Composition and Natural History of Snakes from Etá Farm region, Sete Barras, south-eastern Brazil.

Bruno R Da Silva,Frederico Alcântara Menezes,Bruno F Fiorillo,Otavio A V Marques,Marcio Martins

doi:10.3897/zookeys.931.46882

Abstract

Approximately 140 snake species are known to occur in the Atlantic Forest with nearly half being endemic to this ecoregion. However, the Atlantic forest is one of the most threatened tropical ecoregions, with only 16% of its original area remaining as forest. This extensive habitat loss must have had a negative effect on its snake fauna. Indeed, 53% of the threatened snakes of Brazil occur in the Atlantic forest. Therefore, basic natural history information that can potentially contribute to the conservation of Atlantic forest snakes are urgently needed. Here the natural history of a snake assemblage at Etá Farm region, Sete Barras municipality, south-eastern Brazil is described, and a visual guide and an identification key provided that can be used by researchers and local people to identify snakes from this region. Most of the species found in the field use both open areas and forests, are primarily terrestrial, present diurnal activity, and include frogs in their diet. A higher number of enlarged follicles, eggs, and/or embryos were recorded during the warm and rainy season. Seventeen different types of defensive tactics were recorded in the species found in the field. This study provides useful information for understanding the structure of snake assemblages of the Atlantic Forest and is potentially useful for conservation assessments and for designing conservation plans.

Highlights

Natural history information, what organisms do in their respective environments, including interactions between them (Greene 1994), contributes beyond the basic refinement of science (Greene and McDiarmid 2005) and to our understanding of how environments function and, aids in many aspects of conservation, management, and appreciation of nature (Caughley 1994, Brooks and McLennan 2002, Dayton 2003)
53% of the threatened snakes of Brazil occur in the Atlantic forest and there is a lack of baseline data for an additional ten snake species, from this ecoregion, making the assessment of their conservation status difficult (ICMBio, 2018)
Besides the 17 species we found during our fieldwork at Fazenda Etá region and C. cropanii (Machado Filho et al 2011), eight additional species are known to occur in the Sete Barras municipality: Chironius bicarinatus, Chironius foveatus, Clelia plumbea, Table 1

Summary

Introduction

What organisms do in their respective environments, including interactions between them (Greene 1994), contributes beyond the basic refinement of science (Greene and McDiarmid 2005) and to our understanding of how environments function and, aids in many aspects of conservation, management, and appreciation of nature (Caughley 1994, Brooks and McLennan 2002, Dayton 2003) Despite their obvious relevance, there is still a considerable knowledge gap on the ecology and behaviour of most snake species, even in well-studied regions in the world (Greene 2005). Basic natural history information that can potentially contribute to the conservation of Atlantic forest snakes are urgently needed

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Conclusion