Over a 10-year period, 173 isolates of Salmonella were obtained during routine isolation from reptiles. Of the 173 isolates, 92 different Salmonella serovars were identified. Of them, 61 (66%) belonged to subspecies I, nine to subspecies II and 21 to subspecies III (IIIa and IIIb), and one to subspecies IV. The majority of isolates were from farmed Nile crocodiles (145), three from wild-caught ...

Ensuring the persistence of at-risk species depends on implementing conservation actions that ameliorate threats. We developed and implemented a method to quantify the relative importance of threats and to prioritize recovery actions based on their potential to affect risk to Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii). We used assessments of threat importance and elasticities of demographic r...

In the present study, we provide new tick records from Vilhena Municipality, in the Southeast of the State of Rondônia, Northern Brazil. Ticks collected from a capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus), were identified as Amblyomma romitii Tonelli-Rondelli (1 female), and Amblyomma sp. (1 larva). Ticks collected from a harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja (Linnaeus), were identified as Amblyomma ca...

To test phylogenetic relationships within the genus Testudo (Testudines: Testudinidae), we have sequenced a fragment of the mitochondrial (mt) 12S rRNA gene of 98 tortoise specimens belonging to the genera Testudo, Indotestudo, and Geochelone. Maximum likelihood and neighbor-joining methods identify two main clades of Mediterranean tortoises, one composed of the species Testudo graeca, Testudo ...

We sampled 21 study plots for desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California. Each plot was sampled once between 1997 and 2003 to obtain a snapshot of population attributes, status, and relationships between tortoise densities and human activities. Densities ranged from o1 to 28 tortoises km ; overall, tortoises were uncommon to rare at 16 of the 2...

We developed and optimized a simple, efficient and inexpensive method for in vitro culture of peripheral blood lymphocytes from the Brazilian tortoise Chelonoidis carbonaria (Testudinidae), testing various parameters, including culture medium, mitogen concentration, mitotic index, culture volume, incubation time, and mitotic arrest. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from the costal vei...

2. Tests with known mixtures of phosphate esters and the recovery of the phosphorus of muscle extracts from the chromatograms suggest that the individual values obtained with the method in its present form are reliable to within 10 %. 3. Trichloroacetic acid extracts of muscle have been found to contain certain phosphate esters not yet identified. 4. The pyrophosphate fraction present in the ex...

The hemolysate from Geochelone denticulata contains two main hemoglobin components, as shown by ion exchange chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Electrophoresis under dissociating conditions showed three types of globin chains. The apparent molecular mass, as determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, was compatible with tetrameric Hb, which was unable to polymeri...

When solving large nonsymmetric systems of linear equations with the restarted GMRES algorithm, one is inclined to select a relatively large restart parameter in the hope of mimicking the full GMRES process. Surprisingly, cases exist where small values of the restart parameter yield convergence in fewer iterations than larger values. Here, two simple examples are presented where GMRES(1) conver...