Abstract
Knowledge of snake ecology is important to support conservation strategies.AtractusparaguayensisWerner, 1924 is a dipsadidae with semi fossorial habits distributed throughout southern Brazil. We analyzed the morphology, seasonality and reproductive biology of this species in a subtropical area in southern Brazil by combining material from scientific collections and field data. We found that females have a larger body size than males and that the reproductive cycle of females is seasonal, with vitellogenesis occurring in the warmer months of the year. Males exhibited no differences in testicle volume throughout the year; however, mating likely occurs in the spring when males are more active. Recruitment of newborns occurs in late summer. The number of individuals collected during the hottest months (September through February) was significantly higher than the number of individuals collected during the colder months. Our results, which reveal sexual dimorphism in the species and seasonal breeding restricted to warm months, contribute important information about this species’ biology.
Highlights
Snake biology is commonly discussed in the literature, and reproduction of neotropical snakes is a recurrent topic (Bizerra et al 2005, Prudente et al 2007, Gomes and Marques 2012, Bellini et al 2013, Panzera and Maneyro 2013, Marques et al 2014)
Atractus paraguayensis Werner, 1924, which can be found in southern Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (Passos et al 2010), displays terrestrial or fossorial habits
We examined 163 specimens of A. paraguayensis from southern Brazil, 126 of which were preserved specimens from the following collections: Fundação Zoobotânica (FZB), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Universidade de Passo Fundo (UPF), Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina (UNOESC) and Universidade de Chapecó (UNOCHAPECO)
Summary
Snake biology is commonly discussed in the literature, and reproduction of neotropical snakes is a recurrent topic (Bizerra et al 2005, Prudente et al 2007, Gomes and Marques 2012, Bellini et al 2013, Panzera and Maneyro 2013, Marques et al 2014). Snakes may present SSD (e.g. in body size; females larger than males), tail size (males’ tails longer than females’ tails), the quantity or shape of scales, and sexual dichromatism (Shine 1994, Pizzato et al 2007). Beyond morphological differences, these snakes may have well-defined reproductive traits, such as females with double vitellogenesis, where the primary has transparent or whitish-colored follicles (sexually immature and mature females), and the secondary has yellow coloring at the yolk (sexually mature females) (Shine 1994, Almeida-Santos and Salomão 2002). There is limited information about the natural history of this species
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