Abstract
Abstract: This study aimed to provide information on composition, abundance, and estimated snakes richness in an area of arboreal Caatinga (seasonally dry tropical forest) and analyze patterns of faunistic similarity between assemblages of snakes in the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. The snakes found within the Fazenda Almas Natural Private Reserve (RPPN Fazenda Almas) were sampled during a 10-year period, with monthly monitoring, employing time constrained search, pitfall traps with drift fences, and donations from local collectors. Twenty-two snake species were recorded, with a predominance of terrestrial species with diurnal-nocturnal activity patterns. The species accumulation curves reached its asymptote, indicating that all possible species in the study area had been recorded. Our results indicated that the snake fauna in the study area is similar to other snake assemblages in localities with Caatinga vegetation in the Sertaneja Depression (“Depressão Sertaneja”) drylands, and that those assemblages constitute faunistic units typical of the interior of northeastern Brazil.
Highlights
The Caatinga biome extends throughout interior of northeastern region of Brazil and the northern part of the state of Minas Gerais and covers an area of approximately 852,261 km2 (Ab’Sáber 1977, Prado 2003, Silva et al 2017)
The snake assemblage at the RPPN Fazenda Almas comprised 22 species belonging to 18 genera and 6 families: Dipsadidae, with 13 species (59.1%), Boidae 3 species (13.6%), Colubridae 2 species, Viperidae 2 species (9.1% each), Leptotyphlopidae 1 species (4.5%), and Elapidae 1 species (4.5%) (Table 2 and Figure 5)
The predominance of xenodontines and species with wide geographic distributions in the study area makes it similar to other neotropical snake assemblages (e.g., Vitt & Vangilder 1983, Strüssman & Sazima 1993, Rodrigues 1996, Sawaya et al 2008, Mesquita et al 2013a, Pedrosa et al 2014, Rodrigues et al 2015, PereiraFilho et al 2017, Sampaio et al 2018) and follows a pattern of snake composition described for the Caatinga biome, including endemic species, such as Bothrops erythromelas, Thamnodynastes sertanejo, and T. phoenix (Guedes et al 2014a, 2014b)
Summary
The Caatinga biome extends throughout interior of northeastern region of Brazil and the northern part of the state of Minas Gerais and covers an area of approximately 852,261 km (Ab’Sáber 1977, Prado 2003, Silva et al 2017). The predominant vegetation type is the seasonally dry tropical forest and woodlands (SDTFW) (Pennington et al 2009, Queiroz et al 2017). The SDTFW comprises at least thirteen different phytophysiognomies with elevated densities of woody plants, known collectively as caatingas, whose production of leaves and flowers are dependent on seasonal rainfall (Andrade-Lima 1981, Prado 2003). The strong seasonal dryness makes even the rainy period sub-humid, and the dry season, lasts from five to seven months, almost totally arid (Ab’Sáber 1977)
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