Abstract
Abstract We present the first detailed inventory of the lizard fauna of Alto Sertão region, west of Sergipe state, based on three field expeditions carried out by the authors and specimens deposited at the Herpetological Collection of Universidade Federal de Sergipe. The three inventories were carried out between 2010 and 2016, in the municipalities of Canindé de São Francisco, Poço Redondo, Monte Alegre de Sergipe, Nossa Senhora da Glória, and Porto da Folha. In total, we sampled 9,485 lizards of 19 species (10 families) of which 10 are new records for the study area. The most abundant species were Ameivula ocellifera, Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus. Thirteen species were considered as widely distributed in Caatinga, five presented a relictual distribution and one was exotic. We suggest that future research focus mainly on non-sampled areas and should prioritize the municipalities of Gararu, Nossa Senhora da Glória and Nossa Senhora de Lourdes since they are localities with little or no sampling records.
Highlights
The South American dry open diagonal extends from southwest to northeast of the continent, across Chaco, Cerrado and Caatinga vegetations (Ab’Sáber 1974, 1977, Werneck 2011)
We performed a detailed inventory of Caatinga lizards from Caatinga from the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe and obtained data from 9,485 individuals, representing 19 species and 10 families (Table 1; Figures 3-5)
Considering the Caatinga distribution patterns proposed by Rodrigues (2003), we observed that 73.68% of the sampled species were widely distributed (14 species, one being invasive) and 26.32% had a relictual distribution
Summary
The South American dry open diagonal extends from southwest to northeast of the continent, across Chaco, Cerrado and Caatinga vegetations (Ab’Sáber 1974, 1977, Werneck 2011). The Caatinga is characterized by a semi-arid climate, with high temperatures and low annual precipitation (Trovão et al 2007, Rodal et al 2013); precipitation is highly seasonal and unpredictable with 50 to 70% of the annual rainfall occurring in three consecutive months (Santos & Andrade 1992, Rodal et al 2013). There are forests with a rich flora and medium to large trees that are able to form a canopy, currently classified as a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (Pennington et al 2009, Werneck 2011, Silva et al 2017)
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