Activity budget, diet, and habitat use in the critically endangered Ka'apor capuchin monkey (Cebus kaapori) in Pará State, Brazil: a preliminary comparison to other capuchin monkeys.

The Ka'apor capuchin, Cebus kaapori, is perhaps the most endangered primate of the Brazilian Amazon. Endemic to a region with extreme intensification of habitat-degrading activities, it survives in remnant populations in a completely fragmented landscape. Before now, the only data available were isolated observations of feeding, locality records, and information on population densities and group size obtained during census. Here we present the first data on the activity budget, diet, and daily path length of the species, and compare our preliminary results with those for other capuchin monkeys. A group of nine Ka'apor capuchins was monitored over a period of four months during the dry season in the Goianésia do Pará municipality, Pará, Brazil. We used instantaneous scan sampling (n = 4,647 scans) to construct an activity budget for the monkeys, and we identified the plants in their diet to species level (n = 41 plant taxa), allowing us to compare dietary overlap with other gracile capuchin species, as well as with the robust capuchin (Sapajus spp.), a potential competitor present throughout the range of the Ka'apor capuchin. Like other species of gracile capuchins, C. kaapori was highly frugivorous, with the vast majority of the feeding records of arils and fruit pulp (74%), supplemented by arthropods (13%) and seeds (10%), although diet composition was highly variable across months. The group used a total area of 62.4 ha during the study period, and average daily path length was 2,173 m (±400 m), with the entire home range utilized in every month of the study. We found significant overlap in the diet of the Ka'apor capuchin and Sapajus, highlighting the urgency to increase knowledge of the ecological needs of C. kaapori and understand synergistic effects of sympatry with competitive species, increasing forest fragmentation, and widespread human impact on C. kaapori sustainability.

Application of deterministic model of isothermals for population dynamics of Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Diptera, Muscidae).

The isothermal deterministic model adherence was studied to evaluate the population dynamic of Synthesiomyia nudiseta (Diptera, Muscidae). The linear form of equation obtained for the experiments in the several phases, were for Egg: 1/D = -0.18 + 0.02. T; Larva: 1/D = -0.028 + 0.01. T; Pupa: 1/D = -0.069 + 0.01. T; and Adult: 1/D = -0.4178 + 0.02. T. In function of temperature, S. nudiseta can present from 4.18 to 8.95 and from 4.91 to 8.99 generations per year, when calculated through the equations of development and through the simulations, respectively. And the higher the temperature the larger the generation number. Through variance analysis it was verified the significance for the regression equations in relation to the annual generation number (Ng/year) of S. nudiseta in function of the isothermals, for two studied situations. It was obtained a significance of 0,1%. The regression equations obtained for these situations were: Ng/year = 5.4 + 0.5. T and Ng/year = 5.1 + 0.52. T. The number of generations of S. nudiseta varies linearly with the isothermal. Besides that, the number of annual generations for each isothermal does not differ statistically when calculated through the development equations or through the simulations. Such conditions suggest the adaptation of the deterministic model adopted.

[Inefficacy of bothropic antivenin in the neutralization of the coagulation activity of Lachesis muta muta venom. Report of a case and experimental confirmation]. / Ineficácia do antiveneno botrópico na neutralização da atividade coagulante do veneno de Lachesis muta muta. Relato de caso e comprovação experimental.

In the State of Amazonas and in areas nearby Manaus, the snakes responsible for the majority of accidents are Bothrops atrox and Lachesis muta muta, with a percentage of confirmed species of 76% and 17%, respectively. Frequently, in the absence of the laquetic and bothropic-laquetic antivenoms, the Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Manaus (IMTM) has been using bothropic antivenom in the treatment of laquetic accident. In this paper is related a case of accident caused by L. muta muta; the patient was treated with bothropic antivenom, and after received twenty ampoules of this antivenom, maintained blood incoagulability until the 13th day after the accident. Experiments to obtain the potency of the bothropic antivenom for the coagulant and hemorrhagic activities has been done, using Bothrops atrox venom as control. The results showed that the potency of the antivenom for the hemorrhagic activity was similar, and the potency for the coagulant activity for the L. m. muta venom was 9.2 times minor than that for B. atrox. The antibodies titles from three different lots of bothropic antivenom varied for the L. m. muta venom, and were constant for the B. atrox venom. Due to the inefficiency of the bothropic antivenom on the neutralization of the coagulant activity for the L. m. muta venom, the use of bothropic antivenom is not recommended in the treatment of Lachesis muta muta accidents.