with COVID-19 are at a significant risk of severe illness and death. They usually present with shortness of breath and radiologic signs of an acute decompensation, which can mask the manifestations of COVID-19. Delay in the diagnosis increases the risk of individual poor outcomes and jeopardizes healthcare workers if protective and isolation measures are not established promptly. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing health-care systems to modify the delivery of care to patients. Outpatient services are being done virtually, and elective procedures postponed. These may have an impact on the quality of life and survival of chronic HF patients. We present two cases of patients with the previous history of HF who developed an acute exacerbation secondary to COVID-19 infection. In this review, we focused on the main challenges physicians face when dealing with COVID-19 in chronic HF patients at the individual and system levels.

Limited directed seed dispersal in the canopy as one of the determinants of the low hemi-epiphytic figs' recruitments in Bornean rainforests.

Ficus species are keystone plants in tropical rainforests, and hemi-epiphytic figs play a notably important role in forest ecosystems. Because hemi-epiphytic figs have strict germination requirements, germination and establishment stages regulate their populations. Despite the ecological importance of hemi-epiphytic figs in the rainforests, seed dispersal systems by fig-eating animals under natural conditions remain unknown because of the difficulty in tracing the destiny of dispersed seeds in the canopy. Therefore, seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) has never been evaluated for hemi-epiphytic figs. We evaluated the SDE of hemi-epiphytic figs using qualitative and quantitative components by three relatively large-sized (> 3 kg) arboreal and volant animals in Bornean rainforests that largely depend on fig fruits in their diets: binturongs Arctictis binturong, Mueller's gibbons Hylobates muelleri, and helmeted hornbills Rhinoplax vigil. The SDE values of binturongs was by far the highest among the three study animals. Meanwhile, successful seed dispersal of hemi-epiphytic figs by gibbons and helmeted hornbills is aleatory and rare. Given that seed deposition determines the fate of hemi-epiphytic figs, the defecatory habits of binturongs, depositing feces on specific microsites in the canopy, is the most reliable dispersal method, compared to scattering feces from the air or upper canopy. We showed that reliable directed dispersal of hemi-epiphytic figs occurs in high and uneven canopy of Bornean rainforests. This type of dispersal is limited to specific animal species, and therefore it may become one of the main factors regulating low-success hemi-epiphytic fig recruitment in Bornean rainforests.

Complete mitochondrial genomes of the tooth of a poached Bornean banteng (Bos javanicus lowi; Cetartiodactyla, Bovidae).

Here we report the complete mitochondrial genome of the Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi (Cetartiodactyla, Bovidae), which was determined using next-generation sequencing. The mitochondrial genome is 16,344 bp in length containing 13 protein-coding genes, 21 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. It shows the typical pattern of bovine mitochondrial arrangement. Phylogenetic tree analysis of complete mtDNA sequences showed that Bornean banteng is more closely related to gaur than to other banteng subspecies. Divergence dating indicated that Bornean banteng and gaur diverged from their common ancestor approximately 5.03 million years ago. These results suggest that Bornean banteng might be a distinct species in need of conservation.

Blood meal analysis of tabanid fly after it biting the rare Sumatran rhinoceros.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate a noninvasive large mammalian genetic sampling method using blood meal obtained from a tabanid fly. METHODS: Blood meal was recovered from the abdomen of an engorged tabanid fly (Haematopota sp.) which was captured immediately after biting a Sumatran rhino in captivity. The blood was applied on to a Whatman FTA(®) blood card. Subsequent laboratory work was conducted to extract, amplify and sequence the DNA from the sample. Validation was done by sampling the hair follicles and blood samples from the rhinoceros and subjecting it to the same laboratory process. RESULTS: BLAST search and constructed phylogenetic trees confirmed the blood meal samples were indeed from the rhino. CONCLUSIONS: This method could be used in the field application to noninvasively collect genetic samples. Collection of tabanids and other haematophagous arthropods (e.g. mosquitoes and ticks) and other blood-sucking parasites (e.g. leeches and worms) could also provide information on vector-borne diseases.