Abstract
BackgroundThe Atlantic Forest is a hotspot for biodiversity, an area which houses high species richness and endemism, but with high level of threat. With reference to the herpetofauna, until recently there has been no detailed information regarding diversity of snakes recorded in the Atlantic Forest, the number of endemic species and their distribution ranges. While these basic data were missing, large areas of original forest have continued to be lost to increased urbanization and human population, representing a severe threat to the biodiversity.New informationWe recorded 28 snake species in our study area. Dipsadidae was the richest family with 14 species, followed by Colubridae (eight species), Boidae (two species), Viperidae (two species), and Anomalepididae, Elapidae and Typhlopidae (one species each). Most species were forest inhabitants (61%), of which 13 are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. There were no clearly defined species clusters regarding species composition. None of the species recorded in Niterói are listed as threatened in the Brazilian Redlist. However, most of them are strongly associated with forested areas and, perhaps, are not adapted to live in small fragments. Thus, more initiatives should be implemented to evaluate the true conservation status of these species in order to better protect them.
Highlights
The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is one of the largest Neotropical rainforests originally covering around 150 million ha (Tabarelli et al 2005, Ribeiro et al 2009)
The species richness found in Niterói represents 34% of the snake species known for the state of Rio de Janeiro (Rocha et al 2004) and 7.3% of the species known for Brazil (Costa and Bérnils 2014)
The richness found in Niterói is similar to that reported for other localities in the Atlantic Forest, such as Viçosa (Minas Gerais; 27 species; Costa et al 2010), Duque de Caxias (Rio de Janeiro, 33 spp., Salles and Silva-Soares 2010), Serra do Medanha (Rio de Janeiro, 27 spp., Pontes and Rocha 2008) and Vitória (Espírito Santo, 27 spp., SilvaSoares et al 2011)
Summary
The Atlantic Forest is a hotspot for biodiversity, an area which houses high species richness and endemism, but with high level of threat. With reference to the herpetofauna, until recently there has been no detailed information regarding diversity of snakes recorded in the Atlantic Forest, the number of endemic species and their distribution ranges. While these basic data were missing, large areas of original forest have continued to be lost to increased urbanization and human population, representing a severe threat to the biodiversity. We recorded 28 snake species in our study area. Urban Inventory, Serpentes, Species Richness, Forested Areas, Endemism, Conservation
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