Entre janeiro de 2005 e dezembro de 2006 foram realizados estudos sobre a composição e abundância relativa dos mamíferos de médio e grande porte do Parque Estadual do Turvo. Para tanto, foram utilizados registros de armadilhas fotográficas além de visualizações e dados sobre presença e ausência de pegadas ao longo de transectos pré-determinados. No total foram registradas 29 espécies de mamíferos de médio e grande porte, das quais Dasyprocta azarae Lichtenstein, 1823 e Sylvilagus brasiliensis (Linnaeus, 1758) foram as espécies com maior número de registros. No que se refere a Carnivora, Nasua nasua (Linnaeus, 1766) e Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus, 1758) tiveram os maiores índices de registro, enquanto Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775), Leopardus wiedii (Schinz, 1782) e Galictis cuja (Molina 1782) os menores. Entre os ungulados apenas Pecari tajacu (Linnaeus, 1758) mostrou-se freqüente, sendo a quarta espécie em número de registros. Algumas espécies comuns em outros ambientes apresentaram baixos índices de registro no Parque Estadual do Turvo, tais como Dasypus novemcinctus Linnaeus, 1758 e Didelphis albiventris Lund, 1840. Finalmente, constata-se a provável extinção local de Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795), uma vez que não foram obtidos registros de sua presença ao longo do estudo. A conservação dos mamíferos de médio e grande porte do Parque está fortemente associada à preservação do "Corredor Verde de Misiones", que provavelmente representa uma área fonte para diversas espécies.

a b s t r a c tStudies on the spatial ecology of Molina's hog-nosed skunk were conducted in southern Brazil. Between individuals were tagged with radio collars and monitored by radiotelemetry (VHF). The average home-range estimated for 12 skunks was 1.63 km 2 ± 1.17 km 2 . Males had home-ranges 2.5 times larger than females, and also showed significantly larger patterns of displacement. These differences in space probably were related not only to sexual size dimorphism, but also to differential behavior between sexes. We identified six basic types of resting sites, among which holes in the ground were the most common and comprised more than 50% of the total. Reuse of resting sites was high (32%), especially for females, which had a significantly higher rate than males. Although they showed a large proportion of home-range overlap even in the core areas, skunks exhibited a solitary life style, rarely sharing resting sites and maintaining relatively long distances from each other, equivalent to twice the distance of daily movements. The almost strictly nocturnal activity pattern observed in this study is a common characteristic of the family. Among practically all of the ecological features analyzed, males and females showed significant differences, denoting the importance of a sex-specific approach in ecological studies regarding this species.

Amazonia National Park is located in southwestern Pará State in central Amazonia. The 10,707 km 2 park is one of the largest protected areas in Brazil and is covered with pristine forests, but the region is threatened by dam construction projects. An incomplete mammal biodiversity inventory was conducted in the area during the late 1970s. Here, we present results of sampling from 7,295 live-trap nights, 6,000 pitfall-trap nights, more than 1,200 km of walking transect censuses, and approximately 3,500 camera-trap days, all conducted between 2012 and 2014. These sampling efforts generated a list of 86 known species of nonvolant mammals, making the park the single most species-rich area for nonvolant mammals both in the Amazon Basin and in the Neotropics as a whole. Amazonia National Park is a megadiverse site, as is indicated by its mammalian richness, which includes 15 threatened mammal species and 5 to 12 new species of small mammals. As such, it merits being a high-conservation priority and should be an important focus of Brazilian authorities' and the international scientific community's conservation efforts. A comprehensive conservation plan is urgently needed, especially given the ecological threats posed by dam construction.

ABSTRACT. Between January 2007 and December 2010, the abundance of medium-sized mammals was studied, with special focus on the Molina's hog-nosed skunk, Conepatus chinga (Molina, 1782), at four locations in southern Brazil. In this study, transect line methodology was used to obtain data for Distance Analyses. Transects were traveled by car at night, searching with spotlights along the edges of secondary roads in agricultural landscapes. Along 1,811 km, we obtained 620 observations of 20 mammal species. The most common species was the exotic European hare, Lepus europaeus (Pallas, 1778); the highest abundance estimated for South America was observed in one of the study areas, where its density was estimated as 32 individuals/km². Carnivores were the most commonly recorded mammals, represented by 10 species and comprising 51% of all observations. Molina's hog-nosed skunk occurred in all study areas, but occurred in sufficient numbers to obtain density estimates in only two of the areas. We estimated 1.4 to 3.8 individuals/km², in the first density estimate made by the transect method for a member of Conepatus in the Neotropics. These values are similar to those estimated for North American species of Mephitidae. In Brazil, C. chinga is apparently more abundant in the Pampa biome than in the grasslands of the Atlantic Forest. For two other carnivores, Lycalopex gymnocercus (Fisher, 1814) and Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1766), we estimated preliminary densities that were similar to those previously cited for different regions.

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