Scientists document collapse of the white-lipped peccary

Date: February 5, 2020

Source: Washington State University

White-lipped peccaries have declined by as much as 87% to 90% from their historical range in Central America, signaling a population collapse of a key species in the region, according to a study published recently in the journal Biological Conservation. The research was conducted by a team of 50 scientists from 30 organizations including Washington State University, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and El Colegio de Frontera Sur.

A pig-like animal that is an important food source for large animal predators and humans alike, the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) also plays a critical ecological role by dispersing seeds and creating water holes that benefit other animals. The study found that current IUCN estimates underestimated the population decline. The study results are a 63% drop from the current IUCN range estimates for the region.

"White-lipped peccary populations are in more of a critical condition than previously thought," said lead author Dan Thornton of Washington State University. "While these results are sobering, they also offer a roadmap on how to conserve this iconic, ecologically important species."

The researchers say that human influence and loss of forest cover are the primary causes of the decline, and that peccaries now remain in increasingly threatened pockets of forest mostly found along transboundary areas. Outside of transboundary landscapes, remaining populations were generally scattered and isolated.

Due to their social behavior and anti-predatory defense of grouping together when threatened, white-lipped peccaries are highly sensitive to hunting. Their large area needs and reliance on widely dispersed fruit and water sources also makes this species highly vulnerable to forest loss and fragmentation.

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Exit the dragons: Mexico tackles trafficking of endangered lizards - via Herp Digest

by Pablo Hernández Mares on 4 February 2019 | Translated by E. D.

mongabay.com  2/4/19

• The tree-dwelling lizards of the Abronia genus, native to Mexico and Central America, are traded internationally, often illegally, to supply the exotic pet market.

• Customs officials have found them hidden in socks, concealed in car trunks or squeezed into the double-depth of a portfolio.

• Mexico in 2016 recommended that all 29 Abronia species be listed in the CITES Appendix II, which would impose restrictions on their international trade, but legal traders say this will drive illegal trafficking of the lizards even deeper underground.
•  

They don’t fly, nor do they breathe fire from their mouths, but the “little dragons” of the Abronia genus are the latest craze on the pet reptile market. Far from the image of the huge monsters made popular by TV series such as “Game of Thrones,” these Mexican lizards are completely harmless, although they do have one thing in common: enemies putting them in danger.

In Mexico, they’re known as “scorpions” because they’re thought to be venomous, so “little dragons” is a euphemism meant to improve their reputation so that people don’t indiscriminately kill them.

However, this new name may have catapulted them to unwanted international fame. Hidden in socks inside suitcases, concealed in car trunks or squeezed into portfolios, the little dragons are illegally removed from the country by smugglers who can sell each one for up to $2,000, says Gustavo Jiménez, managing director of Vida Silvestre COATL, a conservation nonprofit that carried out an analysis of the conservation status of the 29 Abronia species in 2015.

The traffickers try to take the largest number of specimens possible out of Mexico, knowing that many won’t survive the journey due to the poor conditions in which they’re transported. Image by PROFEPA.

In the report on the Abronia genus to be included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), there is a confirmed record of Mexican specimens being traded as far as Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, China and the United States.

The main points of sale in Mexico City are the markets of Sonora, Nuevo San Lázaro, Emilio Carranza, and La Viga, with some traders licensed, but many more not, according to Jiménez.

“The largest numbers are taken from places where there are abundant populations close to towns, or at least where there are roads, for example, Chignahuapan [in Puebla state], Puerto del Aire [in Veracruz] and San Cristóbal de las Casas [in Chiapas],” Jiménez tells Mongabay Latam. A. graminea is found in Chignahuapan and Puerto del Aire, A. taeniata in Chignahuapan, and A. lytrochyla in San Cristóbal, Jiménez says. “This is what we understand from what the inhabitants have told us, but we are uncertain of the origin of these animals when the traffickers carry them.”

The lizard trade also involves the use of children, who capture the animals for $1 or $2 each. The smugglers purchase as many as 100 or 200 Abronias at a time from children or people in a position of financial need, and then take them to Mexico City, from where they distribute the lizards to other areas, including across the border to the United States, Jiménez says.

Traffickers often hide the little lizards in socks. Image by PROFEPA.

Authorities seized 97 specimens of A. Graminea, A. oaxacae and A. lythrochila between 2005 and 2017, according to data from the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA). But there are no accurate figures for how many of the lizards have been successfully smuggled out of Mexico.

