SNAKES OF THE PANTANAL: BIOGEOGRAPHY AND TAXONOMIC,

PHYLOGENETIC AND ECOMORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

SERPENTES DO PANTANAL: DIVERSIDADE TAXONÔMICA, FILOGENÉTICA

E ECOMORFOLÓGICA

Liliana Piatti

SÃO PAULO

2017

UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO INSTITUTO DE BIOCIÊNCIAS PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ECOLOGIA

Snakes of the Pantanal: biogeography and taxonomic, phylogenetic

and ecomorphological diversity

Serpentes do Pantanal: diversidade taxonômica, filogenética e

ecomorfológica

Aluno: Liliana Piatti

Orientador: Marcio Roberto Costa Martins

Co-orientadora: Vanda Lúcia Ferreira

SÃO PAULO

2017

1 RESUMO

2 A composição de comunidades biológicas atuais é resultado da interação da história

3 evolutiva dos organismos e dos ambientes com fatores locais contemporâneos que mediam

4 a ocorrência e coexistência das espécies. Em planícies de inundação como o Pantanal, os

5 pulsos de inundação são considerados as principais forças que mediam processos

6 ecológicos, que por sua vez controlam a distribuição espacial e temporal dos organismos e a

7 composição das comunidades. O Pantanal é a maior planície de inundação tropical e possui

8 uma biota menos rica que a encontrada em áreas de entorno. Isto tem sido atribuído as

9 condições adversas que os ciclos de inundações impõem sobre os organismos, e também à

10 recente formação da região. O principal objetivo desta tese foi investigar os padrões de

11 diversidade de comunidades de serpentes no Pantanal a respeito de suas origens,

12 apresentando e testando hipóteses sobre processos passados e atuais que operaram na

13 organização de comunidades de serpentes dessa planície inundável. Nós adotamos

14 abordagens que podem evidenciar processos em escalas temporais recentes e antigas, e

15 uma escala espacial ampla, que abrange toda a bacia hidrográfica onde o Pantanal está

16 situado – a bacia do Rio Paraguai. Nós encontramos que a fauna de serpentes do Pantanal é

17 parte de uma conjunto de espécies amplamente distribuído na bacia, que é relacionado à

18 calha do Rio Paraguai e às planícies associadas a ele. A bacia hidrográfica possui faunas

19 regionalizadas distribuídas ao redor da planície do Pantanal, a qual pode estar atuando

20 como barreira para algumas espécies e como corredor de dispersão para outras. Nossa

21 expectativa de que as inundações sazonais ajam como filtro ambiental, permitindo a

22 ocorrência na planícicie somente das espécies com adaptações para lidar com esses eventos

23 periódicos, não foi suportada. Ao invés disso, as inundações parecem diminuir a força

24 relativa dos processos determinísticos na organização das comunidades e então favorecem a

25 ocorrência de espécies com hábitos generalistas por causarem distúrbios recorrentes no

26 ecossistema. Filtros ambientais podem estar em ação por meio do gradiente de cobertura

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27 de florestas, dando origem a comunidades mais ricas em áreas mais abertas e taxocenoses

28 formadas por espécies com uso de hábitat similares em áreas mais florestadas. Porém esses

29 padrões podem igualmente terem sido produzidos a partir das divergências ecológicas

30 observadas entre as biotas que se originaram em áreas abertas e florestadas da América do

31 Sul, e não pela ação isolada de um filtro ambiental.

32 ABSTRACT

33 composition in biological communities is a result of interactions of the evolutionary

34 history of both organisms and environments, along with local factors that currently mediate

35 species occurrence and coexistence. In floodplains, like the Pantanal, flood pulses are

36 recognized as the main driver of ecological processes that control both species spatial and

37 temporal distribution, but also shape communities. The Pantanal is the largest tropical

38 floodplain on Earth and it has a less rich biota than that of surrounding regions. This has

39 been attributed to the hardness imposed by the flood cycles on the organisms and also to

40 the recent formation of the plain. The main goal of this thesis was to investigate diversity

41 patterns of the community of the Pantanal regarding their origins, through stating and

42 testing hypothesis about past and present processes that acted on the current assembly of

43 snake communities in this seasonal floodplain. We adopted approaches that provided

44 evidences for processes at deep and recent time scales, as well as a wide special scale, that

45 encompasses the entire hydrographic basin where the Pantanal is located – the Paraguay

46 River Basin. We found that Pantanal snake fauna belongs to a species group widely

47 distributed in the basin, and is linked to the Paraguay River channel and nearby lowland

48 areas. The entire basin has regionalized faunas distributed around the Pantanal floodplain,

49 which may be acting as a barrier for some species and as a dispersal corridor for others. Our

50 expectation that seasonal flooding could act as an environmental filter, allowing only species

51 with adaptations to deal with this recurrent event to occur, was not supported. Rather than

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52 that, flooding seemed to be decreasing the relative force of deterministic processes on

53 community assembly and so favoring species with generalist habits by promoting recurrent

54 ecosystem disturbances. Environmental filter can be acting through the forest cover

55 gradient, giving origin to richer communities in more open areas and assemblages formed by

56 species with similar habitat uses in more forested aeras. However, these patterns also could

57 have originated from the ecological divergences between biotas originating from open and

58 forested areas in South America.

59 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

60 The Pantanal, the largest wetland on Earth, is located in central South America [1,

61 2]. The physical and biological aspects of this floodplain seem strongly related to its annual

62 cycles of floods and droughts: flooding provides a permanent exchange of water, sediments,

63 chemical components, and organisms between the main river channels and adjacent areas

64 [1]; the vegetation is distributed over a flooding gradient, in accordance to tolerance to

65 either flood or drought [3]; and communities experience shrinking and expansion of

66 habitats related to the flooding pulse and adapt their natural history or behavior to it [4].

67 Because the Pantanal is a converging point of several South American ecoregions [2],

68 representatives from other biotas are found in the floodplain along with species that have

69 wide distributions, and often they establish large populations in the floodplain [5].

70 Notwithstanding, in general the Pantanal biota is less rich than that of surrounding regions,

71 and thus far no endemisms have been confirmed in the floodplain. This lack of endemicity

72 and decreased richness have been attributed to the harshness imposed by the seasonal

73 cycles on the organisms and also to the recent formation of the Pantanal [2, 3, 4, 5].

74 The main phase of subsidence that resulted in the wetland depression occurred

75 during the transition between the Pliocene and Pleistocene, about 2.5 million years ago [6].

76 The vast plain that resulted from this event nowadays stores water originating from the

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77 surrounding upland regions, and delivers it slowly to the lower sections of the basin. Due to

78 the very low declivity of the terrain, during the rainy season water overflows the main river

79 channels and flows slowly from east to west in permanent and temporary streams and then

80 southward upon entering the Paraguay River [1, 7, 8]. Seasonal fluctuations in water level

81 generally range from 2 to 5 m in the Paraguay River, but typically have lower values across

82 the Pantanal plains, with flooding taking from 3 to 6 months to move across the whole

83 floodplain [1, 7, 8].

84 In floodplains like the Pantanal, the flood pulses drive important seasonal ecosystem

85 changes [9, 10], activating ecological processes that control both the spatial and temporal

86 distribution of organisms as well as their life-history strategies. River flow regime

87 adaptations range from behaviors that result in the avoidance of individual floods or

88 droughts, to morphological changes and life cycles that are synchronized with long-term

89 flood patterns [11, 12, 13]. The adverse effects from flooding are responsible for changes in

90 distribution and species composition for several taxa in many regions [4, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17].

91 Researchers have argued that stressful environments, such as seasonally flooded areas, can

92 act as environmental filters [11, 14, 18]. When this occurs, biological communities of these

93 areas are composed only of organisms exhibiting adaptations to deal with the stressful

94 conditions found there, and species in the regional pool that are not adapted to area’s

95 conditions are excluded.

96 Environmental filters are one of the processes that assemble biological

97 communities. In addition to them, species interactions, such as competition, also play a role

98 in structuring of local assemblages [19]. The resultant patterns of filter process are

99 communities composed by more similar species than expected considering the regionally

100 available species pool, because these organisms have the same traits needed for

101 maintaining viable populations in the habitat where the community was established [20]. On

102 the other hand, when interispecific competition is the main force in the assembling of

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103 communities, these will be composed by species with divergent traits, which allows them to

104 use available resources in different ways and co-occur in areas with limited resources [20].

105 Additionally to these deterministic forces, community assembly can be simultaneously

106 influenced by factors that are relatively more stochastic, which include unpredictable

107 disturbance, probabilistic dispersal and random birth-death events [21, 22]. These events act

108 equally on organisms despite their taxonomic identity and result in local communities that

109 are a random subsets of the regional species pool present on larger spatial scales [23].

110 In turn, the diversity patterns observed in regional species pools often are more

111 influenced by historic process that occur at larges scales of time and space, such as species

112 immigration, speciation, and extinction [24]. By the action of theses forces it is possible that

113 regional communities may only contain a subset of the diversity from the areas of origin, or

114 may have diversified with particular ecological tendencies, which constrain the range of

115 possible outcomes that local processes could produce [25]. So, species distributions are

116 shaped by the interplay between evolutionary and ecological processes and one of the

117 major challenges in ecology remains in identifying the processes that regulate species

118 composition in different communities and their relative forces [21, 22, 24].

119 The knowledge about current snakes communities in the Neotropics highlights the

120 strong influence of historical process, such as origin and dispersion of particular clades, on

121 the composition of local assemblages [26, 27, 28]. The three main South American snake

122 lineages have distinct geographic distribution patterns, in consequence, communities from

123 different locations have divergent patterns of species dominance and resource use [26]. But

124 the action of current ecological processes, such as environmental filters, on the diversity of

125 Brazilian snake communities also was evidenced recently: communities from open areas

126 tend to be more clustered than those from forested areas because open areas constrains

127 the occurrence of species with arboreal habitats [29]. Information on snakes of the Pantanal

128 floodplain are yet scarce. Similarly to other organisms, the snake fauna is mixture of the

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129 elements from the surrounding ecoregions, with lower species richness and no endemism

130 [30, 31, 32]. Local community composition follows the expected dominance of Dipsadidae

131 species due to the history of Neotropical snake clades, and is more similar to open domains,

132 such as the Cerrado and the Chaco, than to neighboring forested areas [30, 31, 32]. Despite

133 the hypothesis of environmental similarity with open ecoregions and restrictions imposed by

134 flooding have benn often indicated as primary causers of the recorded diversity patterns,

135 the processes involved in the assembly of Pantanal snake communities, locallly and

136 regionally, have not yet been formally addressed.

137 By characterizing phylogenetic relationships among species within a particular

138 community and among communities, in relation to the regional pool and along with analyses

139 of functional diversity of the assemblages, it is possible to detect the ecological processes

140 that were important in creating the current structure observed in local communities, which

141 species traits these forces act on, and through which, if any, environmental feature they are

142 operating [19, 20, 21, 22]. And through the study of the regional distribution of species

143 associated with particular areas and biogeographical events, it is possible to investigate

144 processes on larger spatial and temporal scales, generating hypotheses about the origin and

145 dispersion of the biota in a particular region [33, 34].

146 In this context, the main goal of this dissertation was to investigate the patterns of

147 diversity of snakes in the Pantanal wetland regarding their origins, presenting and testing

148 hypothesis about past and present processes that acted on the assemblage of current

149 communities of this seasonal floodplain. Considering that the structure of biological

150 communities can be seen as an aggregate property of phenomena on different scales of

151 time and space [24, 35] we adopted approaches that can evidence processes acting on deep

152 and recent time scales, and a wide spacial scale, that encompasses the entire Paraguay River

153 Basin the hydrographic basin where the Pantanal is located. This work is divided in three

154 chapters in the format of scientific papers following the style and organization indicated by

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155 the journal PLOS One. We dedicated the first chapter to a more historical examination,

156 trying to discover whether the snake fauna that occurs in and around the Pantanal

157 floodplain has divergent biogeographical origins and whether the rise of the Pantanal

158 affected the ancestral biota of the region. In the second chapter we searched for

159 environmental and historical factors that drove the turnover of species between different

160 communities inside and outside the Pantanal, in the Paraguay River Basin. And in the third

161 chapter we analyzed the functional and phenotypical structure of these communities to

162 investigate if flooding or other environmental gradients are acting as environmental filters

163 for snakes, or if other processes are more important in the assembly of local communities in

164 the Pantanal and in the Paraguay River Basin.

165 REFERENCES 166 1. Hamilton SK, Sippel SJ, Melack JM. Comparison of inundation patterns among major 167 South American floodplains. J Geophys Res. 2002; 107:1-14. 168 2. Junk WJ, Silva CJ, Cunha CN, Wantzen KM. The Pantanal – Ecology, biodiversity and 169 sustainable management of large Neotropical seasonal wetland. Moscow: Pensoft 170 Publishers; 2011. 171 3. Ferreira-Júnior WG, Schaefer CEGR, Cunha CN, Duarte TG, Chieregatto LC, Carmo 172 FMS. Flood regime and water table determines tree distribution in a forest-savanna 173 gradient in the Brazilian Pantanal. An Acad Bras Ciênc. 2016; 88: 719-731. 174 4. Alho CJR, Silva JSV. Effects of severe floods and droughts on wildlife of the Pantanal 175 wetland (Brazil)—a review. . 2012; 2:591-610. 176 5. Junk WJ, Cunha CN, Wantzen KM, Petermann P, Strüssmann C, Marques MI, et al. 177 Biodiversity and its conservation in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Aquatic Sci. 178 2006; 68:278-309. 179 6. Assine ML, Soares PC. Quaternary of the Pantanal, west-central Brazil. Quat Int . 180 2004; 114:23-24. 181 7. Hamilton SK, Sippel SJ, Melack JM. Inundation pattern in the Pantanal wetland of 182 South America determined from passive microwave remote sensing. Arch Hydrobiol. 183 1996; 137:1-23.

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184 8. Hamilton SK. Hydrological controls of ecological structure and function in the 185 Pantanal Wetland (Brazil). In: McClain ME, editor. The ecohydrology of South 186 American rivers and wetlands. Wallingford: IAHS Press; 2002. pp.133-158. 187 9. Ward JV. Riverine landscapes: biodiversity patterns, disturbance regimes, and 188 aquatic conservation. Biol Conserv. 1998; 83:269-278. 189 10. Junk WJ, Wantzen KM. The flood pulse concept: new aspects, approaches, and 190 applications—an update. In: Welcomme RL, Petr T, editors. Proceedings of the 191 Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, 192 Volume 2. Food and Agriculture Organization & Mekong River Commission. RAP 193 Publication 2004/16. Bangkok: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific; 2004. 194 pp. 117-149. 195 11. Nicole KM, Clements WH, Guevara LS, Jacobs BF. Resistance and resilience of stream 196 insect communities to repeated hydrologic disturbances after a wildfire. Freshw 197 Biol. 2004; 49:1243-1259. 198 12. Renofalt BM, Nilsson C, Jansson R. Spatial and temporal patterns of species richness 199 in a riparian landscape. J Biogeogr. 2005; 32:2025-2037. 200 13. Lucas CM, Sheikh P, Gagnon PR, McGrath DG. How livestock and flooding mediate 201 the ecological integrity of working forests in Amazon River floodplains. Ecol Appl. 202 2016; 26:190-202. 203 14. Lytle DA, Poff NL. Adaptation to natural flow regimes. Trends Ecol Evol, 2004; 16:94- 204 100. 205 15. Parolin P, De Simone O, Haase K, Waldhoff D, Rottenberger S, Kuhn U, et al. Central 206 Amazon floodplain forests: tree survival in a pulsing system. Bot Rev. 2004; 70:357- 207 380. 208 16. Ferreira CS, Piedade MTF, Junk WJ, Parolin P. Floodplain and upland populations of 209 Amazonian Himatanthus sucuuba: effects of flooding on germination, seedling 210 growth and mortality. Environ Exp Bot. 2007; 60:477-483. 211 17. Gerisch M, Agostinelli V, Henle K, Dziock F. More species, but all do the same: 212 contrasting effects of flood disturbance on ground beetle functional and species 213 diversity. Oikos. 2012; 121:508-515. 214 18. Poff NL. Landscape filters and species traits: Towards mechanistic understanding 215 and prediction in stream ecology. J North Am Bentholog Soc. 1997; 16:391-409. 216 19. Webb CO, Ackerly DD, McPeek MA, Donoghue MJ. Phylogenies and Community 217 Ecology. Annu Rev Ecol Syst. 2002; 33:475-505.

