Edentata is the official publication of the IUCN/SSC Anteater, Sloth and Armadillo Specialist Group. It aims to publish information that contributes to the conservation of xenarthrans.
A broad range of topics is welcomed and encouraged, including taxonomy, systematics, genetics, biogeography, ecology, conservation, behavior, and health. Manuscripts must describe original research findings that have not been published or submitted simultaneously to other journals. Any overlap of contents with already published papers should be minimal.
Edentata accepts manuscripts of original research findings related to any aspect of xenarthran conservation. It also encourages submission of short communications, field notes, thesis abstracts, news items, recent events, book reviews, congress announcements, and the like.
Manuscripts may be written in English, Portuguese or Spanish. Authors whose first language is not English should please have their texts carefully reviewed by a native English speaker.
Once the manuscript has been received, the editors will perform a first evaluation. Manuscripts not satisfying the editorial instructions will be returned to the author without review.
Conservation research ethics
When submitting their work, authors must confirm in written that their research protocols have been approved by an authorized animal care or ethics committee and/or the authors had the necessary permits to carry out their research. Authors must be aware of, and adhere to, all laws, treaties and regulations currently applying to their work.
Editorial instructions
Format
Please type all parts of the manuscript (including references, figure and table legends, and annexes) in 12-point font, Times New Roman or Arial. Justify the text to the left and double-space it throughout. Do not use footnotes.
Number all pages, including the title page, in the lower right corner. Submit the main text as a DOC or RTF file, and the tables and figures in separate files.
Style
The style of writing should be simple and concise. Avoid large, complex sentences that are difficult to read.
Words in other languages
Words in other languages, including allowed abbreviations, should be written in italics.
Nomenclature
The taxonomic nomenclature must follow the updated rules and recommendations of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Scientific names, of generic or inferior category, must be written in italics.
Abbreviations
Use the decimal metric system for all measurements. Abbreviate units of measure when preceded by a numeral and write them out in all other cases (e.g., 5.4 m or several meters).
Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence. Also, spell out all numbers under ten unless they are associated with units of measure. Example: three armadillos, one sloth and 12 anteaters.
Express fractions as decimals (e.g., 0.25 instead of ¼). Use a decimal comma in Spanish and Portuguese, and a decimal point in English texts. The symbols > and < may be used if accompanied by a dimension (e.g., <2 m).
Abbreviations should end with a period, except those corresponding to measurements and distances, such as kg, m, km, µm, which are symbols. Use the abbreviation Fig. or Figs, when referring to figures within the text (e.g., Fig. 1, Figs. 2–4; as shown in Fig. 2…).
Leave a space between numbers and their dimensions (e.g., 2 km or 07:15 hr; do not write 2km or 07:15hr).
Report dates in the day — month (spelled out) — year format, with no period or comma (e.g., 25 August 2010). Use the 24-hr system for time, followed by the abbreviation “hr” (e.g., 07:15 hr or 21:00 hr).
Organization
First page
The first page of each manuscript must include the following items in the order given:
- Title: It should be concise and informative, and include the species involved (with scientific name) when applicable. Research articles and short communications in Portuguese and Spanish must include an English translation of the title below its original.
- Author names and affiliations: Please give full name details for all authors and mark the corresponding address with a lower-case superscript letter. List the affiliation addresses of all authors (where the actual work was done) below the names, starting with the corresponding lower-case superscript letter. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the institution's section or department, the institution's full name, street and number, postal code, city, country name and, if available, the email address of each author.
- Present/permanent address: If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, a “present address” may be indicated and marked with a lower-case superscript letter after the author's name.
- Corresponding author: Please indicate with a superscript Latin number who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of the review, publication, and post-publication process.
Second page
-Abstract: Please provide an abstract of no more than 250 words in English in the case of regular articles, and no more than 100 words for short communications and field notes. Manuscripts submitted in Spanish or Portuguese must include an abstract in the original language, plus an English translation. Manuscripts in English must also include an abstract in Spanish or Portuguese. The abstract must be completely self-explanatory and intelligible in itself, and state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions. Do not include references or uncommon abbreviations.
- Keywords: Please list up to six keywords in the two languages used for the abstract, in alphabetical order and separated by commas, that best describe the nature of your work. Keywords should include the scientific and common name of the principal species studied.
Main body of the manuscript
The standard format consisting of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion should be used for full-length manuscripts. Short communications and field notes should not be divided in sections.
Headings
Three classes of headings are allowed within the text of a manuscript:
- First-level headings (the most inclusive) are written in bold, justified to the left, and not followed by punctuation.
- Second-level headings are written in italics, not bold, justified to the left, and are not followed by punctuation. The corresponding text starts on the next line, as a new paragraph.
- Third-level headings are written in italics, not bold, justified to the left, and end with a colon. The paragraph text follows on the same line.
Lists of items within the text should be preceded by Arabic numerals followed by a period (1.) or by bullets (•).
Introduction
The introduction should state the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background.
Materials and Methods
This section should include sufficient detail to allow the study to be reproduced. Whenever applicable, study sites should be clearly identified and geographical coordinates included. Adequate references should be included for methods that have already been published elsewhere. Commonly used statistical methods need not be described in detail, but adequate references should be provided.
Results
This section should highlight the key results and not repeat data already included in figures or tables.
Discussion
The discussion may be combined with the Results section. It should interpret the results in the context of other published work. In addition, it should discuss the significance or the implications of the findings for species or ecosystem conservation.
References
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also listed in the reference section, and vice-versa. Unpublished results and personal communications should not be included in the References list, but rather be cited in the text.
In-text citations
Single author citations should include only the author's surname and the year of publication, separated by a comma. Citations with two authors should list both authors' names, separated by “&”. In the case of three authors or more, the first author's surname is followed by et al. (in italics).
Groups of references should be listed first chronologically, then alphabetically. In this case, citations should be separated by semicolons.
Examples: (Nowak, 1991; Anacleto, 1997; Wetzel, 1985a, b; Emmons & Feer, 1999; Noss et al., 2004). McDonough & Loughry (2001) stated that…
References section
In the References section, citations should be listed in alphabetic order by the first author's surname. Please note that the initials of authors and editors must be separated by a space. If there is more than one article by authors whose names appear in the same order in each paper, the articles are listed in chronological order. Articles with multiple authors but the same lead author are arranged together, alphabetically by second, and then by third, author, etc. Articles by the same authors in the same year are assigned a letter suffix (e.g., 1985a).
Only the first word and proper nouns in titles of articles begin with a capital letter. Names of journals should not be abbreviated. Only mention issue numbers of a volume if the pages of the latter are not numbered consecutively from the first issue on.
Examples:
Journal publication:
Vynne, C., R. B. Machado, J. Marinho Filho & S. K. Wasser. 2009. Scat-detection dogs seek out new locations of Priodontes maximus and Myrmecophaga tridactyla in Central Brazil. Edentata 8–10: 13–14.
McDonough, C. M., S. A. McPhee & W J. Loughry. 1998. Growth rates of juvenile nine-banded armadillos. Southwestern Naturalist 43: 462–468.
Please note that in this last example, the issue number (4) has not been included because the pages of volume 43 are numbered consecutively from its first volume on. In other words, instead of writing 43(4): 462–468, only 43: 462–468 is used.
Book:
Eisenberg, J. F. 1989. Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 1. The Northern Neotropics: Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 624 pp.
Book chapter:
Superina, M., F. Miranda & T. Plese. 2008. Maintenance of Xenarthra in captivity. Pp. 232–243 in: The Biology of the Xenarthra (S. F. Vizcaíno & W J. Loughry, eds.). University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Wetzel, R. M. 1985. The identification and distribution of recent Xenarthra (=Edentata). Pp. 5–21 in: The evolution and ecology of armadillos, sloths, and vermilinguas (G. G. Montgomery, ed.). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London.
Proceedings and congress abstracts:
Noss, A. 1999. La sostenibilidad de la cacería de subsistencia izoceña. P. 80 in IV Congreso Internacional sobre manejo de fauna silvestre en Amazonia y Latinoamérica, Asunción.
Rogel, T. G., C. E. Pellegrini, J. A. Agüero, A. R. Bamba, P. C. Paez & E. M. Virlanga. 2005. Caracterización de la dieta de dasipódidos del chaco árido riojano. P. 128 in XX Jornadas Argentinas de Mastozoología (SAREM, ed.), Buenos Aires.
Dissertation or Thesis:
Abba, A. M. 2008. Ecología y conservación de los armadillos (Mammalia, Dasypodidae) en el noreste de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Doctoral Thesis, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata. 246 pp.
Steuber, J. G. 2007. The cost of an emerging disease: Mycobacterium leprae infection alters metabolic rate of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus). Master's Thesis, University of Akron, Akron. 31 pp.
Website:
IUCN. 2010. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. <http://www.iucnredlist.org/>. Downloaded on 17 August 2010.
CITES. 2007. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, <http://www.cites.org>. Downloaded on 12 December 2007.
Tables
Please submit tables in a separate file, and never within the main body of the text. Type each table on a separate page and number them consecutively in Arabic numerals. List the table captions on a separate page at the end of the manuscript, following the Reference section. Table captions should be concise and descriptive enough to be able to stand alone. Please omit all vertical lines in tables; place single horizontal lines under the title, under the column headings, and at the bottom of the table. Do not use footnotes.
Figures
Articles may include small high-quality photographs (color or black and white), figures, and maps. List the figure captions on a separate page of the manuscript, following the Table captions. Image resolution should be 300 dpi or higher in any of the following electronic file formats: .jpg, .tif, .eps, .pdf .psd, or .ai. All figures should be submitted in separate files, with the file name referring to the corresponding figure number.