The government permits the legal trade in a handful of Abronia species, says Joaquín Villegas, managing director of Coatlán, a wildlife conservation organization. “The most commercial is Abronia graminea, which is a little green dragon, followed by Abronia taeniata,” he says.

Its fantastical hues may have inspired the colorful alebrije folk art sculptures typically found in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, but A. mixteca’s once abundant presence in the state has declined dramatically due to capture for the pet trade, according to CITES.

Abronias are ideally suited to living in trees. It’s their triangular head, wide, strong jaw, and scale-covered back and tail that give them the indisputable appearance of a cartoon dragon.

Across the Atlantic, the market for these lizards as exotic pets is “practically the whole of Europe,” says Paola Mosig, coordinator of the CITES scientific authority of Mexico’s National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO). “Spanish, German and Dutch authorities have approached Mexico with a list of species that have illegally arrived over the past three years, and the Abronia genus was among them,” she adds.

Dragon fanatics and young people with a hobby of acquiring wild species are among the buyers. “Lately, especially in the United States and Europe, it has become fashionable to have reptilian pets. They don’t need that much care, and now that people are really busy there has been a surge in demand for these reptiles,” Mosig says.

Social networks like Facebook have become the new forum for the illegal trade in many species. “We find adverts for Abronias in many groups,” Villegas says. “We are able to track some of them when they are offered on the online market. Looking at the animals seen in the photographs, [they] have wounded tails or parasites like mites living freely on them.”

Abronia smithi. Image by Elí García Padilla.

The young hobbyist collectors of little dragons are the kind who have “reached a point in their collection where they can no longer legally obtain the species they are looking for,” says Villegas, whose own organization is registered with the government to sell exotic wildlife.

“The trafficking of these species is unprecedented,” says Omar Escobedo, director of another registered wildlife retailer, Moloch Reptiles, and technical coordinator at the Michin Aquarium in the city of Guadalajara. Legal traders need the proper paperwork for each lizard they sell, but there’s nothing stopping illicit traders from reusing older permits. “I have detected at least 200 instances where their permits had been copied using our format and our usage number,” Escobedo tells Mongabay Latam. “It’s outrageous, but it’s very common in the wildlife trade.”

Capture for the pet trade and the rapid loss of habitat are the main threats faced by the little dragons. Pictured is an Abronia lythochila specimen. Image by Peter Heimes.

International trade restrictions

At the 2016 CITES conference, Mexico and the European Union requested that the entire Abronia genus, 29 species in total, be listed in the convention’s Appendix II, which would subject the trade in the species to strict regulations. This call for greater protection of these species was justified on the basis of low reproductive potential and the conservation status of their wild populations.

“Prior to their incorporation into the CITES [Appendix II], sales of Abronia in Europe were carried out using specially made false permits to mislead the public,” says Inés Arroyo, a specialist in environmental crimes at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) Regional Center of Multidisciplinary Investigations.

Her own investigations indicate that the entire trade in Abronia species between Mexico and the EU is illegal, since there’s no data on any single instance of a legal sale of a specimen. “They are endangered species, they are moving through illegal routes, and the quantities, volumes, how many are leaving, and by what mechanisms, is unclear,” Arroyo says. She warns that this problem needs to be tackled using a multidisciplinary approach involving academic institutions, governments, intelligence agencies and international law enforcement.

Arroyo says some of those involved in the lizard trade “don’t care about conservation, they only care about money. They aren’t bothered if Abronias die out. This is what’s called market substitution: If one type of animal is no longer available, they find another. These people have a criminal profile for which CITES is a hindrance, and they are going to find ways to turn the system upside down in order to smuggle the animals.”

The splendor of the little dragon is diminished when it’s taken out of its natural environment. Image by PROFEPA.

Tanya Wyatt, co-author with Arroyo of a report on the illegal trade in wildlife between Mexico and the European Union, says the majority of Abronia seizures occur at Mexico City’s international airport. She says there need to be new international regulations to tackle the illegal trade, as well as better training for customs officials to be able to identify species and distinguish if they are Abronias or other protected wildlife.

CONABIO’s findings, presented to CITES and based on international trade data compiled through official enquiries and internet searches, shows an international market for at least five species native to Mexico that don’t have legal export authorization: A. martindelcampoi, A. smithi, A. deppii, A. lythrochila and A. mixteca.

