Historical and current range of the Near Threatened maned wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus in South America Historically the species occupied nearly all of Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay and south to at least the 38th parallel in Argentina. The probable causes of the southern range loss are intense anthropogenic pressure combined with limiting abiotic factors such as temperature and humidity. We highlight the need to revise the view of how habitat modifications are influencing the range of C. brachyurus so as to improve and coordinate range-wide conservation strategies.

Geoffroy's cat Oncifelis geoffroyi is a little-known South American small felid. We report data on the spatial ecology of four adults (two males and two females) that were radiotracked in an area of wet grassland of the Argentine Pampas from February 2000 to April 2001. The mean home range size varied from 248 ha [90% minimum convex polygon (MCP)] to 342 ha (100% MCP), with male home ranges c. 2.5 larger than those of females. Home range overlap averaged 44.7%, and was more extensive between males than between females but it decreased markedly when outliers were excluded. Forest patches were used more than expected by their availability within home ranges. These patches hosted many large defecation sites, possibly acting as 'communication centres' where information was exchanged among individuals in the form of scent marks. Despite the lack of a clear preference for tall grasslands, this was the most frequently used habitat. We argue that natural grasslands in the Pampas ecoregion are important for O. geoffroyi and that their alteration can affect the conservation status of this cat. The comparison of our data with those reported previously suggests that Geoffroy's cat can show a certain degree of flexibility in its spatial behaviour.

We report new data on the intersexual and geographical variation in body mass of the Geoffroy's cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi d'Orbigny and Gervais 1844), a little known small cat from South America, and combine them with the existing information to compare alternative hypotheses for variation in body mass. Most data on the body mass of O. geoffroyi have been obtained from previous research on this felid in four study areas of southern Brazil and central and southern Argentina. These data were added to those reported for other three additional locations. Our results set the body mass of O. geoffroyi to 4.26 ± 1.03 kg (mean ± SD, n = 56). We also show that males generally are heavier than females throughout most of this species' distributional range. Body mass dimorphism is 1.34 on average, but ranges from 1.19 and 1.21 in Uruguay and southern Chile, respectively, to 1.76 in the northern Pampas of Argentina. When data from the best sampled areas are considered (Torres del Paine, Lihué Calel, southern Pampas, Campos del Tuyú and southern Brazil), only male body mass varies with geographic location. More intriguingly, no correlation was found between body mass and latitude. Our results suggest a smaller mean weight of O. geoffroyi relative to what was previously published, but also suggest a wider variation. Our analysis do not support Bergmann's rule, according to which the largest individuals would occur in the southernmost regions of this cat's geographic distribution, while they seem supportive of a sexually-selected process affecting sexual size dimorphism in the Geoffroy's cat.Key words: carnivores, felids, Oncifelis geoffroyi, South America, body mass. RESUMENSe reportan nuevos datos sobre la variación intersexual y geográfica de la masa corporal en el gato montés (Oncifelis geoffroyi d'Orbigny and Gervais 1844), un félido pequeño y poco conocido de América del Sur, y los combinamos con la información existente para evaluar dos hipótesis que explicarían esta variación. La mayor parte de los datos sobre masa corporal de O. geoffroyi fueron obtenidos en el marco de proyectos de investigación sobre este félido en cuatro áreas del sur de Brasil y centro y sur de Argentina. Estos datos se agregaron con registros para otras tres localidades. Nuestros resultados establecieron que la masa corporal promedio de O. geoffroyi fue de 4,26 kg (DE = 1,03 kg; n = 56). Demostramos además que los machos son más grandes que las hembras, y que este dimorfismo sexual ocurre en la mayoría de las localidades muestreadas a lo largo del rango de distribución de esta especie. El dimorfismo sexual en la masa corporal fue de 1,34 en promedio, pero varió entre 1,19 y 1,21 en Uruguay y Chile meridional, respectivamente, hasta 1,76 en la Pampa septentrional argentina. Al comparar los datos de las cinco localidades con mayor número de registros (Torres del Paine, Lihué Calel, Pampas meridionales, Campos del Tuyú y Brasil meridional) se encontró variación geográfica significativa solo en la masa corporal de los machos. No se registró una...

a b s t r a c tTo understand the activity and movement patterns of Leopardus geoffroyi, we compared its behavior by radio-tracking 10 individuals in two areas of the Pampas grassland of Argentina: Campos del Tuyú Wildlife Reserve (CdT; 2F, 2 M, n = 1753 activity fixes), and Ernesto Tornquist Provincial Park (ETPP; 4F, 2 M, n = 1700 fixes), an area more strongly affected by human activities. The proportion of active fixes varied between areas and ranged from 38.4 ± 4.4% at CdT to 42.9 ± 8.1% at ETPP. In both areas, L. geoffroyi was mainly nocturnal, with maximum activity at 1:00 h (70.9%) at CdT and 4:00 h (75.6%) at ETPP. Activity patterns were highly correlated between areas and, within each area, between sexes, possibly in relation to the nocturnal activity of its major prey. Seasonal variations were detected, with the least diurnal and nocturnal activity in spring. In both study areas, Geoffroy's cats presented variations in the amount of nocturnal activity corresponding to differences in nocturnal luminosity. However, these variations were different: cats were most active when the night was brighter at CdT, whereas at ETPP activity was lower in brighter nights. At CdT, the linear distance of movement between locations averaged 685.8 ± 496.8 m and males moved 1.4 times farther than females. This distance was shorter at CdT than ETPP (1087.9 ± 932.8 m), where males had movements 4.5 times greater than females. The mean speed of travel did not differ between areas (CdT: 0.44 ± 0.45 km/h; ETPP: 0.44 ± 0.78 km/h), but males tended to move faster than females. In the grasslands of Argentina, human disturbance did not affect the patterns of activity of L. geoffroyi but cats appeared to be forced to spend more time active and move over greater distances in the more disturbed area.

The alkylation of sodium saccharin with alkyl halides to produce the intermediates ω-(1,1,3-trioxo-1,3-dihydrobenzo[d]isothiazol-2-yl)-alkanecarboxylic acids can be markedly improved by using microwave irradiation, both in terms of product yield and reaction time. While the process produces high yields with halo esters and halonitriles, the reaction with haloacids, which proceeds smoothly by conventional reflux, gives poorer yields with microwaves. This is due to an acid-base equilibrium produced by the rapid heating of the mixture under irradiation. Esters and nitriles can be converted into the acids by acid hydrolysis, without appreciable loss of the 1,1,3-trioxo-1,3-dihydrobenzo[d]isothiazole ring.