RESUMO

Background: Venezuela has suffered a severe academic and research management crisis and funding opportunities for marine research and data management have been practically absent. This has worsened over the past five years and, as a result, libraries and other institutional spaces have been repeatedly vandalised, with hundreds of records, specimens and historical data stolen, destroyed or burned. To avoid the loss of irreplaceable data on Venezuelan biodiversity, an initiative was promoted, aimed at digitising information to create a rich dataset of biodiversity records, with emphasis on marine protected areas for the country, as well as to fill gaps in the distribution and status of marine biodiversity in Venezuela. Nighteen (19) institutions in the country focusing on marine science have consistently produced a wealth of information about Venezuela's marine biodiversity in the form of specimen collections, unpublished sampled data and research theses through the work of hundreds of researchers and students. An inventory of available data sources at these national institutions was conducted under the National Biodiversity Data Mobilization Grant and the Biodiversity Information for Development Program, together with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) support. All recovered and processed datasets were published in the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) repositories. New information: This occurrences data collection represents a major contribution to the marine biodiversity inventory in Venezuela. It is based on numerous published papers, reports, books and checklists provided by experts, covering a broad taxonomic collection from which we obtained species occurrences (present and absent), organised into 59 datasets containing 40,881 records. This represents a 28.49% contribution to the records of the Venezuelan marine biodiversity reported to the OBIS (143,513 records in the OBIS until November 2022). The extracted data showed 3,041 marine species, with representatives of each of the six kingdoms: Animalia, Chromista, Bacteria, Plantae, Fungi and Protozoa. The datasets provide information on occurrence since 1822, extending the temporal coverage of the species occurrence inventory for Venezuela, which was established in 1879 before this project. The number of records for Venezuela increased by 41.3% compared with the data available before the project. Most of the occurrences (63.47%) were registered in Marine Protected Areas. Data collection included records of non-native species, descriptions of new species and species listed under different IUCN categories.

RESUMO

The Neotropical region has a large diversity of crabs. However, the diversity of the parasites infesting these crustaceans is still poorly known. In this study, we recorded three new occurrences of the isopod bopyrid Leidya distorta on Ucides cordatus from Southern Brazil and North-Eastern Venezuela. Crabs were collected in mangroves of Venezuela (Cumaná) and Brazil (Cananéia and São Vicente). A total of 281 crabs were captured in these localities and dissected in the laboratory to verify parasitism by L. distorta. Three of these crabs were infested with L. distorta. Parasitic prevalences in the crabs were generally very low (1.1%), and differed according to localities: Cananéia (2.6%) and São Vicente (2.2%) were slightly higher than in Cumaná (0.5%). Here, we present new records of L. distorta infesting the mangrove crab U. cordatus from South America and reviewed the brachyuran that serve as host to L. distorta.

A região Neotropical tem uma grande diversidade de caranguejos. No entanto, a diversidade de parasitos infestando esses crustáceos ainda é pobremente conhecida. No presente estudo, foram registrados três novas ocorrências de Leidya distorta em Ucides cordatus no Sudeste do Brasil e no Nordeste da Venezuela. Os caranguejos foram coletados em manguezais da Venezuela (Cumaná) e do Brasil (Cananéia e São Vicente). Um total de 281 caranguejos foram capturados nessas localidades e dissecados no laboratório para verificar a presença de L. distorta. Apenas três caranguejos foram infestados com o bopirídeo Leidya distorta. A prevalência nos caranguejos foram muito baixa (1.1%), e diferiram de acordo com as localidades: levemente alta em Cananéia (2.6%) e São Vicente (2.2%), comparada com Cumaná (0.5%). Este estudo apresenta novas ocorrências de Leidya distorta infestando o caranguejo-uçá Ucides cordatus na América do Sul, bem como uma revisão dos braquiúros que servem de hospedeiro para Leidya distorta.