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218 20. Weiher E, Keddy P. Ecological Assembly Rules. Perspectives, Advances, Retreats. 219 Cambridge : Cambridge University Press; 1999. 220 21. Leibold MA, Holyoak M, Mouquet N, Amarasekare P, Chase JM, Hoopes MF et al. 221 The metacommunity concept: a framework for multi-scale community ecology. Ecol 222 Lett. 2004; 7:601-13. 223 22. Kembel SW. Disentangling niche and neutral influences on community assembly: 224 assessing the performance of community phylogenetic structure tests. Ecol Lett. 225 2009; 12:949-960. 226 23. Hubbell SP. The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton: 227 Princeton University Press; 2001. 228 24. Vellend M. Conceptual synthesis in community ecology. Quat Rev Biol 2010; 85:183- 229 206. 230 25. Fukami T. Historical contingency in community assembly: integrating niches, species 231 pools, and priority effects. An Rev Ecol Evol Syst. 2015; 46: 1-23. 232 26. Cadle JE, Greene HW. Phylogenetic patterns, biogeography, and the ecological 233 structure of neotropical snake assemblages. In: Ricklefs RE, Schluter D, editors. 234 Species Diversity in Ecological Communities: historical and geographical 235 perspectives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press;1993. pp.281-293. 236 27. França FGR, Mesquita DO, Nogueira CC, Araújo AFB. Phylogeny and ecology 237 determine morphological structure in a snake community in the central Brazilian 238 Cerrado. Copeia. 2008; 1:23-38. 239 28. Burbrink FT, Myers EA. Both traits and phylogenetic history influence community 240 structure in snakes over steep environmental gradients. Ecography. 2015; 38:1036- 241 1048. 242 29. Cavalheri H, Both C, Martins M. The interplay between environmental filtering and 243 spatial processes in structuring communities: the case of Neotropical snake 244 communities. PLoS ONE. 2015; 10(6):e0127959. 245 30. Strüssmann C, Prado CPA, Ferreira VL, Kawashita-Ribeiro R. Diversity, ecology, 246 management and conservation of amphibians and of the Brazilian Pantanal: 247 a review. In: Junk Wj, Da Silva CN, Wantzen KM, editors. The Pantanal: Ecology, 248 biodiversity ad sustainable management of a large Neotropical seasonal wetland. 249 Moscow: Pensoft Publishers; 2011. pp.497-521.

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250 31. Terra JS. Influência de fatores ambientais e espaciais nas comunidades de anfíbios e 251 répteis da Fazenda Nhumirim, Pantanal da Nhecolândia, MS. MSc thesis, 252 Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. 2012. 253 32. Silva Junior MF. Serpentes da fazenda Nhumirim, Pantanal da Nhecolândia, Mato 254 Grosso do Sul, Brasil: composição e comparações com outras taxocenoses 255 Sulamericanas. Msc thesis; Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso. 256 33. Humphries CJ, Parenti LR. Cladistic biogeography: Interpreting Patterns of Plant and 257 Animal Distributions. Oxford: Oxford University; 1999. 258 34. Wiens JJ. The niche, biogeography and species interactions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 259 B Biol Sci. 2011; 366:2336-2350. 260 35. Wiens JJ, Donoghue MJ. Historical biogeography, ecology and species richness. 261 Trends Ecol Evol. 2004; 19:639–644.

10

CHAPTER 1

The Role of the Pantanal Floodplain in the Biogeographical Patterns of

Snakes in the Paraguay River Basin, Central South America

Jacqueline Pimentel Silva1 ¶, Liliana Piatti2¶, Christine Strüssmann3, Vanda Lúcia Ferreira4,

Cristiano de C. Nogueira 5 and Marcio Martins 5*

¹Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Instituto de

Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil

²Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São

Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

3Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato

Grosso, Brazil

4Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul,

Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

5Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo,

São Paulo, Brazil

*Corresponding author

Email: [email protected] (MM)

¶ These authors contributed equally to this work

Short title: Biogeography of the Paraguay River Basin snakes

11

1 ABSTRACT

2 Topographical gradients caused by elevation and subsidence of landscapes are reflected in

3 diversity patterns of several taxa in the Neotropical region, that harbors one of the richest

4 snake faunas of the world. The Pantanal floodplain is the largest continuous tropical wetland

5 area, which arose during last phase of Andean orogeny and changed the primitive drainages

6 of different river basins. The whole floodplain and surrounding areas have never been the

7 main focus of objective analyses of raw distributions under a historical biogeographical

8 perspective. Our aim here was to propose a vicariance model for the Paraguay River basin

9 (PRB) and to test whether snake distribution patterns are consistent with the hypothesis of

10 the Pantanal floodplain as biogeographical barrier. We gathered and reviewed

11 georeferenced snake records from across PRB to test for non-random clusters of species

12 ranges (biotic elements). We used chi-square tests and phylogenetic dispersion indices to

13 test if closely related species were scattered among the different biogeographical units. We

14 subsequently examined spatial relationships between the recovered units and the Pantanal

15 and other putative geographical barriers.Results showed four non-random clusters of

16 species range (biotic elements), comprising 149 species. Phylogenetically close species

17 belonged to different biotic elements. Biotic elements were associated with geographical

18 (Paraguay River, Pantanal floodplain) and ecological barriers. All species from the Pantanal

19 floodplain belonged to a widely distributed biotic element or to the noise component. The

20 limits of the other three biotic elements did not coincide with the borders of the Pantanal,

21 but were restricted to marginal plateaus. Thus, we found a strong regional pattern in the

22 snake fauna of the PRB. The biogeographical pattern found seems influenced by the

23 Pantanal floodplain; it forms the core of a widespread cluster of lowland snake ranges, and

24 may act as a barrier to more restricted biotic elements in surrounding plateaus.

12

25 INTRODUCTION

26 Knowledge of the origins of South American biotas has increased in recent decades

27 as a result of biogeographical studies covering diverse landscapes and several groups of

28 animals and plants (e.g., [1-7]). Vicariance is recognized as an important mechanism driving

29 diversification [8, 9] and Neotropical biodiversity is influenced by this process [10-16].

30 However, few biogeographical studies in the Neotropics have tested the presence of non-

31 random clusters of species ranges, a central prediction of the vicariance model and a crucial

32 step for the delineation of biogeographical units [17].

33 Recurrence of vicariance events over time and space promotes the emergence of

34 distinct and regionalized biotas, by way of fragmentation of ancestral ranges through the

35 appearance of barriers [8, 9, 18]. Thus, according to the vicariance model, the best

36 explanation for non-overlapping distributions between sister groups is the fragmentation of

37 widespread ancestral ranges caused by emerging barriers, followed by allopatric speciation

38 [8, 18]. On average, species ranges originated at the same side of a vicariant barrier will tend

39 to overlap and be more similar to each other than to ranges originated at the other side of

40 the barrier [9, 18, 19]. Thus, the vicariance model predicts a non-random congruence of

41 species ranges, with species originating in a particular area forming a biotic element, that is,

42 a group of species whose ranges are more similar to each other than to those from other

43 groups [19]. Moreover, if speciation is the result of vicariant events, closely related species

44 should originate on different sides of a barrier and, hence, should belong to different biotic

45 elements [19].

46 The Pantanal floodplain is the largest continuous tropical wetland area. It is located

47 at the center of South America, in the depression of the Paraguay River basin. It arose during

48 the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition (about 2.5 ma), in the last phase of Andean orogeny

49 after the subsidence and changes in primitive drainages of the Paraná, Paraguay and Tapajós

50 river basins [20, 21, 22, 23]. The Pantanal floodplain is surrounded by ancient uplands of pre-

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51 Cambrian, Paleozoic and Mesozoic origins. These uplands make up different ecoregions,

52 namely the southwestern Amazon moist and seasonal forests, Cerrado savannas, Chiquitano

53 dry forest, and the dry and humid Chaco [24, 25]. The Paraguay basin is, as a result, one of

54 the most ecologically and geologically heterogeneous areas of South America [26].

55 Our understanding of the historical relationship between the Pantanal and

56 surrounding biotas is limited and controversial [13, 27, 28, 29]. The whole floodplain and

57 surrounding areas have never been the main focus of objective analyses of raw distributions

58 under a historical biogeographical perspective. In floodplains, strong seasonal cycles of

59 floods and droughts determine species diversity and composition [30] and, in general, the

60 Pantanal has a poorer biota than the surrounding regions, possibly because of its more

61 recent formation [31]. Recent studies have suggested a vicariant event for fishes, with the

62 Pantanal subsidence disrupting the ranges of rheophilic taxa once widely distributed

63 throughout Central-Brazilian river basins [32]. In the case of birds, closely related pairs or

64 triads of species occur in allopatry at the edges of the Pantanal, and are absent from the

65 floodplain [27, 33]. It has been suggested that the subsidence of the Chaco plain and

66 adjacent areas was the vicariant event that split these populations into their current disjunct

67 ranges [10]. A biogeographical analysis of Cerrado squamate reptiles has also shown that the

68 species composition in the Pantanal depression differs from that from neighbouring plateaus

69 [12]. The diversity patterns have evidently been significantly influenced by topographical

70 gradients, the faunas in currently elevated plateaus being more isolated compared to those

71 in the depressions, where biotic interchange is more intense [12].

72 Snakes are notable for their high diversity and occurrence in a variety of

73 environments. This is generally attributed to their high speciation rates in tropical areas and

74 great adaptability to available resources [34, 35]. Some morphological adaptations of body

75 shape driven by habitat use seem to deeply affect various ecological attributes of species,

76 such as diet and the ability to use a wide array of available microhabitats, which range from

14

77 fossorial, semifossorial, aquatic, terrestrial and arboricolous [34, 36]. Furthermore, snakes

78 have relatively lower dispersal abilities and smaller ranges than mammals and birds [37],

79 which could strengthen their relations with smaller scale environmental conditions and

80 favor the detection of vicariant co-distributions.

81 Here, we propose a vicariance model for the Paraguay River basin by assessing

82 whether the origins of the Pantanal floodplain may have promoted vicariant events for

83 ancestral taxa. Our main goals are: (1) to search for non-random clusters (biotic elements,

84 sensu [19]) of snake ranges in the Paraguay River basin; (2) to test whether closely related

85 species belong to different biotic elements (see [38]); and (3) assess whether the spatial

86 configuration of biotic elements is consistent with the hypothesis that the origin of Pantanal

87 promoted a vicariant event that isolated ancestral snake ranges.

88 MATERIALS AND METHODS

89 Study area

90 The Paraguay River basin (PRB) is located between 14° and 27° S and 53° and 67° W

91 (map in S1 Appendix). The entire catchment area covers 1,135,000 km2, and includes almost

92 all of Paraguay and parts of , Brazil and Argentina. The basin includes a number of

93 terrestrial ecoregions (sensu [24]): Cerrado, Chiquitano dry forest, Bolivian montane dry

94 forest, dry Chaco, humid Chaco, Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, Central Andean Puna, Southern

95 Andean Yungas and the Pantanal (map in S1 Appendix). The Pantanal is a floodplain covering

96 an area of about 140,000 km2 situated in the upper Paraguay River depression (map in S1

97 Appendix). The area is subjected to an annual, predictable, monomodal flood pulse. During

98 the rainy season (November–March), the vast plain stores water and delivers it slowly to the

99 lower sections of the Paraguay River during the dry season (April–October). Flood intensity

100 varies, but, on average, about one-third of the Pantanal fills up each year, with monthly

101 estimates of total flooded area ranging from 10 to 70% of the entire Pantanal depression

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102 [39]. Because of slight declivity of the terrain (2 to 3 cm per km from north to south, and 5 to

103 25 cm from east to west) floodwaters take about four months to run through the entire

104 Pantanal [39]. The vegetation is a mixture of plant communities from the surrounding

105 biomes: moist forests from the Amazon basin and the Atlantic forest, Cerrado savannas from

106 central Brazil, and dry and wet Chacoan savannas from Bolivia and Paraguay [40]. The limits

107 of the Paraguay basin and the Pantanal adopted here follow [41] and [39], respectively.

108 Species distribution data

109 We obtained species distribution data from 6562 georeferenced snake records from

110 localities across the Paraguay basin (map in S1 Appendix). Records were gathered either by

111 examination of voucher specimens in 12 Brazilian zoological collections (about 60% of the

112 records; see map in S1 Appendix) or by the compilation of reliable literature records (around

113 25%). The database was completed (another 15%) with unpublished data obtained from

114 management plans of protected areas, unpublished technical reports of environmental

115 impact studies, and with original data from partner researchers, whenever they could be

116 confirmed through examination of voucher material. There were no requirements from the

117 Brazilian government for previous submissions of our research to ethics committee, as our

118 methodology did not include the collection of living specimens.

119 Geographical coordinates were obtained by contacting original collectors whenever

120 possible. Alternatively, they were obtained after visual inspection in Google Earth 7.1. If

121 detailed information on localities were lacking, we used municipality centroids. All species

122 that had at least one record available in the Paraguay basin were included in our analysis.

123 followed [42], [43], [44] and [45].

124 Vicariance model and phylogenetic relationships

125 To propose a vicariance scenario for the Paraguay River basin snake fauna, we used

126 biotic element analysis [17], which tests two central predictions of the vicariance model: a)

127 the presence of non-random clusters of ranges (named biotic elements), and b) whether

16

128 closely related species are randomly scattered in different biotic elements. Biotic element

129 analysis looks for predictable patterns produced by vicariance, using raw distribution data

130 alone, and without requiring strict allopatry of species ranges. Thus, this analysis is more

131 robust than traditional area-of-endemism approaches, which are highly affected by dispersal

132 [17, 19, 46].

133 The central idea behind biotic element analysis is that ranges resulting from

134 vicariant events will form clusters, or groups, of geographically structured ranges, which are

135 more similar and less distant to each other than to the ranges of other clusters [17]. Thus,

136 species ranges restricted to the same side of a given barrier may not be identical, or fully

137 sympatric, but will tend to be more similar than ranges formed on the other side of the

138 barrier (see [17]). Biotic element analysis starts from raw point localities mapped onto areas

139 (usually grid cells), resulting in a presence-absence matrix of species in areas. The procedure

140 first computes distances between ranges, varying from 1 (no range overlap, i.e. no shared

141 grid cells) to 0, in fully co-occurring and equal-sized ranges (all presences in grid cells shared

142 by the two species). Then the analysis computes an overall distance measure (T value, [17])

143 between observed ranges [17]. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the program then produces

144 the approximate distribution of T values in sets of simulated ranges, under a null model

145 produced in accordance with the original range sizes, the number of taxa per geographic

146 unit, and the spatial autocorrelation of the occurrences of a taxon [17, 47]. Finally, the

147 observed T statistic is compared to values obtained in the null model. If the observed T value

148 falls within the 95% confidence interval of simulated T values, then no significant range

149 clustering is observed, and the first prediction of the vicariance model is not corroborated.

150 In the case of non-random clustering of species ranges, the observed T ratio is expected to

151 be lower than T ratios obtained by simulations, as clustered species ranges tend to show

152 smaller distance values than random ranges [17, 47].

17

153 In order to produce a presence-absence matrix of species across the study area, we

154 divided the PRB in 89 1x1 degree grid cells. The grid size was chosen seeking to minimize

155 sampling gaps (cells with no occurrence), without losing the details of the occurrence

156 records. We used the “geco” coefficient [47] to calculate the distance matrix between

157 species ranges. This coefficient is derived from the Kulczynski index (as described in [17]),

158 but takes into account the geographical distances between occurrences of the taxa, and is

159 considered robust against the pervasive problem of incomplete sampling [47]. To compare

160 real data with null models we used 1000 randomizations. Analyses were implemented using

161 the “prabclus” package [17] in R statistical software [48].