CONABIO says “the primary destination of these specimens is the Terraristika Hamm trade fair” in Germany, billed as Europe’s largest reptile fair. The specimens are transported within travelers’ luggage, or shipped by courier, first to Spain and France, where they’re kept prior to the fair. Another destination is the United States, where specimens are brought in through border points such as Tijuana, and subsequently distributed from Texas and California. Within Mexico itself, the Abronia trade relies on public buses and private cars to transport specimens from the areas where they’re captured to urban centers like Mexico City, Puebla and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, CONABIO says

.

“I think CITES [protection] is a good idea,” Jiménez says. “A step has been taken toward conserving the Abronias, because even though it’s said that CITES isn’t going to solve the problem, it is, in itself, progress. Overseas consumers are now going to seek Abronias that have documentation. This means they are going to expect the Mexicans to sell them with papers, and this may produce sustainable development alternatives within communities instead of fostering trafficking.”

Little dragons such as Abronia graminea have very striking emerald, bluish-green and turquoise colors, which attract the attention of collectors. Image by PROFEPA.

Legal Trade

But for Escobedo, the legal seller, this newly imposed restriction on the trade will hurt the livelihood those who do it within the law, and will only drive the illegal practice deeper underground. “At any time, a point might be reached where the danger of extinction is going to present itself,” he says. “Species that were once common are going to go into special protection and thus we are successively going to nudge all species higher up the risk category.”

The little dragons, or tree scorpions as they are commonly known, are insectivorous lizards that inhabit the trees of the forests of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Image by Raul Gómez Trejo.

Villegas, the other legal trader, says those like him don’t have the capacity to compete with the illegal traders. “Those of us who do this legally invest in facilities for the reproduction and maintenance of the specimens, whereas the others spend very little on removing wildlife from the freedom of its natural habitat and they sell it at a similar or slightly lower price than that of a legal specimen,” he says. “This makes the illegal trade strong, plus there is high demand.” Villegas says wanting one of these animals for a pet isn’t a bad thing, but it’s highly important that buyers educate themselves about the species they’re acquiring, not just to ensure they purchase them through legal channels, but also to support the conservation of the species.

Buyers must demand that sellers provide the documentation to prove the legal origin of the species and endeavor to treat the specimens they acquire both humanely and appropriately.

While films and books continue to popularize fantastical stories of great dragons, these real-life little Mexican lizards may one day fade from the forests that they inhabit in Mexico and Central America and into the realm of legend unless there’s greater awareness about the need to protect and conserve them.

Declining central American frog species are bouncing back

Date:  April 11, 2018

Source:  Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Summary:

For more than 40 years, frog populations around the world have been declining. Now, a new study reports that some Central American frog species are recovering, perhaps because they have better defenses against a deadly fungal pathogen.

For more than 40 years, frog populations around the world have been declining. Now, a new study reports that some Central American frog species are recovering, perhaps because they have better defenses against a deadly fungal pathogen.

"It's a hopeful, optimistic chapter," said Louise Rollins-Smith, PhD, associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, and a co-author of a study recently published in the journal Science.

A collaborative group of investigators at multiple institutions showed that the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis continues to be as lethal now as it was more than 10 years ago. The antimicrobial defenses produced by frog skin, however, appear to be more effective than they were before the fungal epidemic began.

Rollins-Smith and her colleagues began studying how frogs combat B. dendrobatidis in Panama in 2004. For several years, Douglas Woodhams, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow on her team, and laboratory manager Laura Reinert made multiple trips to Central America to collect samples of frog skin secretions.

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Brazilian study discovers six new species of silky anteaters

February 27, 2018, FAPESP

Since the pioneering description made in 1758 by Swedish naturalist and father of taxonomy Carl Nilsson Linnaeus (1707-1778), there was officially one single silky anteater species. This short-snouted, pigmy-sized anteater would then be known for its scientific name, Cyclopes didactyla, after its inclusion in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Linnaeus' magnum opus. It is found in tropical forests in South and Central America, as well as in the few remaining fragments of Atlantic rainforest in Northeast Brazil.

Six populations of C. didactylus scattered through this territory were discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, because all the collected specimens appeared to be identical, it was thought that the subtle morphological differences could only justify the creation of subspecies of C. didactylus, therefore, the only species in the family Cyclopedidae.

