IntroductionAposematism is a defense system against predators consisting of the toxicity warning using conspicuous coloration. If the toxin production and aposematic coloration is costly, only individuals in good physical condition could simultaneously produce abundant poison and striking coloration. In such cases, the aposematic coloration not only indicates that the animal is toxic, but also the toxicity level of individuals. The costs associated with the production of aposematic coloration would ensure that individuals honestly indicate their toxicity levels. In the present study, we examine the hypothesis that a positive correlation exists between the brightness of warning coloration and toxicity level using as a model the paper wasp (Polistes dominula).ResultsWe collected wasps from 30 different nests and photographed them to measure the brightness of warning coloration in the abdomen. We also measured the volume of the poison gland, as well as the length, and the width of the abdomen. The results show a positive relationship between brightness and poison-gland size, which remained positive even after controlling for the body size and abdomen width.ConclusionThe results suggest that the coloration pattern of these wasps is a true sign of toxicity level: wasps with brighter colors are more poisonous (they have larger poison glands).

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Yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes among human and non-human primates. In the last decades, infections are occurring in areas that had been free from yellow fever for decades, probably as a consequence of the rapid spread of mosquito vectors, and of the virus evolutionary dynamic in which non-human primates are involved. This research is a pathogeographic assessment of where enzootic cycles, based on primate assemblages, could be amplifying the risk of yellow fever infections, in the context of spatial changes shown by the disease since the late 20th century. In South America, the most relevant spread of disease cases affects parts of the Amazon basin and a wide area of southern Brazil, where forest fragmentation could be activating enzootic cycles next to urban areas. In Africa, yellow fever transmission is apparently spreading from the west of the continent, and primates could be contributing to this in savannas around rainforests. Our results are useful for identifying new areas that should be prioritised for vaccination, and suggest the need of deep yellow fever surveillance in primates of South America and Africa.

The lack of information on the protection status of birds in the winter period is a serious concern, as the survival of many populations depends on this period. Here, we consider the seasonal changes in distribution patterns of bird species in central Spain to assess the value of protected areas (PA) for simultaneously conserving breeding and wintering avifauna. We used a stepwise algorithm of complementarity to select the minimum set of Universal Transverse Mercator 10 ¥ 10-km squares containing all species at each period and then contrasted selected areas in order to test the degree to which breeding and wintering birds overlap. Using Gap analysis, we identified areas that are still unprotected. Our results show both a weak correlation and a scant overlap between areas that are important for bird conservation during breeding and wintering periods. Thus, we conclude that valuable areas for bird diversity differ between seasons, implying that breeding hot spots are not good surrogates for overwintering hot spots. This paper addresses the need of identifying not only important areas for breeding birds, but also wintering birds, revealing potential gaps in current PA networks. Future conservation policies should take these results into account in order to optimize bird conservation, especially considering that the appropriate protection of the bird species overwintering in Spain will, overall, benefit European breeding populations. bs_bs_banner Animal Conservation. Print ISSN 1367-9430 Hot spots of breeding and wintering birds C. Marfil-Daza et al.