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Algunos organismos advierten a sus depredadores a través de patrones de coloración. Este es el caso del zorrillo listado sureño, Mephitis macroura. Asumimos que la coloración de los zorrillos es aposemática, por lo que el objetivo fue analizar los patrones de coloración de una población de zorrillo listado sureño. Nuestra hipótesis fue que los individuos que mostraran una coloración más contrastante serían más abundantes en tipos de vegetación abierta que aquellos con una coloración de pelaje menos contrastante. Por medio de cámaras-trampa, agrupamos las fotografías del zorrillo listado sureño mostrando diferentes tipos de combinación de los patrones de coloración y se determinó la abundancia relativa de los individuos por patrones por grupo y hábitat. Identificamos 25 individuos en el área de estudio, la mayoría en pastizales inducidos e identificamos cuatro combinaciones de patrones de coloración. Encontramos una superposición en el periodo de actividad y el espacio, así como una alta abundancia del patrón de coloración más contrastante en el tipo de vegetación más abierta, aceptando nuestra hipótesis. Se contribuye a un mayor entendimiento sobre las relaciones ecológicas entre el hábitat y la posible adaptación de las especies a su ambiente como los zorrillos.

Purpose To ascertain whether physical activity (PA) is associated with better sperm quality in sperm donors. Methods A prospective case–control study was designed in an IVF center setting. A total of 207 sperm donation candidates from a relatively small geographical area were included in the study with no intervention. Donor candidates were subjected to conventional sperm analysis according to WHO criteria. Moreover, they answered a standardized questionnaire regarding their last week PA (IPAQ), with PA expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs)-min/week. Donors were classified into 4 groups: low, moderate, high and very high PA. Specific sports were included in the questionnaire. Semen samples from 43 accepted donors were used in artificial insemination by donor (AID) and IVF. The fertilization rates (FR) and pregnancy rates (PR) were studied. Results Semen volume, sperm concentration, progressive spermatozoa, non-progressive spermatozoa, total motile progressive spermatozoa and sperm morphology were similar in the four PA groups. No correlation between various semen parameters studied and METs was found. Running or cycling > 1 h/week did not influence sperm parameters. The AID PR was similar in the different PA groups. However, in IVF the mean donor FR was significantly higher in the high PA group and in the very high PA group. Conclusions No detrimental effect was associated with PA, or even very high PA, regarding conventional sperm parameters. Moreover, a better FR was associated with high and very high PA in IVF cycles, which merits more studies.

En este estudio se estimó la diversidad, actividad y uso de hábitat de los mamíferos carnívoros en dos sitios con distinto grado de perturbación en el municipio de Cosoltepec, Oaxaca. Se realizaron muestreos mensuales en dos zonas con diferente perturbación durante temporadas de lluvias y secas. Se recorrieron transectos y se instalaron fototrampas. Mediante fototrampeo, se obtuvieron 289 registrosindependientes con un esfuerzo de muestreo de 5,458 días-trampa y mediante transectos, se obtuvieron 56 registros con un esfuerzo de muestreo de 216 km. Se registraron las familias Mephitidae, Canidae, Felidae y Procyonidae. En la zona conservada se registraron nueve especies y en la zona perturbada ocho. Mediante fototrampeo se estimó la mayor diversidad en el área de estudio (1D= 7.164). La especie más abundante por fototrampeo fue U. cinereoargenteus(IAR= 1.28, n= 70) y por transectos L. rufus (IAR=0.18, n= 38). La actividad varió de acuerdo al tamaño de las especies, las catemerales fueron especies grandes, las nocturnas y diurnas especies medianas. Las especies que mostraron alguna predilección de hábitat fueron P. lotor, C. latrans, U. cinereoargenteus, M. macroura y N. narica. Los resultados indican que no existe diferencia en la estructura de la comunidad por temporada pero si por zona.

Introduction: The Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologia was established in 1984 at Mexico City, with four objectives: 1) to study and propose solutions to problems and policies of management and conservation of mammals in Mexico; 2) to gather people interested in mammals in Mexico; 3) to promote and organize the interaction between people and groups interested in mammalogy, and 4) to spread and stimulate activities referred to mammalogy through meetings and assemblies, develop curricula and research and organize conferences and congresses about mammalogy. The National Congress of Mammalogy has become the most important academic forum where the progress in analyzed in the nationwide investigation of mammals, held every two years in different locations of the country; brings together about 600 people from different academic levels. It is an event whose purpose is the presentation of papers and discussion. During their activities exchanging ideas and finding solutions to the various problems faced by Mexican mammals. We reviewed and analyzed the content of oral and poster resentations of eleven Mammalogy National Congress organized by ? the Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologia, A. C. (AMMAC) from 1991 to 2012. Methodology: We reviewed the printed and digital memories of the 11 national conferences held in Mexico mammalogy, from the year 1991 to 2012. Oral and poster presentations for terrestrial, flyers and marine mammals were considered. We organized a database with the content of presentations. We arranged the data base by11 principal topics and 68 specific topics, as well as other categories including: taxonomic group, states represented and by national and foreign institutions represented in each meeting. Results: A total of 2,527 oral presentations and posters were registered. The number of presentations since 1991 to 2012 has been increasing over time. The meeting with the higher number presentation was the X NCM organized at the state of Guanajuato in 2010 (476 presentations); following by the XI NCM meeting in the state of Veracruz 2012 (430 presentations). The topics with higher number of studies were ecology 32 % (n = 795) and conservation 14 % (n = 356), while the least topic included in presentations was physiology 3 % (n = 84) and others 1 % (n = 30). The state of Oaxaca has been mentioned and studied in 10 % (n = 212) of the presentations, while the state of Zacatecas has been the less mentioned 0.5 % (n = 11) in meeting presentations. The most studied taxa are: Order Carnivora 25 % (n = 657), Family Muridae 48 % (n =346), Genus Peromyscus 6 % (n = 233) and Specie: Odocoileus virginianus 4 % (n = 170). Species in the order Erinaceomorpha were not mentioned at any of the meetings. Discussion and conclusions : Mammalogy in Mexico has developed significantly in recent years and especially since the founding of the Asociacion Mexicana de Mastozoologia. It is demonstrated by the number of works that have been increasing in relation with time. Our revision aims to contribute to guide the future generation of Mexican mammalogists to focus on different regions of Mexico, topics, and taxa for which there is great concern in their study.