But now, a Brazilian group of taxonomists, zoologists and geneticists proposes that silky anteaters comprise at least seven distinct species, after concluding a study of the biology and ecology of the new species, during which they sequenced mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from 287 specimens. They have published their results in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Read more at: 

People and wildlife now threatened by rapid destruction of Central America's forests

'Human Footprint and Cow's Hoofprint' report shows illegal cattle ranching is responsible for more than 90 percent of forest loss in remaining wildlife strongholds

Date: July 26, 2017

Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

Summary: Central America's largest remaining forests are disappearing at a precipitous rate due to illegal cattle ranching, oil palm plantations, and other human-related activities, all of which are putting local communities and the region's wildlife species at high risk, explains a new report.

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Disentangling the myth of the singing bushmaster viper with the help of tree frogs

Date: November 17, 2016
Source: Pensoft Publishers

Reaching over 3.5 m in length, the bushmaster (belonging in the Lachesis genus) is the largest viper in the western hemisphere. Legend spread among both colonists and natives from the Amazon region and Central America has it that it sings. Finding these numerous unrelated reports quite puzzling, since it is well known that snakes cannot sing, scientists took to finally disentangle the myth.

When the researchers recently conducted fieldwork in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru, they revealed it was not the snake singing. The 'song' was indeed the call of large tree frogs that live in hollow trunks in the forest.

While local guides in both countries attributed the songs to the bushmaster, the amphibians were almost completely unknown. To their surprise, instead of finding a snake, the field teams found two species of frogs of the genus Tepuihyla. The results are published in the open access journal ZooKeys in a collaborative effort by scientists from Catholic University of Ecuador, the Peruvian Institute of Research of the Amazon, Ecuadorian Museum of Natural Sciences, and Colorado State University, USA.



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19 New Swift & Clever Praying Mantises Discovered

By Stephanie Pappas, Senior Writer | March 18, 2014 01:19pm ET

Swift, deadly hunters lurk in the trees, many camouflaged to look like lichen or bark. They don't sit and wait for prey; they actively pursue it. And when danger threatens, some even leap to the forest floor, fluttering to the ground like so many dead leaves.

That's the life of 19 new praying mantis species discovered in Central and South America. The findings, announced today (March 18) in the journal ZooKeys, suggest the world of praying mantis diversity is largely mysterious.

"Based on this study, we can predict that mantis groups with similar habitat specialization in Africa, Asia and Australia will also be far more diverse than what is currently known," study researcher Gavin Svenson, an invertebrate zoologist at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said in a statement.

Read more

Hundreds of sea turtles found dead along Central American coast

Disagreement over causes of widespread casualties

November 2013: Hundreds of sea turtles, many dead and some with signs of concussion, have been washed up on the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America.

Researchers in Costa Rica believe the culprit to be seasonal red tides, which secrete a potent neurotoxin, although conservationists suspect the turtles may have got caught in commercial fishing nets, or trammels.

From late September to mid-October 114 sea turtles – black turtles (Chelonia agassizii), Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) and crosses between the two – have been found on the beaches of El Salvador. Another 280 have been found so far in Costa Rica, 115 in Guatemala and an undisclosed number in Nicaragua. In late 2012, 200 were found dead on Panama’s beaches.

Read on

Mini-Monsters of the Forest Floor

July 29, 2013 — A University of Utah biologist has identified 33 new species of predatory ants in Central America and the Caribbean, and named about a third of the tiny but monstrous-looking insects after ancient Mayan lords and demons.

"These new ant species are the stuff of nightmares" when viewed under a microscope, says entomologist Jack Longino, a professor of biology. "Their faces are broad shields, the eyes reduced to tiny points at the edges and the fierce jaws bristling with sharp teeth.

"They look a little like the monster in 'Alien.' They're horrifying to look at up close. That's sort of what makes them fun."

In a study published online Monday, July 29 in the journal Zootaxa, Longino identified and named 14 new species of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix and distinguished them from 14 other previously known species. The genus name is Greek and refers to the club-shaped hairs on many Eurhopalothrix (pronounced you-row-pal-oh-thrix) species.

In another upcoming study accepted for publication in the same journal, Longino identified 19 new ant species from the genus Octostruma (pronounced oct-oh-strew-ma) and described differences from 15 other previously known species. The genus name means "eight swellings" for the ants' eight-segmented antennas.

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Sushi for Peccaries?

