Squamate reptiles of the Atlantic Forest of northern Bahia, Brazil

Marco Freitas

doi:10.15560/10.5.1020

Abstract

We present a list of squamate reptiles of the northern Atlantic forest of Bahia, Brazil, comprising a total of 29 municipalities. The study area was sampled opportunistically over more than 20 years resulting in a total of 482 specimens deposited in various herpetological collections. Of these, 314 were snakes belonging to 62 species and seven families, 42 were amphisbaenas belonging to five species in a single family and 125 specimens were lizards, grouped in 36 species and 12 families.

Highlights

Recent estimates suggest that only 9% of BrazilianAtlantic forest fragments are protected, that 80% of these fragments are smaller than 50 ha, and that they are separated from one another by a mean distance of 1.4 km (Ribeiro et al 2008)
In Bahia, most research on reptiles is conducted in the Atlantic Forest south of the capital, Salvador, leaving the northern portion of the Atlantic Forest largely undocumented
The analyses of the 482 collected individuals revealed a high diversity of species in the North Atlantic forest of Bahia

Summary

Introduction

Atlantic forest fragments are protected, that 80% of these fragments are smaller than 50 ha, and that they are separated from one another by a mean distance of 1.4 km (Ribeiro et al 2008). The inventories of herpetofauna in the Brazilian Atlantic forest have grown in the past 10 years, adding surprising new information to datasets that already demonstrated the Atlantic forest’s megadiversity (Argôlo2004; Tonini et al 2010; Morato et al 2011; Freitas et al 2012; Souza Filho and Verrastro 2012). In Bahia, most research on reptiles is conducted in the Atlantic Forest south of the capital, Salvador, leaving the northern portion of the Atlantic Forest largely undocumented.

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