162 In the case of significant range clustering, biotic elements were then determined by

163 inferring the number of meaningful clusters of species that had similar ranges. For this we

164 used the Model Based Gaussian Clustering (MBGC) as implemented in the package “mclust”

165 [49]. In contrast to other clustering methods, MBGC decides on the number of meaningful

166 clusters and the number of ranges that cannot be assigned adequately to any cluster—the

167 noise components [17, 50]. MBGC operates on a metric scale data set, therefore it is

168 necessary to perform a multidimensional scaling on the matrix of range distances. This step

169 also requires an initial estimation of noise, and the number of dimensions required in

170 multidimensional scaling. We used four multidimensional scaling dimensions and, as

171 suggested by [17], divided the number of species by 40 for detecting the initial noise

172 component. In addition to defining the ranges of biotic elements, we mapped the areas with

173 the highest richness as the core areas of each biotic element—cells with 70% or more of the

174 species recorded in a given biotic element [12]. Given that dispersal may blur the limits of

175 biotic elements, the definition of core areas improves spatial visualization, reducing overlap

176 between adjacent units, and highlighting the segregation among range clusters.

177 After biotic elements are determined, the second prediction of the vicariance model

178 can be tested. It expects a uniform distribution of closely related species across biotic

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179 elements, as a result of allopatric speciation. In a vicariance scenario, phylogenetically close

180 species should be found in different biotic elements, and not gathered within the same

181 range clusters. This corresponds to the cross-table expected under the null hypothesis of

182 independence of rows and columns [17]. We used chi-square statistic to test for

183 independence of rows and columns of the cross-table, with species classified according to

184 their phylogenetic relationships (in rows) and presence in biotic elements (columns). We

185 pruned the phylogenetic hypothesis of squamate proposed by Tonini et al. 2016 [51]

186 to assemble a phylogeny of the snakes in Paraguay River basin. This pruned tree includes

187 70% of the described species recorded in the area (see details in S2 Appendix).

188 Phylogenetically close species were those that appeared as sister species in this phylogeny.

189 We excluded from this step of analysis noise species (species not present in the biotic

190 elements) and species in polytomies. However, if after removing noise species from a

191 polytomy a pair of species remained, theses were not excluded. A total of 34 species pairs

192 were included in this analysis.

193 We also used the Net Relatedness Index (NRI) and Nearest Taxon Index (NTI, see

194 [52]) to further test if the distribution of snakes among biotic elements was random in

195 respect to phylogeny, i.e., whether closely related species were scattered among different

196 biotic elements (BEs), or clustered within particular BEs, using the “picante” package [53].

197 Under a vicariance scenario, biotic elements should be formed by species randomly

198 dispersed or overdispersed in the phylogeny, but not clustered into particular clades. To

199 calculate the significance of these indices we built null models by randomizing

200 presence/absences and keeping the original richness of each biotic element. Negative NRI

201 and NTI values indicate overdispersion and positive values, clustering [53].

202 To avoid bias in our results caused by missing species in the phylogeny we repeated

203 the chi-squared test and the NRI and NTI indexes using a phylogenetic hypothesis

204 encompassing all PRB snakes species. We used Mesquite 3.1 [54] to assemble by hand a

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205 composite phylogeny (see, e.g., [55, 56]) based primarily on Grazziotin et al. (2012) [43],

206 Pyron et al. 2013 [57] and Tonini et al. 2016 [51], and then collating information from

207 various additional phylogenies (see details in S2 Appendix). The placement of species that

208 were not included in the published phylogenies was inferred according to the relationships

209 of sister species or included as a polytomy in nodes containing its closely related species.

210 This composite phylogeny has no branch lengths because the sources differ in methodology.

211 A total of 39 species pairs were included in the chi-square test using this composite

212 phylogeny. In order to test the effect of polytomies in our result based on this tree (see

213 [52]), we used the “ape” package [58] to randomly resolve all polytomies in our tree 999

214 times. For each of these simulated trees, we calculated NRI and NTI again and compared

215 them to our original results.

216 RESULTS

217 We recorded 161 snake species in nine families in the Paraguay River basin (S1

218 Table). In the Pantanal floodplain we recorded 84 species, with no confirmed endemism (S1

219 Table). Species ranges in the basin were significantly non-random, in agreement with the

220 first prediction of the vicariance model: observed T = 0.397 was significantly smaller (p <

221 0.001) than T values in null models, which varied between 0.401 and 0.478 (average 0.430).

222 The cluster analysis detected four biotic elements, formed by 149 species, with 12

223 species detected as noise components. Biotic element 1 (BE1) was formed by 106 species (c.

224 65% of the total number of species recorded). Although most species in this group were

225 widespread, core areas of BE1 were located in portions of the central Brazilian plateau (Fig

226 1), surrounding the Pantanal floodplain, in areas ranging between 450 and 1000 m above

227 sea level (namely, the Guimarães, Bodoquena, Maracajú-Campo Grande and Urucum

228 plateous). Biotic element 2 (BE2) grouped 16 species, limited mostly to uplands in the

229 northern edges of the Paraguay basin (Fig 1), with core areas in peripheral plateous between

20

230

231 Fig 1. Biotic elements of the Paraguay River basin (PRB). Dark grey cells have more than 232 70% of species from that BE (BE core areas); light grey cells have more than 30% of the 233 species, and empty cells have less than 30% of the species of a given BE. In the 234 background, different shades of grey indicate elevation above sea level. The Paraguay 235 River basin is delimited by the black line, and the Pantanal floodplain by the checkerboard 236 pattern.

237 600 and 1000 m above sea level (Província Serrana mountain range, Guimarães plateau and

238 southern limits of the Parecis plateau). Biotic element 3 (BE3) was formed by 15 species

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239 distributed in south-eastern portions of the Paraguay basin, restricted to the eastern side of

240 the Paraguay river (Fig 1). Core areas of BE3 were located in Paraguayan plateaus, ranging

241 between 500 and 800 m above sea level (Cordillera de San Rafael, Cordillera de Altos, and

242 Serranía San Joaquin). Finally, biotic element 4 (BE4) was formed by 12 species distributed

243 along the western part of the Paraguay River basin with a single core area in the Chaco plain

244 in Paraguay and disjunct areas of intermediate richness in southern Bolivia, northern

245 Argentina and western Paraguay (Fig 1). No biotic element was totally congruent with the

246 limits of the Pantanal floodplain (Fig 1). All species recorded for the floodplain were

247 attributed to the widespread BE1 (94%) or to the noise component (five species; see S1

248 Table). The other three biotic elements (BE2-4) did not overlap with the Pantanal, but

249 instead are found mostly in adjacent, upland areas.

250 The chi-square tests indicated that phylogenetically close species are randomly

251 scattered among different biotic elements in both pruned and composite phylogeny (p =

252 0.523 and p = 0.97, respectively). Thus, our results also corroborate the second prediction of

253 the vicariance model, with phylogenetically close species forming different biotic elements.

254 This same pattern was observed in most of cases when BE composition was assessed using

255 recently proposed metrics of phylogenetic clustering (NRI and NTI): all Bes, using the both

256 phylogenies, are randomly arranged, formed by different, random clades, according to the

257 NRI metric (Table 1, S2 Appendix). According to the NTI index, which only considers the

258 relation between each species and its closest relative, BE3 is phylogenetically clustered in

259 relation to the composite phylogeny (see Table 1; see also S2 Appendix), being thus formed

260 by fewer lineages than expected. Results were the same when we tested for an effect of

261 polytomies in the composite phylogeny. All simulated trees with randomly resolved

262 polytomies were random with respect to phylogenetic relationships considering NRI index

263 and showed BE3 clustered for NTI.

22

264 Table 1. Values of Net Relatedness Index (NRI) and Nearest Taxon Index (NTI) for each 265 biotic element (BE) of snakes from the Paraguay River basin, including their significance 266 values compared to values in 1000 random assemblages. BE NRIp NTIp NRIc NTIc

BE1 0.400 -0.769 0.932 1.063

BE2 -1.032 -1.073 -0.649 0.524

BE3 0.070 1.519 0.059 2.033*

BE4 0.271 1.021 0.382 0.015

267 BE, Biotic elements; NRIp, Net Relatedness Index using pruned phylogeny (see text); NTIp, 268 Nearest Taxon Index using pruned phylogeny; NRIc, Net Relatedness Index using composite 269 phylogeny; NTIc, Nearest Taxon Index using composite phylogeny; negative NRI and NTI 270 values indicate overdispersion and positive values clustering. *p < 0.05

271 DISCUSSION

272 Our results reveal a significant clustering of ranges in the snake fauna of the

273 Paraguay River basin. Groups of species with similar ranges, formed by phylogenetically

274 random arrays of species, are restricted to particular portions of the basin. Location of the

275 restricted BEs 2 to 4 coincide with prominent environmental features of the Paraguay basin,

276 including isolated upland areas of the Brazilian shield and the contact of the Pantanal

277 floodplain with adjacent ecoregions. As an example, all species typical of Amazonian tropical

278 forests are assigned to BE2. Species of BE3 are limited to the left bank of Paraguay River and

279 BE4 is found on the opposite bank, not reaching, however, the river channel, a putative

280 barrier dated from the Miocene or earlier [21].

281 The physical barriers imposed by the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, as well as

282 vicariance across ecoregion boundaries, were associated with speciation events in

283 Neotropical marsupial linages [16] and may have also influenced the ranges of snakes in the

284 region under study. As an example, snakes in the Xenodon are found in different

285 biotic elements, on opposite margins of the Paraguay River: X. pulcher + X. semicinctus (BE4)

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286 and X. dorbigny + X. histricus (BE3), a distribution pattern that may have resulted from the

287 appearance of this putative river barrier.

288 Moreover, vicariant processes may have also resulted from ecogeographical

289 patterns, as all snakes typical of the Amazonian rainforests are restricted to BE2, at the

290 northernmost portion of the study region. The congeneric Oxyrhopus guibei and O.

291 melanogenys, for example, despite belonging to partially overlapped biotic elements (BE1

292 and BE2, respectively), are found allopatrically in the Paraguay basin. Oxyrhopus

293 melanogenys, like most components of BE2, is typical of forested Amazonian areas [59]

294 whereas Oxyrhopus guibei is found in open areas and forest borders in central and

295 southeastern Brazil, in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest domains [60].

296 The fact that we found clusters of phylogenetically related species in our biotic

297 elements only when considering the composite phylogeny and the latest relationships (NTI)

298 highlight that the distribution patterns of the snake fauna of PRB were shaped by different

299 forces, acting at different times and sometimes overlapping with each other. For example,

300 the cluster of BE3 for NTI and not for NRI is in agreement with the hypothesis that the

301 Paraguay River acted as a barrier in early times and the resulting biodiversity was exposed to

302 other process that affected in a different way the more recent relationships. It is important

303 to point out here that BE3 was the only biotic element with neither boundaries nor overlaps

304 with the Pantanal floodplain, and the only one showing a clustered pattern at some level.

305 Further evidence that points to the importance of vicariant events in the origin and

306 distribution of snakes in the Paraguay River basin is the fact that the richest areas of all four

307 biotic elements are located in ancient regions, geologically more stable than the lowlands.

308 Core areas of BE1, BE2 and BE3 are located on plateaus of the Brazilian Shield, of

309 Precambrian, Paleozoic and Mesozoic origins, respectively [20]. These plateaus were

310 probably isolated during Pleistocene climatic changes [61] and consequently have higher

311 levels of diversity and endemism than lower, geologically younger floodplain areas. The core

24

312 of BE4 is situated on the northwest of the Chaco plain, which although relatively lower than

313 plateaus of the Brazilian shield (core areas of BE1, BE2 and BE3), is geologically more ancient

314 and stable than the Pantanal floodplain, showing also high endemism and richness levels

315 [62, 63]. Such results are similar to those found in other Neotropical areas, namely the

316 Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga [12, 15]. In these two ecoregions, the isolation of ancestral

317 faunas in elevated plateaus (“chapadas” in the Cerrado, “brejos” in the Caatinga) seemingly

318 played an important role in shaping local biotas, with resulting regionalization patterns

319 strongly linked to geomorphological features [4, 12, 15].

320 In our results, the Pantanal floodplain was associated with a single, wide-ranging

321 biotic element (BE1) formed by species found both in uplands and depressions, and

322 occurring almost throughout the Paraguay River basin. From a historical perspective, a

323 widely distributed biotic element can be the result of the lack of response to vicariant events

324 or the result of post-vicariant dispersal [17, 19]. In fact, there is general agreement that

325 some portions of rivers belonging to the Plata basin act as biogeographical corridors for

326 tropical biotas, including snakes [11, 64, 65]. Riparian humid forests and wetlands associated

327 to the Paraguay-Paraná river system promoted suitable microclimates and facilitated the the

328 dispersion and survival of tropical snakes species in temperate latitudes of South America,

329 mainly those exhibiting forested, semi-aquatic and aquatic habits [11]. Most aquatic species

330 of PRB belong to BE1 (e.g. Hydropsini and Hydrodynastini tribes), and these may have

331 dispersed using the river channel and associated riparian and floodplain areas. It also agrees

332 with patterns found at the Cerrado region where faunal interchange is more intense along

333 peripheral depressions and lowlands, while endemism is concentrated in upland plateaus

334 [12].

335 The current area of the Pantanal floodplain belonged to different ancient basins [20,

336 23], and the plateaus that currently act as its boundaries extended beyond their current

337 locations in the past [23, 66]. With the formation of the floodplain, some species that were

25

338 related to ancient uplands may have become extinct, had their distributions reduced, or

339 generated new sister species, as has been found for fishes [32] and rodents [14]. For the

340 latter, there is evidence of vicariant events and subsequent dispersion dated between 3 and

341 1.5 mya, splitting ancestral populations distributed throughout the current extension of the

342 Brazilian Cerrado and the southern portions of the Brazilian Caatinga. This event generated

343 several allopatric species- one of them nowadays occurring in the Pantanal and restricted to

344 the Paraguay River basin [14].

345 Our results show that the Pantanal snake fauna is poorer than surrounding faunas

346 and includes no exclusive snake species, as already recorded for other taxa [31]. The

347 Pantanal snake fauna consists almost entirely of species widely distributed in different

348 ecoregions within the Paraguay River basin, occupying both plateaus and depressions. No

349 biotic element in the basin is fully congruent with the Pantanal floodplain boundaries,

350 indicating that this is not a natural biogeographical unit for snakes. The spatial configuration

351 of three biotic elements (BE2, BE3 and BE4), adjacent to the Pantanal but beyond its limits,

352 suggests that the floodplain acts as a barrier to dispersal for at least some snake species, a

353 pattern also found in birds [10, 33].

354 Overall, our study indicates a complex and dual role of the Pantanal floodplain in

355 shaping regional snake distributions. The Pantanal floodplain and depressions may have split

356 ancestral upland ranges, while providing a dispersal corridor for taxa that occurred in both

357 upland and lowland riparian areas. Another plausible explanation is that the Pantanal acted

358 as an environmental filter, selecting parts of the ancestral biotas and separating ranges of

359 non-adapted taxa. These two major roles of the Pantanal floodplain can be further

360 elucidated by phylogenetic community assembly studies (e.g. [67), coupled with analyses of

361 speciation timing and extinction rates in this area. It is already recognized that flood pulses

362 drive important seasonal ecosystem changes, resulting in recurrent changes in the spatial

363 and temporal distributions of organisms, and affecting their life history strategies [31, 68].

26

364 These pulses are therefore considered a key process affecting both the functional and

365 taxonomic attributes of species assemblages in floodplains [30, 69, 70]. Herein we provide

366 the first study that considered a floodplain in a biogeographical perspective, as a potential

367 promoter of biotic diversification. If confirmed by further studies, our hypotheses may be

368 extended to other seasonally flooded regions and contribute to a better understanding of

369 the role of wetlands and major topographical units in shaping biogeographical patterns.

370 Of major relevance in detailing biogeographical patterns is their value as indicators

371 of biological singularity and of localized evolutionary processes [71-73]. These are crucial

372 concepts for understanding processes in the origin and maintenance of biotas, also

373 providing key spatial information for biodiversity conservation strategies [74, 75]. The

374 validity of biotic elements from the Paraguay River basin as not merely geographical but as

375 historical units should be tested in future studies. Our results indicate a strong

376 regionalization pattern of snake assemblages, in agreement with phylogenetic patterns and

377 the historical and ecogeographical structure of the basin. Regardless od their histoy, the

378 distribution patterns recovered herein should provide important testing grounds for

379 hypotheses based on distributional, phylogeographical or palaeoecological data that will

380 increase our knowledge of the origins and character of the rich and complex South American

381 biotas.

