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Amphibians are among the most threatened vertebrates worldwide, and Argentina is not free of this situation. Not only natural threats are affecting amphibians, there is also predation by leeches. In this note we report the first record of the leech Oxypthychus inexpectatus predating on the Valcheta frog, Pleurodema somuncurense and the common toad, Rhinella arenarum, at the Somuncura plateau, Río Negro Province. Records were gathered in December of 2014, in a sector of the Valcheta stream locally named “Rama Caliente”. For the reason that leeches can cause a negative effect on fragmented populations of endangered amphibians’ species, its impact should be considered, mostly in the case of the endangered P. somuncurense. Therefore, future studies should be focused on understanding the synergy between this threat and others of unnatural origin like the presence of cattle and trout in the area., Asociación Herpetológica Argentina (AHA)

We studied small mammal assemblages recovered from owl pellets collected at 11 locations throughout the Argentina's Pampean Region. We identified 21 species, including two marsupials, one bat, and 18 rodents. From the analysis of this dataset, we could distinguish three main groups of small mammals that currently inhabit the Pampean Region: 1) a group of taxa related to Pampean agroecosystems (Calomys spp., Akodon azarae, and Oligoryzomys flavescens); 2) a group of Brazilian species (Cavia aperea, Oxymycterus rufus, Necromys lasiurus, Necromys obscurus, Holochilus brasiliensis, and Monodelphis dimidiata); and 3) a group including species from Patagonia, Espinal and Monte phytogeographic provinces (Microcavia australis, Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, Eligmodontia typus, Graomys griseoflavus, and Akodon molinae). In addition, we documented the first record of a species of the large-bodied group of Calomys in Buenos Aires province, expanding its distribution ca. 420 km southward., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo