scholarly journals Snakes of the Pernambuco Endemism Center, Brazil: diversity, natural history and conservation

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1002 ◽  
pp. 115-158
Author(s):  
Rafaela C. França ◽  
Mayara Morais ◽  
Frederico G. R. França ◽  
Dennis Rödder ◽  
Mirco Solé

The Atlantic Forest is one of the largest and richest tropical rainforests on the planet, being one of the 25 world priorities for conservation. The Atlantic Forest portion located north of the São Francisco River corresponds to the Pernambuco Endemism Center (PEC). We describe the snake composition of the PEC, providing information about the diversity, natural history and geographical distribution of the species, based on records from five scientific collections and additional information from the literature. A total of 78 species of snakes distributed in eight families was registered in the Pernambuco Endemism Center. The Caatinga is the Brazilian biome that most shares species with the PEC, followed by Cerrado. On the other hand, seven species are considered endemic of this region. Most of the snake species in the PEC have been registered in forest (94.8%), followed by “Brejos Nordestinos” (46.1%), Tabuleiros (43.5%), Restingas (14.1%) and Mangroves (5.1%). The PEC snake fauna includes mainly terrestrial species (60.2%) and cryptozoic and/or fossorial species (21.7%), but also presents a high richness of semi-arboreal and arboreal species (29.5%). Vertebrates are the main food item consumed by the species (78% of species), among the main prey are mammals, lizards, and amphibians. Most species show a strictly nocturnal activity period (50%), followed by strictly diurnal (38%). The PEC is the most degraded and least known region of the Atlantic Forest, yet it has revealed a high richness of snake species, including seven endemic species. It is emphasized that regional conservation efforts need to be intensified, because few forests in the region are formally protected, and the majority consist of small and poorly protected fragments, which means that many species in the region may be in risk of extinction.

The Condor ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan I. Areta ◽  
Alejandro Bodrati ◽  
Gregory Thom ◽  
Adrian Eisen Rupp ◽  
Myriam Velazquez ◽  
...  

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5061 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-368
Author(s):  
VINICIUS M. LOPEZ ◽  
RENAN KOBAL DE OLIVEIRA ALVES CARDOSO ◽  
RODRIGO R. CEZÁRIO ◽  
RHAINER GUILLERMO-FERREIRA ◽  
EDUARDO F. DOS SANTOS

We describe the new species Entypus renata, sp. nov., from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and report on its host. We also provide the first host records for Ageniella (Priophanes) erythroptera (Banks), Entypus bituberculatus (Guérin-Méneville) and an undetermined species of Poecilopompilus Ashmead. In addition, we report behavioral aspects for these species, including a new ethological sequence for Poecilopompilus.  


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5032 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-441
Author(s):  
LUIZ FERNANDO CARMO ◽  
JULIANA ALVES ◽  
IURI R. DIAS ◽  
MIRCO SOLÉ ◽  
CAIO V. DE MIRA-MENDES ◽  
...  

The Neotropical tribe Sphaenorhynchini is composed of 15 recognized species commonly named as “lime treefrogs”. Gabohyla pauloalvini occurs in Atlantic Forest lowlands through the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo, Brazil. Based on field observation, literature review, and evaluation of audio files, we conclude that previous bioacoustic descriptions were erroneously assigned to G. pauloalvini. Here, we describe for the first time the advertisement call of G. pauloalvini from two disjunct populations. In addition, we provide new distribution records and an updated map for this species. The advertisement call of G. pauloalvini is composed of 1–5 closely spaced notes, with duration of 0.016–1.976 s, inter-note intervals of 0.340–1.25 s, and an average dominant frequency (= fundamental frequency) of 4966.0 Hz. Harmonics are visible in the spectrogram. Three new populations of G. pauloalvini have been recorded and extended the distribution by 60 km south. Nevertheless, G. pauloalvini is still known only from few localities. We highlight the importance of depositing audio recordings and specimens in scientific collections to promote systematics and natural history studies.  


Mammalia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atilla C. Ferreguetti ◽  
Walfrido M. Tomas ◽  
Helena G. Bergallo

Abstract The spotted paca Cuniculus paca (Linnaeus, 1766) is a medium-sized caviomorph rodent of the Cuniculidae family that mainly inhabits tropical forests, but may occur in other habitat types, often associated with water bodies. We aimed to verify which factors influence the spatial and temporal distribution of C. paca in the Vale Natural Reserve (VNR), Espírito Santo, Brazil. We used 39 camera traps to model occupancy and detectability and to estimate the species activity period. The spotted paca showed high occupancy at low distances from water resources and high densities of palm species. The species avoided areas with high poaching intensity, and activity frequency was reduced by extreme temperature and by a higher intensity of poaching. We conclude that in the VNR, the C. paca is a nocturnal species and that it is necessary to assess other elements that could potentially affect the spatial and temporal distribution of the spotted paca in the Atlantic Forest.


Mammalia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 70 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Carmignotto ◽  
Talitha Monfort

AbstractThe recent increase in mammal inventories and the widespread use of pitfall traps as a major capture method in Brazil have increased the number of non-volant small mammal specimens in scientific collections, providing new information on natural history, geographical range, and taxonomic status of many marsupials and rodents. To date, however, little is known about the Brazilian species of the marsupial genus Thylamys : the number of species in the country is disputed, as are their names and geographic distribution. Thus, the aim of this study was to define the Brazilian species of the genus, delimiting their taxonomic status and distributional range. We provide qualitative and quantitative data on external and skull morphology for specimens housed in scientific collections. A study of the material available allowed us to recognize the occurrence of three species in Brazil: Thylamys karimii (Petter, 1968), T. macrurus (Olfers, 1818) and T. velutinus (Wagner, 1842). For each of these we provide redescriptions, a discussion of local and geographic variations, geographic distribution, taxonomy, age class differentiation, sexual dimorphism, and natural history.


Author(s):  
O. Klymyshyn

The publishing activity of the museum for the whole period of its existence is analyzed, starting from the first published in the museum by V. Didushitsky in 1880 and up to 2018 inclusive. Approximately this work is about 3.5 thousand publications, among which 84 monographs; 35 issues of the scientific miscellany "Proceedings of the State Natural History Museum"; 5 issues of the book series "Scientific Collections of the State Natural History Museum"; more than 50 catalogs of museum collections, thematic miscellanies, qualifiers, dictionaries and guides; about 2.2 thousand scientific articles; about 1 thousand materials and abstracts of reports of scientific conferences, as well as dozens of popular scientific articles, brochures and booklets.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana González-Hernández ◽  
Dulce M. Moro-Hernández ◽  
J. Alberto Cruz

We report the second record of Thamnophis pulchrilatus in the State of Puebla, and the first record of arboreal behavior for the species and second for the genus. In addition, we provide natural history data for this snake species.


2004 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Van Sluys ◽  
V. M. Ferreira ◽  
C. F. D. Rocha

Information on the ecology of lizard species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is scarce and almost nothing is known about the ecology of lizards of the genus Enyalius. In this study, we provide information about some aspects of the natural history of E. brasiliensis from an area of Atlantic Forest in Ilha Grande, RJ. Enyalius brasiliensis (N = 15) feeds mainly on arthropods. The most frequent food items were insect larvae, orthopterans, and ants; in terms of volume, larvae and termites were the most important food items; ants and termites were the most numerous prey categories. Two females were reproductive (one had 10 and the other, five vitellogenic follicles); the smallest measured 92.4 mm in SVL. Seven lizards were found on forest leaf litter. The other microhabitats used were vines, fallen logs, branches, and a crevice on a slope.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2041 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDRÉ NEMÉSIO

A detailed synopsis of all the orchid-bee species known to occur in the Atlantic Forest Domain, eastern Brazil, is provided, including synonymy, complete type data, diagnoses, relevant data on biology and geographic distribution (with detailed localities of known occurrence of each species), colorful illustrations of onomatophores (“name-bearing type specimens”), and a list with the main references dealing with each species. Fifty-four species are recognized to occur in the Atlantic Forest Domain. Identification keys are presented for each genus and their species occurring in the Atlantic Forest. Euglossa carinilabris Dressler, 1982, Euglossa cyanaspis Moure, 1968, Eulaema (Eulaema) niveofasciata (Friese, 1899) and Exaerete lepeletieri Oliveira & Nemésio, 2003, considered junior synonyms of other species by different authors, are reinstated as valid species. A full discussion on the status of the four orchid-bee species described by Linnaeus is presented, as well as colorful illustrations of the four onomatophores. The two existing onomatophores of orchid bee species described by Fabricius are also illustrated and his Apis cingulata has been shown to be the species recently described as Eulaema (Apeulaema) pseudocingulata Oliveira, 2006, which, thus, becomes a junior synonym (syn. n.). Euglossa aratingae sp. n., Euglossa carolina sp. n., Euglossa nanomelanotricha sp. n., Euglossa roderici sp. n., Euglossa roubiki sp. n., Eulaema (Eulaema) atleticana sp. n., and Eulaema (Apeulaema) marcii sp. n. are described as new species. Neotypes are designated for Eufriesea violacea (Blanchard, 1840) and Exaerete frontalis (Guérin-Méneville, 1844). Some corrections concerning the repository institutions of some onomatophores of orchid bees were also made: Eufriesea auriceps (Friese, 1899) holotype has been listed as belonging to the US National Museum (Washington) or to the American Museum of Natural History (New York) but, in fact, it belongs to the Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt Universität (Berlin); the lectotype of Eufriesea aeneiventris (Mocsáry, 1896) has been listed as belonging to the Istituto e Museo di Zoologia, Universita di Torino (Turin), but it actually belongs to the Hungarian Museum of Natural History (Budapest). Publication dates of both Exaerete frontalis Guérin-Méneville and Exaerete smaragdina Guérin-Méneville have been listed as 1845 but, in fact, the actual date is 1844. Based on the known geographic distribution and abundance of each species in orchid-bee inventories, IUCN criteria were applied and three species are recommended to be included in future lists of threatened species in one of the IUCN categories of risk: Eufriesea brasilianorum (Friese, 1899) and Euglossa cognata Moure, 1970 are suggested to be listed as “vulnerable”, and Euglossa cyanocholora Moure, 1996 is suggested to be listed as “endangered”. A fully annotated check list of all known orchid bee species is also presented as an Appendix.


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