To obtain data on home range, movements, activity and habitat use by giant anteaters Myrmecophaga tridactyla, seven animals were captured, radio-collared and monitored from March to December 2001 in a 104-km 2 study area in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil. Four of five males used areas that covered 4.0-7.5 km 2 (5.7 ± 1.7 km 2 ), and one of two females monitored occupied a larger area (11.9 km 2 ) than the males, but none of the curves of cumulative area unequivocally reached the asymptote. Generally, there was considerable overlap among individual areas used. The home-range estimates were calculated using the 100% minimum convex polygon, and 95% adaptive kernel methods. The areas used by the giant anteaters in the Pantanal wetland were larger than home ranges of giant anteaters in the Serra da Canastra National Park, Brazil. The habitat types were generally used in the same order as they occurred in each home range. Two giant anteaters previously monitored with VHF radio-telemetry were subsequently tracked with a modified global positioning (GPS) system in different periods. The modified GPS acquired data on activity and habitat use for c. 9 days. Giant anteaters did not show a similar pattern of habitat use during the period of study using the modified GPS unit, but their activity patterns were similar. One of the ranges recorded over 9 days with this method was larger than the range obtained over 252 days by standard VHF radio-telemetry.

The purpose of this study was to correlate the activity and habitat use of a large and ecologically specialized mammal (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) with the time of day and minimum daily temperature in Brazil's Pantanal wetland. Seven giant anteaters were fitted with very high frequency (VHF) radio transmitters and monitored from March to December 2001. The animal's state of activity or rest, time and ambient temperature were recorded in different patches of the study site, which were covered by a mosaic of vegetation types and several ponds. Whenever a giant anteater was inside a forest patch, the temperature inside and outside of the patch was also recorded. The temperatures throughout the day were recorded by the meteorological station at the study site. The period of greatest activity of giant anteaters started at 18:00 h on hot days, but whenever the daily minimum temperature declined, the species' activity began earlier. Giant anteaters use predominantly forest habitats for rest and open habitats for activity. The forest patches work as a temperature buffer, because they are cooler than the matrix of open habitats during the hot hours of the day and warmer than the matrix during the cold hours. Although the giant anteater is known to be associated with open habitats, this study indicates the need of preserving forest patches for the conservation of this species.

Fragmentos de mata na área urbana ou periurbana podem ser locais favoráveis a procriação de Culicidae. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo levantar as espécies de culicídeos que utilizam criadouros artificiais, suas coexistência e as flutuações populacionais em uma reserva de mata localizada em Londrina - PR. Realizou-se coletas quinzenais de outubro de 1995 a setembro de 1996 em pneus e internódios de bambu armadilha que foram instalados ao nível do solo e outros internódios instalados a 2 m de altura. Coletou-se 12.656 espécimes, pertencentes a cinco gêneros e 11 espécies. As espécies mais abundantes nos criadouros foram Limatus durham Theobald, 1901, Culex eduardoi Casal & Garcia, 1968, Aedes terrens (Walker, 1856), Culex quinquefasciatus Say, 1823 e Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894). O maior número de indivíduos foi coletado em pneus, sendo que Limatus durham e Aedes terrens, apresentaram preferência nesse criadouro. A presença de Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762), Aedes albopictus e Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Dyar & Shannon, 1924) em diferentes coletas indica que esse tipo de ambiente não deve ser ignorado nas ações de controle de vetores, merecendo constante monitoramento.

Registra-se a ocorrência de carrapatos em tamanduás-bandeira e tamanduás-mirim na região do pantanal sul mato-grossense entre os meses de março e novembro de 2001. As espécies identificadas foram Amblyomma cajennense (123 machos e 63 fêmeas), A. parvum (35 machos, 67 fêmeas) e A. nodosum (2 machos), um parasita específico de tamanduás em sua fase adulta. De um total de 20 tamanduás examinados no período de estudo, A . cajennense foi encontrado na maioria dos animais (15), seguido por A. parvum (9) e por A. nodosum (2).

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