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RESUMO

The Neotropical region has a large diversity of crabs. However, the diversity of the parasites infesting these crustaceans is still poorly known. In this study, we recorded three new occurrences of the isopod bopyrid Leidya distorta on Ucides cordatus from Southern Brazil and North-Eastern Venezuela. Crabs were collected in mangroves of Venezuela (Cumaná) and Brazil (Cananéia and São Vicente). A total of 281 crabs were captured in these localities and dissected in the laboratory to verify parasitism by L. distorta. Three of these crabs were infested with L. distorta. Parasitic prevalences in the crabs were generally very low (1.1%), and differed according to localities: Cananéia (2.6%) and São Vicente (2.2%) were slightly higher than in Cumaná (0.5%). Here, we present new records of L. distorta infesting the mangrove crab U. cordatus from South America and reviewed the brachyuran that serve as host to L. distorta.(AU)

A região Neotropical tem uma grande diversidade de caranguejos. No entanto, a diversidade de parasitos infestando esses crustáceos ainda é pobremente conhecida. No presente estudo, foram registrados três novas ocorrências de Leidya distorta em Ucides cordatus no Sudeste do Brasil e no Nordeste da Venezuela. Os caranguejos foram coletados em manguezais da Venezuela (Cumaná) e do Brasil (Cananéia e São Vicente). Um total de 281 caranguejos foram capturados nessas localidades e dissecados no laboratório para verificar a presença de L. distorta. Apenas três caranguejos foram infestados com o bopirídeo Leidya distorta. A prevalência nos caranguejos foram muito baixa (1.1%), e diferiram de acordo com as localidades: levemente alta em Cananéia (2.6%) e São Vicente (2.2%), comparada com Cumaná (0.5%). Este estudo apresenta novas ocorrências de Leidya distorta infestando o caranguejo-uçá Ucides cordatus na América do Sul, bem como uma revisão dos braquiúros que servem de hospedeiro para Leidya distorta.(AU)

Assuntos

RESUMO

Quick, reliable and non destructive methods are necessary to estimate size structure on commercial land crabs, in order to acquire relevant information concerning the health of their populations. Cardisoma guanhumi and Ucides cordatus are two land crabs that are exploited at a high scale and also in an artisan way in the Caribbean area and in the coasts of Brazil, which populations are endangered due to uncontrolled exploitation. The purpose of this work is to provide various methods to estimate indirectly crab body size. Sampling was carried out in Carenero (C. guanhumi) and Cumaná (U. cordatus) (Venezuela). For each species, three methods were used to measure burrow diameter (Vernier, internal spring caliper and photograph), and these were correlated with real body size of the crabs. Model II linear regression analyzes, i.e. Ordinary Least Squares and Mayor Axis, were used to build and test the performance of forecasting models. Cardisoma guanhumi showed a high bivariate data dispersion using Vernier and photo measuring methods, increasing these towards larger animals. Less dispersion was achieved with the spring caliper method; this resulted in the most accurate measurements of indirectly estimated body size in C. guanhumi (r²= 0.61), whereas Vernier measurements were the least precise. On the other hand, all three methods gave reliable estimates for U. cordatus, being the Vernier method the most accurate (r²= 0.71). However, in both species, all forecasting equations overestimated the size of smaller crabs (those below the mean) but underestimated the size of larger crabs. Nevertheless, all three methods were statistically significant for each of the species, and looking at the above mentioned underand overestimations, they can serve as reliable and fast non-destructive tools to be used by resource managers and field biologists to acquire size structure information concerning these two species. Vernier and internal spring caliper ...

Para la estimación de la estructura de tamaños en cangrejos terrestres comerciales y la obtención de información relevante para su manejo, es necesario utilizar métodos rápidos, confiables y no destructivos. Cardisoma guanhumi y Ucides cordatus son dos cangrejos terrestres que son explotados comercialmente en el Caribe y en Brasil. El propósito de este trabajo es suministrar métodos indirectos para la estimación del tamaño del caparazón de los cangrejos y por consiguiente, de la estructura de tallas. Los muestreos se llevaron a cabo en Carenero (C. guanhumi) y en Cumaná (U. cordatus) (Venezuela). Se utilizaron tres métodos para estimar el diámetro de sus madrigueras: Vernier, compás y fotografía. Estos se correlacionaron con el tamaño real del cangrejo. Se aplicó el análisis de regresión Ordinary Least Squares Model II y la capacidad de predicción se probó utilizando el modelo II Mayor Axis para las regresiones. Cardisoma guanhumi mostró una fuerte dispersión de sus datos en los métodos de Vernier y fotografía. Menos dispersión se obtuvo con el método del compás y fue el más preciso (r²= 0.61). Para U. cordatus las medidas con Vernier fueron la más adecuadas (r²= 0.71). Sin embargo los tres métodos fueron confiables. Los diferentes métodos mostraron ventajas y desventajas y dependerá del que aplique los métodos, decidir cuál será el más adecuado para sus propósitos.

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