Apr. 29, 2013 — It turns out the white-lipped peccary -- a piglike animal from Central and South America -- will settle for fish when fruits (its main food) are no longer on the menu, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society and partners revealing the first-ever photos of fish-eating peccaries.

The images of fish consumption by white-lipped peccaries were taken by Douglas Fernandes in the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands one morning back in 2011. A short description of the observations, along with the digital photographs taken, will appear in the latest edition of Suiform Soundings(IUCN Peccary Specialist Group Newsletter). 

"As far as we know, these are the first images of fish consumption by white-lipped peccaries," said Dr. Alexine Keuroghlian of the Wildlife Conservation Society and an expert on peccaries. "This finding expands our knowledge of how this ecologically important species survives in highly seasonal habitats." 

While there was one reported account by Dr. Joe Fragoso of the white-lipped peccary dining on fish in the Amazon, the behavior has been rarely seen and apparently never photographed until the morning of August 17, 2011. On that day, Fernandes, a researcher for the Instituto Arara Azul, a partner organization , observed a group of approximately 30 white-lipped peccaries at Caiman Lodge near the town of Miranda in the Pantanal, one of the world's largest tropical wetlands. Most of the peccaries fled as he approached, but five remained as they fed on aquatic plants in shallow ponds, created by the receding flood waters typical of the Pantanal's dry season. It was then that Fernandes noticed three of the peccaries eating traira, or wolf fish, from the oxygen-starved ponds.

 

These images of fish-eating white-lipped peccaries were taken on the morning of August 17, 2011. After a review of the scientific literature, the photographer and his colleagues realized that photographic evidence of this behavior was unprecedented. (Credit: Douglas Fernandes) 

Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130429175919.htm

Endangered River Turtle's Genes Reveal Ancient Influence of Maya Indians

ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2011) — A genetic study focusing on the Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii) recently turned up surprising results for a team of Smithsonian scientists involved in the conservation of this critically endangered species. Small tissue samples collected from 238 wild turtles at 15 different locations across their range in Southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala revealed a "surprising lack" of genetic structure, the scientists write in a recent paper in the journal Conservation Genetics.


The turtles, which are entirely aquatic, represent populations from three different river basins that are geographically isolated by significant distance and high mountain chains.


"We were expecting to find a different genetic lineage in each drainage basin," explains the paper's main author Gracia González-Porter of the Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. "Instead, we found the mixing of lineages. It was all over the place." Despite appearing isolated, the genetic data showed the different turtle populations had been in close contact for years.

"But how?" the researchers wondered.

The best possible explanation, González-Porter and her colleagues say, is that for centuries humans have been bringing them together. The turtles have been used as food, in trade and in rituals for millennia, widely transported and customarily kept in holding ponds till they were needed.

"For centuries, this species has been part of the diet of the Mayans and other indigenous people who lived in its historic distribution range," the scientists point out in their paper. "D. mawii was a very important source of animal protein for the ancient Mayans of the Peten (Preclassic period 800-400 B.C.)…. And it is possible that these turtles were part of the diet of the Olmec culture more than 3,000 years ago."

One specimen of D. mawii was found in an ancient Teotihuacan burial site in Mexico, a spot located more than 186 miles from the known range of this turtle, the researchers say. An ancient sculpture of a Central American river turtle at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City was found in the Basin of Mexico, more than 217 miles from the turtle's range.

"The Central American River turtle is tame and resilient," González-Porter explains, "which makes it easy to transport. Their shells give them lots of protection. People don't have refrigeration so they put the turtles in ponds in their back yards."

During the rainy season in the tropics, the water flows are huge, she says. Rivers and ponds flood, captive turtles escape and mix with the local turtles.

This ancient practice still persists today. In Guatemala, Central American river turtles are kept in medium-sized ponds where they can be easily captured when needed. Similarly, in the State of Tabasco, Mexico, captured turtles are kept in rustic ponds and raised until they are either consumed or sold.

The genetic analysis of the Central American River turtle was initiated because these animals are critically endangered, González-Porter says.

They are the last surviving species of the giant river turtles of the family Dermatemydidae. D. mawii is currently the most endangered turtle species in Central America. A recent increase in the commercial demand for its meat has pushed it to the brink of extinction -- 2.2 pounds of their meat can fetch $100. Most local populations have disappeared and this turtle is now largely restricted to remote areas that are inaccessible to humans.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110722112106.htm