The neighbouring sites of Berești and Mălușteni (Eastern Carpathian Foreland, eastern Romania) have yielded the most abundant and taxonomically diverse Pliocene vertebrate assemblages described so far from the entire country. Some of the small mammals found here were described as new taxa, and occasionally reassessed during the past one hundred years, but most of the material collected initially remained unrevised. Here, we provide a taxonomic revision of all the small mammal material (insectivores, rodents, and lagomorphs) that could be found in three main collections. The studied specimens were assigned to the insectivore families Desmanidae (Desmana verestchagini and Talpa sp.), and Erinaceidae (Erinaceus sp.); to the rodent families Muridae (Mimomys sp. or Promimomys sp.; Allocricetus sp.), Sciuridae (Spermophilus cf. nogaici), Spalacidae (Pliospalax macoveii), and Castoridae (Trogontherium minus, Castor fiber); and to the lagomorph families Leporidae (Trischizolagus dumitrescuae) and Ochotonidae (Ochotona ursui). Compared to the faunal assemblages described from Central-Eastern Europe, the identified taxa (some confirmed, others reassessed as synonyms) support an Early Pliocene age for the vertebrate assemblages from Berești and Mălușteni. Both faunal assemblages are assigned to the Ruscinian, with the faunas from Berești being considered geologically slightly older than the ones from Mălușteni.

Insectivore remains are not common in the Lower Oligocene of Europe. For this reason, the study of the earliest Oligocene insectivore fauna (MP 21) from Boutersem and Hoogbutsel, all together yielding nine species, representing five families, constitutes an important progress in the knowledge of the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene insectivore evolution. Some of the genera discovered in Belgium are known from upper Eocene sites (Saturninia, Amphidozotherium, Euronyctia, Eotalpa), whereas others are not known before the Oligocene (Butselia, Tetracus, Heterosoricinae ind.). The co-occurrence of primitive species of Nyctitheriidae with modern forms belonging to the Plesiosoricidae, Talpidae and Erinaceidae at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary suggests a transition fauna. Between the Priabonian (Late Eocene) and the Rupelian (Early Oligocene), the endemic European insectivores were in competition with the new immigrants. This faunal turnover is generally accepted as the ‘Grande Coupure’ event (the MP 21 event).

Recent schistosomiasis control efforts in sub-Saharan Africa have focused nearly exclusively on treatment of humans with praziquantel. However, the extent to which wild mammals act as reservoirs for Schistosoma mansoni and therefore as sources of renewed transmission following control efforts is poorly understood. With the objective to study the role of small mammals as reservoir hosts, 480 animals belonging to 9 rodent and 1 insectivore species were examined for infection with schistosomes in Kisumu, in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya. Animals were collected from 2 sites: near the lakeshore and from Nyabera Marsh draining into the lake. A total of 6·0% of the animals captured, including 5 murid rodent species and 1 species of shrew (Crocidura olivieri) were infected with schistosomes. Four schistosome species were recovered and identified using cox1 DNA barcoding: S. mansoni, S. bovis, S. rodhaini and S. kisumuensis, the latter of which was recently described from Nyabera Marsh. Schistosoma mansoni and S. rodhaini were found infecting the same host individual (Lophuromys flavopunctatus), suggesting that this host species could be responsible for the production of hybrid schistosomes found in the area. Although the prevalence of S. mansoni infection in these reservoir populations was low (1·5%), given their potentially vast population size, their impact on transmission needs further study. Reservoir hosts could perpetuate snail infections and favour renewed transmission to humans once control programmes have ceased.

Depending on the mosaic of habitats that is created, forest fragmentation can reduce the abundance and diversity of forest birds. Temperate deciduous forests in South America are rapidly being replaced by pine plantations, causing changes in habitats for both breeding and migrant birds. We examined differences in avian species richness and abundance in three areas: a reserve with continuous tracts of native forest, forest fragments and pine plantations. Four species were negatively affected by fragmentation, with their abundance declining from continuous forest to pine plantations. Fourteen species were not affected by fragmentation and eight had significantly increased abundance in pine plantations compared to continuous forest. Overall abundance in pooled and ground/understorey birds was higher in forest fragments and pine plantations compared to continuous forest. The abundance of granivorous species was higher in the pine plantations than in the forest reserve, but the abundance of insectivorous species was higher in the forest reserve and in forest fragments than in pine plantations. Thus, forest fragmentation affects birds differentially according to their feeding ecology.