382 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

383 We thank the following curators of Brazilian museums for giving us access to the collections 384 under their care: Francisco Luís Franco (Coleção Herpetológica "Alphonse Richard Hoge", 385 Instituto Butantan); Guarino R. Colli (Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade de Brasília); 386 Gláucia Maria Funk Pontes (Museu de Ciência e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade 387 Católica do Rio Grande do Sul); Paulo Roberto Manzani (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade 388 Estadual de Campinas "Adão José Cardoso"); Felipe Franco Curcio (Coleção Zoológica da 389 Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso); Gustavo Graciolli (Coleção Zoológica de Referência 390 da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul); Hussam El Dine Zaher (Museu de Zoologia

27

391 da Universidade de São Paulo); Julio Cesar de Moura Leite (Museu de História Natural Capão 392 da Imbuia); Ronaldo Fernandes (Museu Nacional); Ana Lúcia da Costa Prudente (Museu 393 Paraense Emílio Goeldi). We are most grateful to Ricardo J. Sawaya, Malte Ebach, Daniel 394 Fernandes da Silva and two other anonymous reviewers for useful comments and insights, 395 and Jeffrey Himmelstein, Paula K. Rylands and Anthony Rylands for the English revision of 396 earlier drafts of the manuscript.

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521 44. Jadin RC, Burbrink FT, Rivas GA, Vitt LJ, Barrio-Amorós CL, Guralnick RP. Finding 522 arboreal snakes in an evolutionary tree: phylogenetic placement and systematic 523 revision of the Neotropical birdsnakes. J Zool Syst Evol Res. 2014; 52:257-264. 524 45. Hedges SB, Marion AB, Lipp KM, Marin J, Vidal N. A taxonomic framework for 525 typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, ). Caribb 526 Herpetol. 2014; 49:1-61. 527 46. Ronquist F, Sanmartín I. Phylogenetic Methods in Biogeography. Ann Rev Ecol Evol 528 Syst. 2011; 42:441-464. 529 47. Hennig C, Hausdorf B. A robust distance coefficient between distribution areas 530 incorporating geographic distances. Syst Biol. 2006; 55:170-175. 531 48. R Core Team R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R 532 Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2014. Available: http://www.R-project.org/ 533 49. Fraley C, Raftery AEJ, Sloughter M Gneiting T. ensembleBMA: probabilistic 534 forecasting using ensembles and Bayesian Model Averaging. R package version 535 5.0.6. Seattle: University of Washington; 2014. Available: http://CRAN.R- 536 project.org/package=ensembleBMA/ 537 50. Fraley C, Raftery AE. How many clusters? Which clustering method? Answers via 538 model based cluster analysis. Comput J. 1998; 41:578-588. 539 51. Tonini JFR, Beard KH, Ferreira RB, Jetz W, Pyron RA. Fully-sampled phylogenies of 540 squamates reveal evolutionary patterns in threat status. Biol Conserv. 2016. 541 Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.039 542 52. Webb CO. Exploring the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities: an 543 example for rain forest trees. Am Nat. 2000; 156:145-55. 544 53. Kembel SW, Cowan PD, Helmus MR, Cornwell WK, Morlon H, Ackerly DD, et al. 545 Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology. Bioinformatics. 2010; 546 26:1463-1464. 547 54. Maddison WP, Maddison DR. Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. 548 Version 3.10. 2016. Available: http://mesquiteproject.org 549 55. Royer DL, Kooyman RM, Little SA, Wilf P. Ecology of leaf teeth: a multi-site analysis 550 from an Australian subtropical rainforest. Am J Bot. 2009; 96:738-750. 551 56. McGuire LP, Ratcliffe JM. Light enough to travel: migratory bats have smaller brains, 552 but not larger hippocampi, than sedentary species. Biol Letters. 2010; 7:233-236.

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553 57. Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Wiens JJ. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata 554 including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evol Biol. 2013; 13: 93. DOI:563 555 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93 556 58. Paradis E, Claude J, Strimmer K. APE: analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R 557 language. Bioinformatics. 2004; 20:289-290. 558 59. Lynch JD. Snakes of the genus Oxyrhopus (: Squamata) in : 559 taxonomy and geographic variation. Pap Avulsos Zool. 2009; 49:319337. 560 60. Sazima I, Abe, AS. Habits of five Brazilian snakes with pattern including a 561 summary of defensive tactics. Stud Neotrop Fauna Environ. 1991; 26:159-169. 562 61. Carnaval AC, Moritz C. Historical climate modelling predicts patterns of current 563 biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. J Biogeogr. 2008; 35:1187-1201. 564 62. TNC (The Nature Conservancy), FVSA (Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina), DeSdel 565 Chaco (Fundación para el Desarrollo Sustentable del Chaco), WCS (Wildlife 566 Conservation Society-Bolivia). Evaluación ecorregional del Gran Chaco Americano / 567 Gran Chaco Americano ecoregional assessment. Buenos Aires: Fundación Vida 568 Silvestre Argentina; 2005. 569 63. Kruck W, Helm F, Geyh MA, Suriano JM, Marengo HG, Pereyra F. Late-Pleistocene- 570 Holocene history of Chaco-Pampa sediments in Argentina and Paraguay. Quat Sci J. 571 2011; 1:188-202. 572 64. Morrone JJ, Lopretto EC. Distributional patterns of freshwater Decapoda (Crustacea: 573 Malacostraca) in southern South America: a panbiogeographic approach. J Biogeogr. 574 1994; 21:97-109. 575 65. Nores M, Cerana MM, Serra DA. Dispersal of forest birds and trees along the 576 Uruguay river in southern South America. Divers Distrib. 2005; 11:205-217. 577 66. Bonetto AA. The Paraná River system. In: Davis RB, Walker KF, editors. The ecology 578 of river systems. Dordrecht: W. Junk; 1986. pp. 541-555. 579 67. Cavalheri H, Both C, Martins M. The interplay between environmental filtering and 580 spatial processes in structuring communities: the case of Neotropical snake 581 communities. PLoS ONE. 2015; 10:e0127959. 582 68. Lytle DA, Poff NL. Adaptation to natural flow regimes. Trends Ecol Evol. 2004; 19:94- 583 100. 584 69. Lewis Jr WM, Hamilton SK, Lasi MA, Rodríguez M, Saunders III JF. Ecological 585 determinism on the Orinoco floodplain. BioScience. 2000; 50:681-692.

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586 70. Gerish M, Agostinelli V, Henle K, Dziock F. More species, but all do the same: 587 contrasting effects of flood disturbance on ground beetle functional and species 588 diversity. Oikos. 2012; 121:508-515. 589 71. Orme CDL, Davies RG, Burgess M, Eigenbrod F, Pickup N, Olson VA, et al. Global 590 hotspots of species richness are not congruent with endemism or threat. Nature. 591 2005; 436:1016-1019. 592 72. Wiens JJ. The niche, biogeography and species interactions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond 593 B Biol Sci. 2011; 366:2336-2350. 594 73. Aagesen L, Szumik C, Goloboff P. Consensus in the search for areas of endemism. J 595 Biogeogr. 2013; 40:2011-2016. 596 74. Whittaker RJ, Araújo MB, Jepson P, Ladle RJ, Watson JEM, Willis KJ. Conservation 597 biogeography: assessment and prospect. Divers Distrib. 2005; 11:3-23. 598 75. Richardson DM, Whittaker RJ. Conservation biogeography: foundations, concepts 599 and challenges. Divers Distrib. 2010; 16:313-320.

600 SUPPORTING INFORMATION

601 S1 Appendix. Study area and list of the zoological collections consulted. Maps showing the 602 limits of the Paraguay River basin and the ecoregions that it encompasses, along with the 603 Paraguay River channel, Pantanal wetland area, and the locality records for snakes in this 604 region, with list of the zoological collections consulted. 605 S2 Appendix. Phylogenies of the snakes of the Paraguay River basin. 606 S1 Table. Snake records dataset. Species presence-absence table in the 1 x 1 degree grid 607 cells covering the study area. The first two lines indicate coordinates of the centroid of each 608 cell. Cells marked with an asterisk are those in the Pantanal floodplain area.

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609 SUPPORTING INFORMATION - The role of the Pantanal floodplain in the biogeographical 610 patterns of snakes in the Paraguay River basin, central South America

611 S1 Appendix. Study area and list of the zoological collections consulted.

612 Figure 1. Maps showing the limits of Paraguay River basin and the ecoregions that it 613 encompasses (right), and the Paraguay River channel, Pantanal wetland area, and locality 614 records of snakes in this region (left). Ecoregions sensu Olson DM, Dinerstein E, 615 Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GVN, Underwood EC, et al. Terrestrial ecoregions of 616 the world: a new map of life on Earth. Bioscience. 2001; 51: 933–938.

617 List of the zoological collections consulted 618 The Brazilian zoological collections consulted for locality records of snakes were: 619 • Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade de Brasília (CHUNB; Brasília) 620 • Coleção Zoológica da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT-R; Cuiabá) 621 • Coleção Zoológica de Referência da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul 622 (ZUFMS; Campo Grande) 623 • Instituto Butantan (IBSP-Herpeto; São Paulo) 624 • Laboratório de Herpetologia da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso – campus 625 Cuiabá (LH; Cuiabá)

35

626 • Museu de Ciência e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do 627 Sul (MCP-Répteis; Porto Alegre) 628 • Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia (MHNCI-Herpeto; Curitiba) 629 • Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP; São Paulo) 630 • Museu de Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (ZUEC-REP; Campinas) 631 • Museu Nacional (MNRJ; Rio de Janeiro), and Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG- 632 HOP; Belém) 633 • Seção de Herpetologia da Coleção Zoológica de Referência da Universidade Federal 634 de Mato Grosso do Sul – campus Corumbá (CEUCH; Corumbá)

36

635 S2 Appendix. Phylogenies of the snakes of the Paraguay River basin. 636 Pruned phylogeny 637 We used the phylogenetic relationships among species of Squamata recently 638 published by Tonini et al. 2016 [1]. We pruned the tree to include only the taxa that 639 registered to the Paraguay River Basin and retained the information on branch lengths.

640 641 Pruned phylogeny with 109 snake species from the Paraguay River Basin. Symbols at the tips 642 represent Biotic Elements, according to labels in the bottom right corner.

37

643 Composite phylogeny 644 The composite phylogeny used herein is based on previous studies from different 645 authors and include all species registered to the Paraguay River Basin. Tonini et al. 2016 [1] 646 and Pyron et al. 2013 [2] were used for the relative placement of snake families, subfamilies 647 and tribes. Phylogenetic placement of snake species of Paraguay River basin that were not 648 included in the available phylogenetic hypotheses were inferred according to the 649 relationships of sister species or included as polytomies in nodes containing their closely 650 related species. The phylogenies of Kluge 1991 [3], Rivera et al. 2011 [4], and Reynolds et al. 651 2014 [5] were used for assessing relationships within Boidae. Within Viperidae, the 652 phylogenies of Fenwick et al. 2009 [6] and Carrasco et al. 2012 [7] were used to determine 653 the overall relationships among Bothrops species, whereas Machado et al. 2014 [8] was 654 used for the relationships within Bothrops neuwiedii group. The relationships of species of 655 were determined using the phylogeny of Silva and Sites 2001 [9], with the position 656 of annellatus determined according to Slowinsky 1995 [10]. The relationships 657 within Colubridae follow Klaczko et al. 2014 [11]. The overall relationships within Dipsadidae 658 follow Grazziotin et al. 2012 [12], with the relationships within Pseudoboini following H. 659 Zaher (USP, São Paulo; personal communication).

38

660 661 Composite phylogeny of the 161 snake species from the Paraguay River Basin. Symbols at 662 the tips represent Biotic Elements, according to labels in the upper left corner

39

663 REFERENCES 664 1. Tonini JFR, Beard KH, Ferreira RB, Jetz W, Pyron A. Fully-sampled phylogenies of 665 squamates reveal evolutionary patterns in threat status. Biol Conserv. 2016; Available: 666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.039 667 2. Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Wiens JJ. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, 668 including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evol Biol. 2013; 13:93. 669 3. Kluge AG. Boinae snake phylogeny and research cycles. Misc publ - Mus Zool, Univ 670 Mich. 1991; 178:1-58. 671 4. Rivera PC, Di Cola V, Martínez JJ, Gardenal CN, Chiaraviglio M. Species delimitation 672 in the continental forms of the genus Epicrates (Serpentes, Boidae) integrating phylogenetics 673 and environmental niche models. PLoS ONE. 2011; 6:e22199. 674 5. Reynolds RG, Niemiller ML, Revell LJ. Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and 675 pythons: multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling. Mol 676 Phylogenet Evol. 2014; 37:01-213. 677 6. Fenwick AM, Gutberlet RL, Evans JA, Parkinson CL. Morphological and molecular 678 evidence for phylogeny and classification of South American pitvipers, genera Bothrops, 679 Bothriopsis, and Bothrocophias (Serpentes: Viperidae). Zool J Linn Soc. 2009; 156:617-640. 680 7. Carrasco PA, Mattoni CI, Leynaud GC, Scrocchi GJ. Morphology, phylogeny and 681 taxonomy of South American bothropoid pitvipers (Serpentes, Viperidae). Zool Scripta. 682 2012; 41:109-124. 683 8. Machado T, Silva VX, Silva MJ. Phylogenetic relationships within Bothrops neuwiedii 684 group (Serpentes, Squamata): geographically highly-structured lineages, evidence of 685 introgressive hybridization and Neogene/Quaternary diversification. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 686 2014; 71:1-14. 687 9. Silva NJ, Sites JW. Phylogeny of South America triad coral snakes (Elapidae: 688 Micrurus) based on molecular characters. Herpetologica. 2001; 57:1-22. 689 10. Slowinski JB. A phylogenetic analysis of the New World coral snakes (Elapidae: 690 Leptomicrurus, Micruroides, and Micrurus) based on allozyme and morphological characters. 691 J Herpetol. 1995; 29:325-338. 692 11. Klaczko J, Montingelli GG, Zaher H. A combined morphological and molecular 693 phylogeny of the genus Fitzinger, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae). Zool J Linn Soc. 694 2014; 171:656-667.

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695 Grazziotin FG, Zaher H, Murphy RW, Scrocchi G, Benavides MA, Zhang YP et al. Molecular 696 phylogeny of the New World Dipsadidae (Serpentes: Colubroidea): a reappraisal. Cladistics. 697 2012; 28: 437-459

41

698 S1 Table. Snake records dataset.

699 Table S1. Species presence-absence table in the 1 x 1 degree grid cells covering the study

700 area. The first two lines indicate coordinates of the centroid of each cell. Cells marked with

701 an asterisk are those in the Pantanal floodplain area.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Latitude -27,5 -27,5 -26,5 -26,5 -26,5 -26,5 -26,5 -25,5 -25,5 -25,5 -25,5 -24,5 Longitude -58,5 -57,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -60,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Boiruna maculata 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bothrops moojeni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bothrops pauloensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

42

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Latitude -24,5 -24,5 -24,5 -24,5 -24,5 -23,5 -23,5 -23,5 -23,5 -23,5 -23,5 -23,5 Longitude -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -63,5 -61,5 -60,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Boiruna maculata 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bothrops diporus 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Bothrops moojeni 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

43

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32* 33 34 35 36 Latitude -23,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -22,5 -21,5 -21,5 Longitude -55,5 -63,5 -62,5 -61,5 -60,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -65,5 -63,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 Boiruna maculata 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops moojeni 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

44

37 38 39 40 41 42* 43 44 45 46 47 48 Latitude -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -21,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 Longitude -62,5 -61,5 -60,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -65,5 -64,5 -63,5 -62,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Boiruna maculata 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops moojeni 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

45

49 50 51 52* 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60* Latitude -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -20,5 -19,5 -19,5 -19,5 -19,5 Longitude -61,5 -60,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -54,5 -65,5 -60,5 -59,5 -58,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Boiruna maculata 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Bothrops moojeni 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

46

61* 62* 63* 64 65 66 67 68* 69* 70* 71 72 Latitude -19,5 -19,5 -19,5 -19,5 -19,5 -18,5 -18,5 -18,5 -18,5 -18,5 -18,5 -18,5 Longitude -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -54,5 -53,5 -59,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -54,5 -53,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Boiruna maculata 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 Bothrops pauloensis 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Chironius exoletus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Chironius flavolineatus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Chironius fuscus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

47

73* 74* 75 76 77 78* 79* 80* 81 82 83 84 Latitude -17,5 -17,5 -17,5 -17,5 -16,5 -16,5 -16,5 -16,5 -16,5 -15,5 -15,5 -15,5 Longitude -57,5 -56,5 -54,5 -53,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 -54,5 -58,5 -57,5 -56,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Boiruna maculata 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Bothrops pauloensis 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Chironius flavolineatus 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Chironius laurenti 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

48

85 86 87 88 89 Latitude -15,5 -15,5 -14,5 -14,5 -14,5 Longitude -55,5 -54,5 -57,5 -56,5 -55,5 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata2 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis aff. nigroterminata3 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 1 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis christineae 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis sp1 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 1 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 1 0 1 0 1 Boiruna maculata 0 0 0 0 1 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 1 Bothrops moojeni 1 0 1 1 1 Bothrops pauloensis 1 0 0 1 1 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 1 0 0 0 1 Chironius flavolineatus 1 0 0 0 1 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 0 0 0 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0

49

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Clelia clelia 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

50

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Clelia clelia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Epictia munoai 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Eunectes murinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Eunectes notaeus 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

51

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32* 33 34 35 36 Clelia clelia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Eunectes murinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

52

37 38 39 40 41 42* 43 44 45 46 47 48 Clelia clelia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

53

49 50 51 52* 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60* Clelia clelia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0

54

61* 62* 63* 64 65 66 67 68* 69* 70* 71 72 Clelia clelia 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia aff. tenella 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Eunectes notaeus 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Hydrops caesurus 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Liotyphlops beui 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

55

73* 74* 75 76 77 78* 79* 80* 81 82 83 84 Clelia clelia 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Crotalus durissus 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Drymarchon corais 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Epicrates crassus 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Eunectes murinus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Eunectes notaeus 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hydrops caesurus 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Leptodeira annulata 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

56

85 86 87 88 89 Clelia clelia 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 0 0 0 0 1 Corallus hortulanus 1 0 1 0 1 Crotalus durissus 1 0 0 1 1 Dipsas bucephala 0 0 0 0 1 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 1 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 0 0 1 1 Drymoluber brazili 1 0 0 0 1 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 1 0 0 1 1 Epictia aff. tenella 0 0 0 1 1 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 1 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 1 1 0 1 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 1 1 1 Eunectes murinus 1 0 1 0 1 Eunectes notaeus 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 1 0 0 0 1 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 0 0 1 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 1 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 1 1 0 1 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 0 1 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 1 0 0 0 1 Leptodeira annulata 1 0 0 1 1 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 0 1 0 1 Liotyphlops beui 1 0 0 0 0

57

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

58

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

59

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32* 33 34 35 36 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

60

37 38 39 40 41 42* 43 44 45 46 47 48 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas psammophidea 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

61

49 50 51 52* 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60* Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

62

61* 62* 63* 64 65 66 67 68* 69* 70* 71 72 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Philodryas olfersii 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

63

73* 74* 75 76 77 78* 79* 80* 81 82 83 84 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 Philodryas olfersii 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

64

85 86 87 88 89 Liotyphlops ternetzii 1 0 1 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 0 1 1 Lygophis paucidens 1 0 0 0 1 Mastigodryas bifossatus 1 1 0 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 1 1 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 1 0 0 1 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 1 1 1 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 1 0 0 1 1 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 1 0 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 0 0 1 1 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 1 0 0 1 1 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 1 1 0 1 1 Philodryas olfersii 1 0 0 0 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 1 0 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 1 0 0 0 1 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 1 0 0 1 1

65

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

66

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

67

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32* 33 34 35 36 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

68

37 38 39 40 41 42* 43 44 45 46 47 48 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

69

49 50 51 52* 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60* Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

70

61* 62* 63* 64 65 66 67 68* 69* 70* 71 72 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Tantilla melanocephala 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes lanei 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Xenodon merremii 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

71

73* 74* 75 76 77 78* 79* 80* 81 82 83 84 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Pseudoboa coronata 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 Sibynomorphus turgidus 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 Tantilla melanocephala 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes lanei 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Typhlops brongersmianus 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 Xenodon merremii 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1

72

85 86 87 88 89 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 0 0 0 1 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 1 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 0 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus turgidus 1 0 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 0 0 0 1 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 1 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 1 0 0 0 1 Tantilla melanocephala 1 0 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 1 1 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 1 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 Typhlops brongersmianus 1 0 0 0 1 Typhlops reticulatus 0 0 1 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 1 0 1 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 1 0 0 Xenodon semicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 1 0 1 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 1 0 0 0 1

73

CHAPTER 2

Relative Importance of Flooding as Driver of Snakes Species Turnover

in Wetlands in Central South America

Liliana Piatti1*, Dan F. Rosauer2, Cristiano de C. Nogueira 3, Vanda Lúcia Ferreira4 and Marcio

Martins 3

¹Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São

Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

2College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra,

Australian Capital Territory, Australia

3 Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo,

São Paulo, Brazil

4 Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul,

Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

*Corresponding author

Email: [email protected] (LP)

Short title: Flooding as driver of snake species turnover in central South America

74

1 ABSTRACT

2 In floodplains, cycles of flooding are considered key factors that activate ecological

3 processes and control both the spatial and temporal distribution of organisms as well their

4 life-history strategies. Several seasonally flooded areas occur in the Paraguay River Basin

5 (PRB), including the Pantanal, the largest continuous tropical floodplain. The Pantanal biota

6 has lower richness than surroundings areas and the hardships imposed by flooding events

7 have been cogitated as one of the causes of this pattern. Herein our objective was to

8 investigate the relative importance of flooding as a driver of snake beta diversity in the PRB

9 compared to the importance of other environmental, climatic, and historical factors that

10 could affect the beta diversity in the region. We used generalized dissimilarity models to

11 model the beta diversity of snake communities and its components (species turnover and

12 richness) as a function of environmental and spatial variables. Among seven predictors

13 considered, forest cover, geographical distance, flooding, and minimum temperature

14 contributed more to explain beta diversity. Contrarily to our expectation, forest cover was

15 the most important predictor, acting mainly on the communities’ species richness. A balance

16 between availability of suitable habitats for arboreal species and heterogeneity of

17 thermoregulatory conditions might be acting to shape the distributions of snakes through

18 gradient of forest cover in the PRB. The turnover of species between communities was

19 better explained by minimum temperature of the coldest month. Differences among species

20 in their ability to deal with extreme events may be mediating the species turnover between

21 areas. The action of flood on beta diversity was mainly on the species turnover. The

22 alternation of floods and droughts, coupled with the high variation in the inter-annual flood

23 cycles in the Pantanal area, may be favoring the occurrence of more plastic species in

24 seasonal flooded areas and restricting the occurrence of species which are more adapted to

25 a particular life strategy.

75

26 INTRODUCTION

27 Species composition in biological communities is a result of interactions of the

28 evolutionary history of both organisms and environments with local factors that currently

29 mediate species occurrence and coexistence, in addition to past and present stochastic

30 events [1]. Since the range of species and the turnover in community composition can be

31 seen as result of process occurring at different temporal and spatial scales [2, 3], the

32 understanding of the processes that drive species composition patterns depends on an

33 exploration of multiple factors [4, 5, 6]. Much of the communities idiosyncrasy derives from

34 the differences in prevalence and strength of a set of process acting on them [3].

35 In floodplains the flood pulses are considered a key ecological process [7, 8, 9]. They

36 drive important seasonal ecosystem changes [8, 10] and trigger ecological processes that

37 control both the spatial and temporal distribution of organisms as well their life-history

38 strategies [11, 12, 13]. Species adaptations to river flow regimes range from change in

39 individuals’ behavior to change in specie morphology or life cycles [14, 15, 16].

40 The largest continuous tropical floodplain is the Pantanal [8], located at the centre

41 of South America, in the depression of the Paraguay River Basin (PRB). This basin

42 encompasses other seasonal flooded areas and eight terrestrial ecoregions [17], being one

43 of the most ecologically and geologically heterogeneous areas of South America. As a

44 consequence of the annual flood pulse, a gradient in flood level results in a range of major

45 habitats forming a complex environmental mosaic [18]. The complex vegetative cover and

46 high seasonal productivity support an abundant fauna, composed by species representatives

47 of different ecoregions that surrounding the floodplain [19, 20]. Nevertheless, Pantanal

48 biota shows lower richness than the biota of surrounding regions [19], and that has been

49 attributed to its recent formation – 2,5 Ma, during the last Andean orogeny phase [21] – and

50 the ecological hardships imposed on the organism by the flood pulse [19, 20, 22].

76

51 Snakes are distributed across the globe, in a wide variety of environments [23]. This

52 broad range has been attributed to their great adaptability to available resources and high

53 speciation rates [23, 24]. Patterns of community richness and composition are highly

54 diversified. In South America, historical factors were suggested to be more important than

55 current environment in regional scales [25, 26, 27]. However, global patterns of reptile

56 distributions indicate that the current physical environment constrains the spatial

57 distribution of species [28] and recent studies found that the low levels of plasticity in

58 habitat use of some species restrict their range in some areas of Neotropical region [29, 30].

59 Snake life histories are affected by environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall and

60 environmental seasonality [31, 32, 33, 34, 35].

61 Most research about the effects of floods on biological communities was conducted

62 using plants and invertebrates as study subjects [e.g. 9, 11, 14, 15, 16]. They point that

63 adverse effects from flooding are responsible for changes on distribution and species

64 composition for several taxa [9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20] and that different flow regime

65 parameters (such as flooding frequency, duration and predictability) can affect how

66 organisms adapt or fail to adapt to flooding [14].

67 In the current study we analyze the relative importance of flood as driver of snake

68 beta-diversity in the Paraguay River Basin. We expect that, given the high heterogeneity of

69 this region, an array of climatic, physical and historical factors influence the beta-diversity

70 between communities. Moreover, considering the large area that is periodically affected by

71 flooding and the magnitude of change that this event promotes on ecosystems, we believe

72 flooding is a key factor that can directly mediate the occurrence of different snakes in this

73 basin, either by shaping the replacement or the loss of species.

74

75 MATERIALS AND METHODS

77

76 As a first step to understand community composition we modeled the beta diversity

77 of PRB snakes communities as a function of biogeographical and environmental

78 dissimilarities within the area where they are placed, and of the geographical distance

79 between them. We then investigated how each predictor can explain the total beta

80 diversity, the species turnover and the difference in richness detected between any two

81 areas, considering taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity.

82 Study area

83 The Paraguay River basin (PRB) is located between 14° and 27° S and 53° and 67° W

84 (Fig 1). The entire catchment area covers 1,135,000 km2, and includes almost all of Paraguay

85 and parts of Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. The basin includes the Pantanal and eight other

86 ecoregions [17] and four biogeographical subregions [36]. The limits of the Paraguay basin

87 and the Pantanal adopted here follow Petry and Sotomayor 2009 [37] and Hamilton et al.

88 1996 [38], respectively.

89 The Pantanal is situated in the upper Paraguay River depression. The area of about

90 140,000 km2 is subject to an annual, predictable, monomodal flood pulse [21]. During the

91 rainy season (November–March) the vast plain stores the water flowing from uplands and

92 delivers it slowly to the lower sections of the Paraguay River during the dry season (April–

93 October). On average, about one-third of the Pantanal area is inundated each year, with

94 monthly estimates of total flooded area ranging from 10% to 70% of the entire Pantanal

95 depression [38]. Because of the very slight slope of the terrain (2 to 3 cm per km from North

96 to South and 5 to 25 cm from East to West) floodwaters require about four months to pass

97 through the entire Pantanal [38].

78

98

99 Figure 1. Map showing the limits of Paraguay River Basin (outer black line) and its flooded 100 areas, the biogeographic provinces that it encompasses and the Pantanal (internal black 101 line). The 31 dotted boxes were the 0.5x0.5 degree cells used to delimit snakes 102 communities.

103 Biological Data

104 The species turnover between different snake communities of Paraguay River Basin

105 (PRB) was based on a database with records of snake occurrence in the region, gathered

106 from scientific collections and literature (for details see chapter 1 [39]). To delimit our

107 sample units (communities), we superimposed this species occurrence dataset on a 0.5 x 0.5

108 degree grid that covered the entire basin. We then considered the species recorded within

109 each grid cell to comprise a separate snake community. From 510 grid cells that covered the

79

110 PRB area, 31 were used in our analysis (Fig 1). These cells were chosen in order to include

111 communities distributed throughout the PRB and to only use relatively well-sampled

112 communities to analyze species turnover. That is, we compared the communities of these

113 grid cells with studies from the same ecoregions [40, 41, 42, 43] and similar latitudes, and

114 only included a cell in our analysis if the species richness was similar to that found in those

115 studies. Snake taxonomy followed Zaher et al. (2009) [44], Grazziotin et al. (2012) [45] and

116 Jadin et al. (2014) [46]. Species of the Anomalepidae and Aniliidae family were not

117 considered in our analyses. Species from Anomalepididae that occurs in the PRB are

118 taxonomically poorly resolved [47] and, such as Aniliidae have a much smaller probability of

119 detection compared to other species, especially when no systematized method is used. In

120 addition, these taxa are the most ancient of the entire basin, with much older relationships

121 than those between species from other snake families. Considering these facts in

122 conjunction, including species from these clades could cause undesired bias by inflating the

123 phylogenetic variability of the communities where they are present, masking the patterns

124 exhibited by other species.

125 Environmental and Historical Turnover Predictors

126 Considering the importance of selecting environmental variables that are relevant

127 when analyzing species occurrence [48, 49], we sought predictors to represent physiological

128 and physical limitations of species’ ability to use an area, in addition to predictors related to

129 the biogeographical history of each area. Furthermore, to account for physical barriers and

130 spatial autocorrelation we considered geographic distances between communities (grid

131 cells), because simultaneously accounting for the effects of spatial distance and

132 environment can result in better estimates of the contribution of environmental variables to

133 the resulting compositional divergence [50].

134 We used three climatic variables, here considered as surrogates for the physiological

135 limitations of snake ranges: isothermality, minimum temperature of the coldest month and

80

136 precipitation of the driest quarter of the year. These were obtained from the WorldClim

137 database (www.worldclim.org [51]) and were chosen for their importance for snake

138 physiology [52, 53]. Also, in PRB, these variables showed lower correlations (r2 <0.35)

139 between them than the set available in the WorldClim database. For each grid cell we

140 calculated the average value of each variable from layers with 10 minutes (around 18 km) of

141 resolution. Temperature is expressed in oC *10.

142 Variables describing intensity of flood and presence of forest in the area were used

143 as surrogates for physical limitations on microhabitat use, as microhabitat specialization has

144 been previously reported for snakes [54, 55] and is often expected for tropical species [56].

145 The percent of forest cover in a grid cell was calculated based on the sum of the presence of

146 two land cover classes (Evergreen and Deciduous Broadleaf Forests) obtained from EarthEnv

147 database (www.earthenv.org/landcover [57]). These two classes include virtually all kinds of

148 vegetation that can form a forest cover, with an arboreal substrate, occurring in PRB area

149 [58] (see Tuanmu and Jetz 2014 [57] for details from each class). Because we are considering

150 variables that could have acted on species occurrence along their evolutionary history, we

151 corrected the values of Deciduous Broadleaf presence for cells between -21.8 and -23.8 S

152 and -59.2 and -60.7 W. In those cases the current values of presence of this vegetation result

153 from of anthropic deforestation in recent decades [59], so we used the average value found

154 in neighboring cells.

155 Two flood variables were created by calculating the grid cell percent cover that is

156 characterized as floodplains, based on a map of seasonally flooded areas [60] obtained from

157 www.worldwildlife.org/pages/global-lakes-and-wetlands-database. These variables measure

158 the total area flooded within a grid cell and also in its surrounding areas (within a 0.5 degree

159 buffer).

160 We used a biogeographical distance variable as a surrogate of historical information

161 on the communities. Biogeographical distance was derived from the hierarchical

81

162 biogeographical regionalization of Morrone 2014 [36]. Following this regionalization, PRB

163 covers four biogeographical subregions and six provinces: South Brazilian Dominion, with

164 Rondonia and Yungas provinces; Chacoan Dominion, with Cerrado and Chacoan provinces;

165 Paraná Dominion, with Paraná Forest province; and South American Transition Zone, with

166 the Puna province [36]. Pairs of grid cells from the same biogeographical province were

167 given a biogeographical distance of zero; pairs from the same subregion but different

168 provinces, 1; and pairs from the different subregion, a value of 2.

169 Diversity Modelling

170 We investigated the relative importance of each predictor as driver of beta-diversity

171 using Generalised Dissimilarity Modelling (GDM) [61], a multivariate extension of Mantel

172 correlation analysis [62]. GDM models dissimilarity in assemblage composition between

173 pairs of locations as a nonlinear function of environmental differences between the

174 locations and their geographical distance [61]. Unlike other diversity modeling approaches,

175 GDM can accommodate the curvilinear relationship between environmental or geographic

176 separation between sites and compositional dissimilarity. Also, it considers the variation in

177 the rate of dissimilarity at different positions along environmental gradients [61]. This

178 capacity comes from the use of a link function to access the non-linearity of the relationship

179 between compositional and environmental distance, added to the use of I-splines functions

180 for each environmental attribute [61].

181 Our species presence-absence matrix was used to derive the Jaccard dissimilarity

182 measure of inter-site dissimilarity as the biological response variable for the GDM. We

183 started the modelling using the seven environmental predictors described above

184 (isothermality, minimum temperature of the coldest month, precipitation of the driest

185 quarter of the year, flood percentage in a grid cell, flood percentage in grid cell

186 surroundings, percentage of trees in a grid cell and biogeographical distance) and the

82

187 geographic distance, and we further reduced this set using 2 steps of backward-elimination

188 variable selection.

189 In the first step of elimination, variables with all coefficients of I-splines = 0 were

190 dropped, as they have no relationship with the biological pattern [61]. In the second step,

191 we successively removed predictors contributing less than 0.1% to the explained deviance

192 [61, 63]. The significance of the final model was calculated by permutations of the site-pair

193 table 999 times by randomizing the order of the rows [50, 64]. New sets of GDM’s were

194 fitted to these permutated site-pair tables to estimate an overall p-value for model

195 significance. We used the “gdm” package [65] for R software [66] to implement the

196 modeling and significance value. Because the attribute biogeographical distance is not a

197 continuous variable, we set the knots of the corresponding I-splines to 1,2 and 3, which are

198 the values that can be reached by this attribute in our case. For all other variables, we used

199 knots set at 0 (minimum), 50 (median), and 100 (maximum) percentiles [61].

200 We then repeated the modeling process using the phylogenetic dissimilarity

201 between sites as a response variable. Compared to species turnover, patterns of

202 phylogenetic turnover can provide extra information about the spatial structure of

203 biodiversity, for example providing more informative comparisons between the biota of

204 sites which share no species [63]. Phylogenetic dissimilarity was calculated for each grid cell

205 pair using PhyloSor Index [67], which computes the proportion of branch length of shared

206 species relative to total branch length of a phylogenetic tree of all species in two

207 communities. We used Mesquite 2.75 to assemble by hand a composite phylogeny of the

208 snakes of Paraguay River basin, based primarily on Tonini et al. 2016 [68] and Pyron et al.

209 2013 [69] and then collating information from various additional phylogenies (see details in

210 chapter 1 [39]). The placement of species that were not included in the published

211 phylogenies was inferred according to the relationships of sister species or included as a

212 polytomy in nodes containing its closely related species. Tree branch lengths were calibrated

83

213 using the BLADJ module of Phylocom 4.1 [70], using clade age estimates provided by Tonini

214 et al. 2016 [68]. Undated nodes were evenly interpolated between dated nodes.

215 Considering that the use of deep branches of the tree may blur rather than

216 strengthen the relationship between phylogenetic and environmental dissimilarity [63], we

217 fitted models for different ages within the phylogeny to find the phylogenetic tree depth at

218 which the relationship to current day environment is greatest. We generated 9 versions of

219 our species phylogeny, removing in each version any branches, or part branches, older than

220 a specified cutoff age, and created a root polytomy at that point. All portions of the tree

221 closer to the tips than this cutoff were retained unchanged (see Rosauer et al. 2014 [63] to

222 more details about the method). The cutoff age started including 90% of the tree depth and

223 eliminated other 10% of total depth in each phylogeny version. For each of the modified

224 tree, we then calculated the PhyloSor metric between site pairs and fitted the GDM model

225 in the same way described above.

226 After the entire modeling process was finalized, we used the model with the largest

227 amount of explained deviance to understand the origins of beta diversity. We partitioned

228 the beta diversity calculated from our presence-absence matrix in two additive fractions,

229 dissimilarity due to species replacement and dissimilarity due to richness differences,

230 following Carvalho et al. 2012 [71] and Cardoso et al. 2014 [72]. Considering that beta

231 diversity patterns can originate from two manners the analysis of the relative importance of

232 predictors on different fractions of beta diversity independently should reflect the

233 importance of each variable in these different process. The values of Jaccard beta diversity

234 and it components were calculated by package BAT [73].

235 RESULTS

236 A total of 122 snake species occurred in the 31 grid cells (Appendix S1). The GDM

237 model for taxonomic diversity accounted for 42% (p < 0,001) of the deviance in observed

84

238 turnover of PRB snake species (Fig 2). The variables isothermality, precipitation of the driest

239 quarter of the year and biogeographical distance showed no relationship with the diversity

240 gradient and were eliminated during the process of model selection.

241 The variables that most contributed to increase the explained deviance of the model

242 were forest cover followed by geographical distance. Cover of flooded area in the grid cell,

243 flood in surroundings areas and minimum temperature of the coldest month were

244 important as well, as the related variables helped to increase the explained model deviance

245 (Table 1). But, in those cases, the contribution to the dissimilarity between communities

246 were always less than one third of those shown by forest cover and geographical distance.

247 The total amount of beta diversity associated to each variable and the rate of variation of

248 beta diversity (and its variation) can be visualized in the maximum height and the slop of the

249 curves in Fig 2.

250 Table 1. Percentage of contribution to explained deviance of the model for each predictor.

Predictor edT edP edRep edRich

Forest cover 31 34 1 86

Geographical distance 19 16 16 1

Flooded area coverage 9 25 9 -

Flood coverage on 2 0.7 2 - surroundings area

Minimum temperature 1 - 22 -

Precipitation - 0.8 - -

251 edT: percentage of explained deviance considering taxonomic diversity; edP: considering 252 phylogenetic diversity; edRep: considering only the fraction due to species replacement; 253 edRich: percentage of explained deviance considering only the fraction due to species 254 richness divergence.

85

A B

C D

E F

255 Figure 2. Generalized dissimilarity model for snake composition in the Paraguay River 256 Basin using five predictor variables. A) Observed dissimilarity between pairs of 257 communities plotted against the ecological distance between areas where the 258 communities are placed. B-F) Fitted functions for each of the predictors.

86

259 The dissimilarity between communities increased in a nearly constant rate along the

260 gradients of geographical distance (expressed in degrees - Fig 2). Considering forest cover

261 and amount of flooded are in a grid cell gradients, the beta diversity increased substantially

262 only from 20% of cover. Considering the percent of flooded area at the surroundings of a

263 cell, the change in composition occurs in the beginning of the gradient and reaches a plateau

264 at the point from that the regions have 40% or more flooded areas in their surroundings.

265 The same occurs with minimum temperature, which show compositional differences from

266 12 to 15 degrees.

267 When phylogenetic distance between pairs of communities was considered as

268 response variable, the model explained 26% of total deviance (p=0.002). The predictor that

269 most contributed to the explained deviance of the model was forest cover (34%), followed

270 by flooded area in the grid cell (25%) and geographic distance (16%). Precipitation and flood

271 in surrounding areas was also considered a significant predictor in the phylogenetic distance

272 model, whereas isothermality, minimum temperature and biogeographical distance were

273 excluded of the model after the backward elimination process (Table. 1). The models fitted

274 to phylogenetic distances calculated with different phylogeny cutoff ages showed successive

275 decreases of the explained deviance, as larger amounts of ancient relationships were

276 considered - the model considering just the 10% most recent relationships between species

277 explained 39% of the deviance of the model, whereas the model considering 90% of

278 phylogenetic relationships explained 27% of the total model deviance (bars in Fig 3). This

279 result indicates that patterns of phylogenetic beta diversity do not provide, in this case,

280 extra information about the current spatial structure of biodiversity, as they are less

281 explained by predictors when compared to the model considering current species

282 composition. Cover of flooded area in a grid cell was the predictor most variable considering

283 the contribution to the explained deviance of the models fitted using different amount of

284 phylogenetic relationships. When the values of phylogenetic diversity were calculated

87

285 considering all phylogenetic relationships between species the importance of flood was

286 twice the value found when only the earlier relationships were considered (Fig 3.)

287 288 Figure 3. Variation of the percentage contribution to explained deviance of the model for 289 each predictor, related to the percentage of the phylogenetic tree considered to calculate 290 phylogenetic dissimilarity between communities. Bar height indicate the explained 291 deviance of the GDM fitted to each tree. Lines show the variation of the importance of 292 each predictor: asterisk represent forest cover, squares represent geographical distance, 293 diamonds represent flooded area cover, crosses represent flooded area cover in 294 surrounding areas, triangles are minimum temperature and circles represent precipitation.

295 As the model fitted considering species composition showed better fit than the

296 models constructed with phylogenetic turnover, only the species model was used to

297 understand the origins of beta diversity. The partition of beta diversity into two additive

298 components showed that the predictors have different relative importance to explain each

299 component. The model with dissimilarity due to species replacement as response variable

300 explained 9% of the total model deviance (p=0.004) and pointed to minimum temperature,

88

301 geographical distance and cover of flooded area as variables that best explained the

302 deviance (Table 1). And the model dissimilarity due to richness differences as the response

303 variable explained 7% of the total model deviance (p=0.003) and was explained only by

304 differences in forest cover and geographical distance (Table 1).

305 DISCUSSION

306 Contrary to our expectations, seasonal flooding was not the most important

307 predictor of snake beta diversity in the Paraguay River basin (PRB). Nevertheless, flooding

308 was a driver of composition of communities, acting mainly on the process of species

309 replacement, and showed increased importance when the phylogenetic beta diversity was

310 considered.

311 The most important variable to explain the beta diversity between snake

312 communities in the PRB was the percentage forest cover in a grid cell. It acts mainly on the

313 species richness, with communities from different parts of the gradient of forest cover being

314 a subset of all species present in the region. This result indicates that habitat use can be a

315 strong constraint on snake species ranges in our study region. Cavalheri et al. 2015 [30]

316 found that less vertically structured habitats represent a strong filter in Neotropical snake

317 communities, because arboreal and semi-arboreal species are less prone to occupy less

318 vertically structured vegetation types due to the lower abundance of adequate substrate.

319 This process can be in action in the PRB as well. For example, Lygophis flavifrenatus uses the

320 ground as well as bushes and trees [74] and in the PRB it was restricted to areas with at least

321 25% of tree cover. As another example, although the ecology of Apostolepis nigroterminata

322 is virtually unknown, it occurs in the south of the Amazonian Dominion and contact areas

323 with the Cerrado Dominion [75], suggesting a dependence on forested formations due their

324 edaphic features [75]. In the PRB A. nigroterminata was found only in grid cells with more

325 than 30% of tree cover.

89

326 However, some snakes from the PRB are able to occur throughout the available

327 gradient of forest coverage, and the stronger constraint on species occurrence seems exist

328 in areas with higher forest cover. About one quarter of the species are absent from areas

329 with more than 50% of tree coverage. Since suitability of thermoregulatory microhabitats is

330 very important for reptiles [76, 77, 78, 79] the absence of open areas with direct sun for

331 thermoregulation may be restricting the species distribution. Our results are in agreement

332 with other studies that found poorer communities of reptiles and amphibians in closed

333 forest areas than those of open areas of the Pantanal [80]. It also agrees with results which

334 showed higher reptile abundance in temperate savannas of North America than forested

335 areas in surrounding regions [81], and studies indicating that the thermal quality of dense

336 forests was inferior to that of open areas to different reptiles species, because basking in

337 open areas, well exposed to the sun, is an essential thermoregulatory activity of reptiles [82,

338 83]. A balance between availability of vertically structured habitats for arboreal species and

339 heterogeneity of thermoregulatory conditions might be acting to shape the range of snake

340 species through the PRB tree cover gradient.

341 In our models the minimum temperature of the coldest month was also an

342 important variable explaining the beta diversity, but acting mainly in the component

343 originated from the turnover of species, and not shaping the communities’ richness. Low

344 temperature is known to be a limiting factor for the activity of most snakes [84, 85] because

345 it can reduce their metabolic rates to extreme levels [78, 86]. So, the species difference in

346 the ability to deal with extreme events (such as minimum temperature) may be mediating

347 the species turnover between areas, while the relationship between temperature at a larger

348 temporal scale (such as monthly average temperature) and availability habitats to

349 thermoregulation might be restricting some species distributions in the PRB.

350 The high importance of geographical distance to explain beta diversity may be a

351 result of two non-mutually exclusive factors. As already found in other snake communities

90

352 [25, 30], neutral processes such as dispersal limitation seem also acting on turnover of PRB

353 snake species, and thus communities close to each other tend to be more similar than those

354 farther apart. Furthermore, there might be spatial autocorrelation among other predictors

355 that vary together and were not used in the models (e.g. average temperatures). Therefore,

356 the cause of similarities among communities close to each other might have been

357 mistakenly attributed only to their proximity, even though it could also be caused by their

358 similar climatic conditions that could respond to the non explained deviance of our model.

359 Considering the relatively small spatial scale of our work, the minor importance of

360 biogeographical distance to our beta-diversity model was expected. South American snake

361 communities from different latitudes tend to present different proportions of the three

362 main South American snake lineages (Colubridae, , and Xenodontinae) reflecting

363 differences in centre of origin, ancestral ecological niche, dispersal limitation and time for

364 speciation [2, 25, 30] However, the communities we evaluated are less than 11 latitude

365 degrees apart from each other. At this spatial scale, historical patterns may be being

366 overcome by processes caused by currents conditions. Also within the PRB, large rivers can

367 act as dispersion corridors [39, 87] to some snake species, contributing to mix the fauna of

368 different origins [88].

369 While the model using species beta diversity as a response variable represents

370 currently occurring biota, whose distributions are mediated mostly by present

371 environmental factors, the model using phylogenetic beta diversity includes data from past

372 lineages (shared ancestry). Probably, the reduced model fits using phylogenetic compared to

373 taxonomic diversity occurred because the former can include features from past

374 environments or linages, that maybe are not conserved within extant taxa and

375 environments. Even so, the models using phylogenetic beta diversity agreed with the model

376 using taxonomic diversity in indicating forest cover and flooded area as the most important

377 predictors of the phylogenetic turnover between communities. Maybe the processes

91

378 shaping communities that can be in course nowadays at gradients of flooding and tree cover

379 can be on the mediation of the phylogenetic niche conservatism. That is, the communities

380 tend to be formed by related species, because phylogenetically related species are expected

381 to have similar phenotypic traits and life history strategies to establish in available

382 environments. In that case, the increased contribution of flood to explain the model

383 deviance as older phylogenetic relations are included in the calculation, may be an evidence

384 that the ability to occur or not in a flood are can be related to a ancient characters, e. g. had

385 generalist strategies and be able to deal with environments constantly perturbed [89].

386 Flood disturbance was reported as an important driver not only for traditional

387 species diversity measures, but also for the functional diversity of floodplain trees and

388 invertebrates in different regions [9, 14, 15], and the current species composition of a snake

389 community differed significantly between riparian and non-riparian areas in a Neotropical

390 rainforest [29]. In the PRB, the main action of flood on beta diversity was by the component

391 of species turnover. Maybe the alternation of floods and droughts, coupled with the high

392 variation in the inter-annual floods cycles at Pantanal area may favor the occurrence of

393 more plastic species in the floodplain, and restricting the occurrence of species more

394 adapted to a particular habitat or life strategy. The fact that the amount of flooded areas

395 surrounding a grid cell does not contribute as much as flooded area in the grid cell did in our

396 models, could suggest that the action of floods occurs in a direct and localized way. Seasonal

397 floods probably narrow availability of suitable conditions on a smaller scale, instead of acting

398 indirectly (for example, interfering in population establishment by the lack of migrants that

399 could reach a flooded area). However, some studies show that rivers and their flow regimes

400 can also act as a dispersal corridor for some species (e.g. species of the genus Helicops) [39,

401 87] and many of snakes of the PRB are present throughout all the gradient of flood and are

402 not negatively affected by seasonal flood regimes. Future studies of life strategies and

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403 habitat use of the species able to use seasonally flooded habitats could elucidate which and

404 how process triggered by floods shape the species distributions, and how this occurs.

405 Some particular occurrence patterns highlight the interaction of multiple factors on

406 species turnover in the PRB. For example, there are three species of the Bothrops neuwiedi

407 complex in the region. This is a monophyletic, highly geographically structured species

408 group, widespread in South American open ecosystems [90]. These three species can be

409 found in sympatry, however B. diporus was present throughout the entire forest cover

410 gradient but was confined to areas with less flood (0 to 33% of flooded area). Bothrops

411 pauloensis occurs throughout the flood gradient but was present in cells with tree coverage

412 up to 30%. Finally, B. mattogrossensis occurred along all the variation of tree and flooded

413 area cover. These results indicates that B. mattogrossensis has a higher environmental

414 plasticity and can range through more areas of the PRB than the other two Botrhops species.

415 In fact, Martins et al. 2001 [91] suggested that although apparently terrestrial, B.

416 mattogrossensis has a relatively slender body and long tail when compared to other species

417 in the Bothrops neuwiedi complex, perhaps because this taxon could occasionally be forced

418 to climb the vegetation during seasonal floods.

419 Model fitting is usually based on pattern-recognition approaches, where

420 associations between geographic occurrence of a species and a set of predictor variables are

421 explored to allow or support statements of the mechanisms governing species’ distributions

422 [92]. Overall, our fitted models indicate that snake beta diversity in the PRB can be

423 understood as an aggregate property of a wide range of environmental conditions and biotic

424 interactions. Forest cover seems to be constraining the occurrence of some species in both

425 gradient extremities by absence of suitable conditions for habitat use or thermoregulation

426 behaviours. Floods interact with other environmental features and could be limiting the

427 range of some species that do not show adaptations for recurrent and seasonal flooding that

428 bring large alterations in the environments. Phenomena at different temporal and spatial

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429 scales, like community level interactions and even spatial signal of evolutionary history also

430 act on community composition at some level. The search for evidences of environmental

431 filtering acting on the assemble of the different flooded area communities can help to show

432 how diversity patterns of these singular areas are created and maintained, and how the

433 organisms can adapt to new environmental conditions during their evolutionary history.

434 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

435 We are grateful to Marcus Cianciaruso for useful comments and insights. V.L.F. thanks 436 FUNDECT (187/14), for partial financial support. C.N. thanks CNPq and FAPESP (2012/19858- 437 2) for postdoctoral fellowships. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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698 SUPPORTING INFORMATION

699 S1 Table. Presence-absence of 122 snakes species in 31 0.5 x 0.5 degree grid cells in the 700 Paraguay River Basin. The first two lines indicate coordinates of the centroid of each cell.

102

701 SUPPORTING INFORMATION - Relative importance of flooding as drivers of snakes species turnover in wetlands in central South America

702 S1 Table. Presence-absence of 122 snakes species in 31 0.5 x 0.5 degree grid cells in the Paraguay River Basin. The first two lines indicate coordinates of the 703 centroid of each cell. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Long -56.0 -57.0 -56.0 -55.5 -57.5 -56.5 -57.0 -56.5 -55.0 -57.5 -59.5 -60.5 -57.5 -56.5 -59.5 -57.5 Lat -15.1 -15.6 -15.6 -15.6 -16.1 -16.1 -16.6 -16.6 -17.6 -18.1 -18.6 -19.1 -19.1 -19.1 -23.1 -19.6 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis nigroterminata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Boiruna maculata 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bothrops pauloensis 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1

103

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia clelia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Clelia plumbea 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Dipsas indica 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Eunectes murinus 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

104

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Eunectes notaeus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Helicops angulatus 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Micrurus diana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 Micrurus surinamensis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

105

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Oxybelis aeneus 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas agassizii 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Philodryas nattereri 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0

106

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 Spilotes sulphureus 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Xenodon merremii 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

107

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Long -57.0 -56.0 -60.0 -58.0 -57.0 -56.5 -56.0 -55.5 -55.0 -58.0 -56.5 -60.0 -56.0 -56.5 -57.5 Lat -19.6 -19.6 -20.1 -20.1 -20.1 -20.1 -20.6 -20.6 -20.6 -21.6 -21.6 -22.6 -22.6 -24.6 -25.1 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Boa constrictor 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 Boiruna maculata 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bothrops alternatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 Bothrops diporus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bothrops mattogrossensis 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia clelia 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Clelia plumbea 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

108

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

109

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hydrops caesurus 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 Lygophis dilepis 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Micrurus diana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Oxybelis aeneus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

110

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 Philodryas psammophidea 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1

111

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Sibynomorphus v entrimaculatus 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 Simophis rhinostoma 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 Tantilla melanocephala 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes lanei 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

112 CHAPTER 3

The Role of Seasonal Flooding in Assembling Snake Communities in the

Pantanal and Surrounding Areas

Liliana Piatti1*, Cristiano de C. Nogueira2, Vanda Lúcia Ferreira4, and Marcio Martins2

¹Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São

Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

2Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo,

São Paulo, Brazil

4Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul,

Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

*Corresponding author

Email: [email protected] (LP)

Short title: Processes assembling snake communities in the Pantanal

113 1 ABSTRACT

2 The assembly communities is simultaneously influenced by factors that are relatively

3 deterministic and more stochastic factors, acting at different spatial and temporal scales. In

4 addition, historical factors often shape the regional pool and can limit the ecological

5 features of species that compose communities. Stressful environments, such as seasonally

6 flooded areas, tend to act as environmental filters, excluding the species unable to deal with

7 hardship imposed by local conditions. When environmental filtering is the strongest force

8 acting to shape species assemblages, species with similar niches co-occur in local

9 assemblages more frequently than expected by chance. Herein we used phylogenetic and

10 trait-based approaches to provide insights on whether seasonal flooding acts as an

11 environmental filter on snake communities in the Pantanal floodplain and in other

12 seasonally flooded areas of the Paraguay River Basin (PRB). We analysed the phylogenetic

13 and phenotypic structure of local communities located on different areas in the basin and

14 investigated how they are related to gradients of forest cover and flood intensity. Contrary

15 to our predictions, evidence of environmental filters found in PRB were not related to

16 flooding gradients, but could be correlated to the forest cover gradient. More forested areas

17 in the PRB had lower species richness and showed morphological convergence, but they did

18 not show lower relative functional diversity when compared to open areas. Thus, historical

19 divergences among the regional pool of different communities may also have given rise to

20 the convergences observed, rather than an isolated action of environmental filtering. The

21 increase in flooding was related with an increase in the occurrence of aquatic and generalist

22 species in the local assemblages. Besides promoting the dispersion of aquatic species,

23 flooding could be decreasing the relative force of deterministic processes (mainly

24 competitive interactions) on community assembly and favouring generalist habits by

25 promoting recurrent ecosystem disturbances.

114 26 INTRODUCTION

27 The structure of biological communities is shaped by historical and ecological factors

28 [1]. On larger scales of time and space, processes of speciation and dispersal provide species

29 pools for the composition of communities [2, 3, 4], and the organization of these

30 communities from regionals pools is influenced by a set of forces acting at narrower scales

31 [5, 6, 7, 8]. One of these ecological forces currently supposed to shape communities is

32 environmental filtering [9, 10, 11]. The environment in which the community is established

33 is considered as a filter selecting a species subset from a regional pool on the basis of

34 features that increase the fitness in that area, and excluding taxa that do not have the

35 appropriate ecologically relevant traits, resulting in communities composed of similar

36 species and convergent patterns [12, 13, 14]. Competition for resources is another force

37 acting on community structures [9, 15, 16]. Species with similar resource use are prevented

38 to co-occur in communities under limited resources due to limiting similarity, producing

39 patterns of divergence between species at local assemblages [17, 18]. Alternatively,

40 communities can be formed randomly from the source pools when neutral processes are the

41 more dominants forces driving the composition of local species assemblages [19, 20, 21].

42 For Neotropical snakes, the imprint of historical differences among the lineages

43 present at regional pools emerges as a primary force molding the phylogenetic composition

44 and ecological characteristics of the local assemblage [22], since community features are

45 largely a function of the proportional representation of different ancestral lineages [22, 23].

46 However, recent studies suggested that ecological interactions could also act in the

47 assembly of snake communities that exhibit trait divergence or convergence correlated with

48 environmental gradients [24, 25]. Overall, both evolutionary history and ecological

49 interactions may, simultaneously or not, act to determine community structure [23, 24, 26,

50 27]. The challenge remains in identifying the relative contribution of these two major forces

51 in different organisms, regions, and traits [28,29].

115 52 Traits that mediate either environmental filtering or limiting similarity may or may

53 not be phylogenetically conserved [30] and their evolution may or may not be associated

54 with differential resource use [31, 32]. Identifying specific traits related to either

55 environmental filtering or limiting similarity can provide important insights about the

56 processes involved and their relative importance to the assembly of communities [33].

57 Ecomorphology the relationship between morphology and ecology links the functional

58 design of organisms with their environment, and it is clear that a combination of recent

59 ecological mechanisms and phylogenetic history determine organismal design [34, 35]. For

60 snakes, both habitat use and prey type, which represent almost the entire fundamental

61 niche of species [36], correlates strongly with morphology and were not always conserved

62 throughout the evolution of lineages [22, 37, 38]. For example, morphological shifts

63 associated with arboreality or fossoriality have occurred independently, in phylogenetically

64 unrelated species, suggesting an ecological origin, whereas specific morphologies

65 widespread in species of a given clade suggest much older origins in the evolutionary history

66 of a particular group [39, 40, 41]. Regarding diet, experimental studies have shown that

67 snakes generally exhibit precise, genetically-determined, species-specific preferences for

68 some prey types [42, 43], but diets of advanced snakes have diverged repeatedly during the

69 evolutionary history of snakes, what also suggest a role of ecological process on it [37]. The

70 interplay between historical and ecological processes acting on community assembly can be

71 studied by characterizing the phenotypic structure of communities, which describe the

72 ecomorphological patterns of species resulting of the interactions of the phylogenetic

73 features of organisms with the environments to which they are exposed [6, 11, 16, 33].

74 A number of recent studies have argued that stressful environments, such as

75 seasonally dry or seasonally flooded areas tend to exhibit low phylogenetic diversity because

76 they act as habitat filters, excluding the species unable to deal with hardship conditions [44,

77 45]. Specifically to flooding, studies point out that its adverse effects are responsible for

116 78 changes in distribution and species composition for several taxa [46, 47, 48, 49, 50] and that

79 different flow regime parameters (such as flooding frequency, duration, and predictability)

80 can affect how organisms adapt or fail to adapt to flooding [46].

81 The largest continuous tropical floodplain in the world is the Pantanal, located in

82 central South America, in the depression of the Paraguay River basin (PRB). This basin

83 encompasses other seasonally flooded areas subject to annual flood pulses, which vary in

84 intensity and duration according to rainfall patterns along the entire basin [51]. In the

85 Pantanal, the complex vegetation cover and highly seasonal productivity support an

86 abundant fauna, composed of species from different ecoregions that surround this

87 floodplain [49, 52]. Nevertheless, the Pantanal biota is poorer than the biota of surrounding

88 regions [52], a pattern that may stem from its recent formation – 2,5 Ma, during the last

89 Andean orogeny phase [53] – and the ecological hardships imposed on organisms due to the

90 flood pulse regimes [49, 52, 54].

91 Herein, our main goal was to test the role of the seasonal floods in the Pantanal

92 floodplain, and in other flooded areas of PRB, as an environmental filter for snake

93 communities. To do that, we investigated the relationships of phylogenetic and phenotypic

94 structure of mecommunities in the Paraguay River Basin and the gradient of flooding where

95 these metacommunities are located. Because the gradient of forest cover also proved to be

96 important to the assembly of Neotropical snakes communities [24], we additionally tested

97 for a relationship between the structure of communities and this environmental feature. As

98 community assembly forces can act simultaneously on different dimensions of the

99 fundamental niche of species and in varied directions [55], we used phenotypical diversity

100 patterns, considering different sets of species traits, to help detect and explain evidences for

101 non-random processes [31].

102 Our expectations were: if flooding acts as an environmental filter on communities,

103 (1) the Pantanal floodplain would show a phylogenetically clustered species composition

117 104 compared to the pool of species from the whole basin; (2) local communities distributed

105 across the basin would show a phylogenetic aggregation positively related to the local

106 amount of flooded area; (3) metacommunities from areas with similar levels of flooding

107 would show similar phenotypic structure, what means they will be composed of species with

108 similar morphologies related to similar habitat use. We also expected that (4) the gradient of

109 forest cover would influence community structure independently of the flood gradient and

110 (5) the functional diversity of communities would be lower in cases where they are

111 assembled by environmental filters.

112 MATERIALS AND METHODS

113 Study area

114 The Paraguay River basin (PRB) is located between 14° and 27° S and 53° and 67° W.

115 The entire catchment area covers 1,135,000 km2, which are distributed along mostly of

116 Paraguay and parts of Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. The basin includes a number of

117 terrestrial ecoregions (sensu [56]): Cerrado savannas, Chiquitano dry forest, Bolivian

118 montane dry forest, Dry Chaco, Humid Chaco, Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, Central Andean

119 Puna, Southern Andean Yungas and the Pantanal (Fig 1). The basin is strongly affected by

120 rivers and river pulses, enclosing 13 sites considered “Wetlands of International Importance”

121 by the Ramsar convention [57], in addition to the Pantanal, which is the largest continuous

122 tropical wetland in the world.

123 The Pantanal is a floodplain covering an area of about 140,000 km2 situated in the

124 upper Paraguay River depression. The area is subjected to an annual, predictable,

125 monomodal flood pulse [58]. During the rainy season (November–March), the vast plain

126 stores water and releases it slowly to the lower sections of the Paraguay River during the dry

118 127

128 Figure 1. Map showing the limits of Paraguay River Basin (outer black line) and its flooded 129 areas, the ecoregions that it encompasses and the Pantanal (internal blue line). The 31 130 dotted boxes are the 0.5x0.5 degree cells used to delimit snakes metacommunities.

131 season (April–October). Flood intensity varies, but, on average, about one-third of the

132 Pantanal fills up each year, with estimates of total area flooded ranging from 10 to 70% of

133 the entire Pantanal depression [58]. Because of the slight declivity of the terrain (2 to 3 cm

134 per km from north to south, and 5 to 25 cm from east to west) floodwaters take about four

135 months to run through the entire Pantanal. The annual variation in intensity and duration of

136 floods depends on the amount of rain and evapotranspiration rates of the floodplains and at

119 137 surrounding headwaters [58]. The vegetation is a mixture of plant communities from the

138 surrounding biomes: moist forests from the Amazon basin and the Atlantic forest, Cerrado

139 savannas from central Brazilian uplands, and dry and wet Chacoan savannas from Bolivia

140 and Paraguay [59]. The limits of the Paraguay basin and the Pantanal adopted here follow

141 Petry et al.[60] and Hamilton et al. [58], respectively.

142 Species distribution data

143 Our analysis was based primarily on two different presence-absence matrices. To

144 construct them, we obtained species distribution data from around 6500 georeferenced

145 snake records from localities across the Paraguay River basin. Records were gathered either

146 by revision of voucher specimens in zoological collections (about 60% of the records) or by

147 the compilation of reliable literature records (around 25%). The database was completed

148 (another 15%) with unpublished data obtained from management plans of protected areas,

149 unpublished technical reports of environmental impact studies, and with original data from

150 partner researchers, whenever they could be confirmed through examination of voucher

151 material. Records of undescribed species or specimens not identified to the specific level

152 were excluded. Geographical coordinates were obtained from the original record or by

153 contacting the original collectors whenever possible. Alternatively, they were obtained after

154 visual inspection using Google Earth 7.1, considering the localities described in the original

155 record. If detailed information on localities was also lacking, we used the municipality

156 centroids. All species records are detailed in Pimentel et al. no prelo [61]. Snake taxonomy

157 followed Zaher et al. (2009) [62], Grazziotin et al. (2012) [63], Jadin et al. (2014) [64] and

158 Hedges et al. (2014) [65].

159 The first matrix derivated from gathered data described the occurrence of snakes

160 from the whole Paraguay River Basin (all records gathered) and inside the limits of the

161 Pantanal floodplain. This matrix was used to calculate the phylogenetic structure of the

162 snake fauna of the entire Pantanal floodplain compared to that of entire basin.

120 163 The second matrix described the presence-absence of snakes in different areas of

164 the PRB. It was used to describe and investigate the relationship of the phylogenetic and

165 functional structures of communities with forest and flooding gradients where they were

166 placed in the basin. To construct this matrix, we superimposed the species occurrence

167 dataset on a grid of 0.5 x 0.5 degree cells that covered the entire basin. We then considered

168 the species recorded within each grid cell to comprise a separate snake metacommunity. For

169 our analysis we used the 31 best sampled of the 510 metacommunities delimited by grid

170 cells in the PRB area. These metacommunities were chosen because they showed species

171 richness compatible with the knowledge about snake diversity in that specific area. That is,

172 we compared the communities of these grid cells with studies from the same ecoregions

173 and similar latitudes (e.g., Strüssmann and Sazima 1993 [66], Leynald and Bucher 1999 [67],

174 Souza et al. 2010 [68] Bellini et al. 2015 [69]) and only included a cell in our analysis if the

175 species richness was similar to that found in those studies. As a result, we only used

176 relatively well-sampled communities to analyse species turnover. In this matrix we only

177 included species of advanced snakes (Caenophidia), ignoring records of species of the

178 families Anomalepididae, Aniliidae, and Boiidae, which represented 10.16% of PRB snakes

179 species. Species of the family Anomalepididae that occur in the PRB have a much smaller

180 probability of detection compared to other species and are taxonomically poorly resolved

181 [65]. On the other hand, species of the families Boiidae and Anillidae are rather conspicuous

182 and often they are the first species to be registered at a site, especially when no

183 systematized method is used. In addition, these three taxa are the most ancient of the entire

184 basin, with much older relationships than those among species from other snake families.

185 Considering these facts in conjunction, including species from these clades could cause

186 undesired bias by inflating the phylogenetic variability and other related traits of the

187 metacommunities where they are present, masking the patterns exhibited by other species.

121 188 Environmental data

189 From the 31 grid cells selected because they delimit well sampled

190 metacommunities, we extracted environmental data describing flooding and forest cover.

191 Flooding gradient was quantified based on the percentage of the grid cell that was

192 characterized as seasonally flooding areas, following Lehner and Doll 2004 [70] (Fig 1 in

193 appendix S1). We assumed that the larger the amount of seasonally flooded area within a

194 grid cell, the stronger is the effect of flooding in the metacommunity.

195 The percent of forest cover in a grid cell was calculated based on the sum of the

196 presence of the two land-cover classes (Evergreen and Deciduous Broadleaf Forests)

197 obtained from EarthEnv database [71]. These two classes include virtually all kinds of

198 vegetation cover that can form an arboreal substrate occurring in the PRB area [51] (see

199 Tuanmu & Jetz 2014 [71] for details about each class, and Fig 1 in appendix S1 for their

200 mapping in the PRB). Because we are considering variables that could have acted on species

201 occurrence along their evolutionary history, we corrected the values of Decidous Broadleaf

202 presence for cells located between -21.8 and -23.8 S and -59.2 and -60.7 W. In these cases

203 the current values of vegetation presence was a result of anthropic deforestation in recent

204 decades [72]. Therefore, for these areas, we used the average value found in the eigth

205 surrounding cells.

206 These two variables were not correlated (Pearson correlation coefficient = -0.11, p =

207 0.574) and showed no spatial autocorrelation (Mantel test based in 999 permutations = -

208 0.04, p-value = 0.687). The flooding cover gradient varied between 0 and 100% (mean 36.6,

209 standard deviation 40.71) and the forest cover gradient varied between 3.9 and 76.2 (mean

210 26.9, standard deviation 19.5).

211 Phenotypic data

122 212 Since the use of combined life-history traits has the potential to better elucidate the

213 effect of several processes on communities [31], we tried to assess multiple niche axes of

214 snakes by investigating morphologies related to habitat use and diet.

215 Habitat use

216 We used morphological traits as a proxy for habitat use by snakes. The

217 correspondence among morphological and ecological traits of snakes has been supported by

218 numerous studies [24, 32, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42] and morphology is considered a good surrogate

219 of habitat use, mainly when accurate data on specie habitat use is not available. From the

220 species registered in the 31 well sampled metacommunities, we obtained different

221 morphological characterizations from specimens from zoological collections (the list of

222 specimens used is in appendix S1). We used only adult male specimens, which had no

223 deformation regarding body, tail and head size or shape. For each individual, we measured

224 usual morphometric variables [40, 41]: snout-vent length (SVL), tail length (TL),

225 circumference around midbody (CM), ventral (VS) and subcaudal (SS) scale count, head

226 width and height at eye (HW-E and HH-E) and nostril (HW-N and HH-N) position, height of

227 inferior border of the eye (HE) and nostril (HN) and distance between eyes (DE) and nostrils

228 (DN) (Tab 2 in appendix S1). Body size and tail measurements were quantified using a

229 measuring tape (precision 1 mm). Head size and eye and nostril position were obtained from

230 scanned images of the dorsal and lateral view of the specimens’ head using the ImageJ

231 software 1.46a [73]. Based on these measurements, we created new variables that

232 described the shape of the species, which reflect its habitat use (Table 1). Because we

233 expected allometric relationships for snakes [93,94], before calculating the mentioned rates

234 we conducted an allometry correction: for each individual, size “s” was computed as the

235 geometric mean of all 13 measurements, and each measurement was then divided by “s” to

236 obtain shape ratios. After that, the ratios described above were calculated for each

237 measured specimen, and then scaled by the average value of all specimens. After that,

123 238 Table 1. Morphological traits used as a surrogate for habitat use by Caenophidia snakes species at Paraguay River Basin.

Morphological Measures Indicator of Trends Justification References

RBS There are constraints on the total length of arboreal snakes related with the (Relative body size): SVL/(SVL+TL) Arboreal snakes tend to tradeoff between locomotor ability and effects of gravity on blood have smaller relative circulation. Large-bodied snakes need to support more heterogeneous 74, 75, 76, Relative snout-vent length snout-vent length gravity columns, they can become so heavy as to not be supported by smaller 77, 78, 79 branches, and they may have more difficulty in spanning gaps.

RTS Long tails are an adaptive response to cardiovascular stress on blood (Relative tail size): TL/(SVL+TL) Arboreal snakes tend to circulation imposed by gravity. Also some arboreal snakes can use the tail to 41, 76, 79, Relative tail length larger relative tail length anchor to branches in order to generate forces necessary to bridge gaps. 80

ROB (Robustness): CM/ (SVL+TL) A slender body facilitates locomotion in discontinuous substrates and can Arboreal snakes tend to 40, 81 Robustness increase camouflage in arboreal habitats. Also, small mass/length ratios help have slender bodies to maintain an adequate internal pressure.

DVS There is a 1:1 relationship between number of ventral scales and number of (Density of ventral scales): trunk vertebrae in several snake species. In arboreal habitats, where push VS/SVL points necessary for limbless locomotion occur in three dimensions and Arboreal snakes tend to empty spaces between points must be crossed, natural selection should have higher density of favour snakes with increased flexibility and manoeuvrability. Increases in 75, 82, 83, Density of ventral and sub- ventral and sub-caudal vertebral number can enhance these mechanical characteristics by increasing 84, 85, 86, DSS caudal scales scales the number of articulation points, the amount of muscles involved, and 87 (Density of sucaudal scales): motor control. Moreover, for terrestrial snakes a trade-off may exist SS/TL between speed and manoeuvrability. Individuals with fewer body vertebrae may be faster, but less flexible, than those with more vertebrae.

HSH (Head shape in height): HH-E/HH- Proportionally, aquatic snakes have an enlarged posterior part of the head. Aquatic species tend to N Head shape – ratio between This could reflect a solution to the trade-off between the need for a more have a narrower anterior 88 head height at eye and streamlined head to circumvent the physical constraints of underwater HSW part of the head nostril position displacement without losing the ability to swallow large prey. (Head shape in width): HW-E/HW-N

124 EPH Eye position – ratios (Eye position in height): Aquatic species tend to between distance between A more dorsal position of the eyes allows aquatic species to target prey or to HE/HH-E have dorsally positioned 88, 89, 90, eyes and head width and see predators that are positioned above them. EPW eyes 91 height of inferior border of (Eye position in width): the eye and head height DE/HW-E NPH Nostril position - ratios (Nostril position in height): Aquatic species tend to between distance between HN/HH-N have dorsally positioned Nostrils more dorsally positioned allow aquatic snakes to breathe at the 88, 90, 92 nostrils and head width and NPW nostrils surface of the water while remaining submerged. height of inferior border of (Nostril position in width): nostril and head height DN/HW-N

125 239 average values were obtained for each specie and used in subsequent analyses. The number

240 of specimens used to calculate the average species values varied from 1 to 16 (table 2 in

241 appendix S1).

242 When possible, we took measurements from specimens collected in the PRB or

243 nearby areas. We did not find adult males of Micrurus diana, Phalotris nigrilatus, Philodryas

244 livida, Xenodon nattereri, and Xenopholis undulatus in suitable preservation conditions at

245 the zoological museums we visited. To include these species in our analysis, we collected

246 morphological measurements of them from the literature and also used the values from

247 related species to characterize their shapes. For Micrurus diana, we obtained the values of

248 tail and body size and scale counts from Pires et al. 2013 [95] and used the average values of

249 M. frontalis, a closely related specie, for other measurements. For Philodryas livida, we

250 obtained the values of tail and body size and scale counts from Thomas and Fernandes 1996

251 [97] and used the average values of the closely related P. patagoniensis for other

252 measurements. For Xenopholis undulatus, we obtained the values of scale counts from

253 Jansen et al. 2009 [98] and used the average values of the closely related X. werdingorum for

254 other measurements. We used the average values of Phalotris nasutus to characterize P.

255 nigrilatus and the values of Xenodon dorbigni to describe Xenodon nattereri, based on their

256 phylogenetic relationships.

257 Diet

258 Dietary data was collected from the available literature. The diet of each species was

259 characterized regarding the consumption of eight discrete prey categories: invertebrates,

260 fishes, anurans, reptiles, birds, mammals, and a category grouping caecilians and

261 amphisbaenians (Tab 3 in appendix S1). These categories were used following previously

262 published analyses [22, 23, 99]. We considered only the presence and absence of the

263 categories, and ignored alimentary items that were occasionally registered and do not

264 follow the dietary patterns known to the species.

126 265 Phylogenetic Hypothesis

266 To describe the phylogenetic relationships between the species found at PRB, we

267 used Mesquite 3.1 [100] to assemble by hand a composite phylogeny based primarily on

268 Tonini et al. 2016 [101], as well as collating information from various additional phylogenies

269 (see details in appendix S1). The placement of species that were not included in the

270 published phylogenies was inferred according to the relationships of sister species or

271 included as a polytomy in nodes containing closely related species. Tree branch lengths were

272 calibrated by the BLADJ module of Phylocom 4.1 [102], using clade age estimates provided

273 by Tonini et al. (2016) [101]. Undated nodes were evenly interpolated between dated nodes

274 (Fig 2 in appendix S1).

275 Data Analysis

276 Phylogenetic structure of communities

277 We analysed the phylogenetic structure of the snake fauna of the Pantanal

278 floodplain and of the 31 well sampled metacommunities using the net relatedness (NRI) and

279 nearest taxon (NTI) indices [3]. NRI is more sensitive to tree-wide patterns since it is derived

280 from the mean pairwise distance between all species in a community [3]. NTI is derived from

281 the mean distance separating each species in the community from its closest relative, so it is

282 more sensitive to patterns closer to the tips of the phylogeny [3]. To obtain the significance

283 of observed results we generated null communities by randomizing (999 randomizations)

284 the tip labels of the phylogenetic distance matrix, holding species richness and frequency of

285 occurrence constant in each community and using all the species found in the Paraguay

286 River Basin (PRB) as a regional pool in all cases. Positive NRI and NTI values indicate

287 phylogenetic clustering, whereas negative values indicate phylogenetic overdispersion [3].

288 These analyses were performed using the picante library [103] in R statistical software

289 (v2.15.0; R Development Core Team, 2014 [104]). To evaluate if phylogenetic structure of

127 290 communities (NRI and NTI) was related to environmental gradients we used partial linear

291 regressions [105].

292 Also, to better describe the phylogenetic composition of each of the 31

293 metacommunities, we performed the phylogenetic fuzzy-weighting method developed by

294 Pillar and Duarte (2010) [106], using the package PCPS [106] in the R software [104]. This

295 method uses phylogenetic similarities between taxa to scale-up the phylogenetic

296 relationships to the site level. First, pairwise phylogenetic distances between species were

297 taken from our phylogenetic hypothesis, and then transformed into a phylogenetic similarity

298 matrix. Then, these phylogenetic similarities were used to weigh snake species composition

299 in each cell (metacommunity), using a fuzzy set algorithm (see Pillar and Duarte 2010 [106]

300 for details). This procedure generated a matrix P, of species by metacommunities, containing

301 species composition weighted by phylogenetic relationships. We then performed a principal

302 coordinates analysis (PCoA) on matrix P, based on the square root of Bray–Curtis distances

303 between cells, which generated principal coordinates of phylogenetic structure [108]. Each

304 PCPS represented one orthogonal vector describing gradients of the phylogenetic structure

305 of the metacommunity (grid cell) and indicated which clades were most strongly associated

306 with them [108]. The ordination resulted in 30 orthogonal vectors describing

307 metacommunity gradients. To select only vectors related to the environmental gradients,

308 we adopted the criteria proposed by Duarte et al. 2012 [109], that considers just the subset

309 of orthogonal PCPS expressing the maximum association between phylogenetic structure

310 and a set of explanatory variables of interest (flooding and forest cover). This subset was

311 found by calculating multiple distance-based redundancy analysis [110] relating the

312 orthogonal axes (pcps) to predictors (environmental gradients), successively increasing the

313 number of axes, and observed F-values. The first axes (pcps1) of the PCPS analysis minimized

314 the residual sum of squares when relating phylogenetic composition to explanatory

315 variables, followed by the set pcps1 + pcps4. The independent and shared contributions of

128 316 forest and flooding cover to phylogenetic composition structure were assessed using a

317 partial linear regression [105].

318 The associations between different snake phylogenetic clades and the phylogenetic

319 vector were plotted in an ordination biplot. We also determined and plotted in what

320 ecoregion (sensu [55]) each metacommunity was located. The BRP encompasses different

321 ecoregions, with particular biogeographical histories, which could influence the phylogenetic

322 compositions of local assemblages.

323 Trait convergence/divergence patterns in metacommunities

324 To search for functional diversity patterns resulting from environmental filters or

325 competition processes, we used the general analytical approach described in detail in Pillar

326 et al. (2009) [111] and Pillar and Duarte 2010 [106], assessing trait divergence and trait

327 convergence patterns as a function of environmental features. Briefly, this technique

328 calculates the degree of correlation between a matrix describing the difference of

329 phenotypic traits between pairs of communities and a matrix of environmental features of

330 each community. This method also provides a measure of phylogenetic divergence between

331 communities, indicating how phenotipical patterns are influenced by phylogenetic

332 relationship [106, 111]. Evidence of environmental filtering acting on communities is

333 indicated by trait convergence related to environmental gradients, whereas trait divergence

334 indicates limiting similarity acting on communities [108, 111]. Traits related to habitat use

335 and diet were separately correlated with environment since the forces that shape the

336 structure of metacommunities can act in different ways on different traits [28, 29]. In both

337 cases, only traits that maximized trait convergence/divergence along the environmental

338 gradients were used. These traits were determined through interactive searching using the

339 “optimal” function in the Syncsa R package [112], which also was used to calculate the

340 correlation matrices described above. The significance of correlations between matrices was

341 tested against null models using 999 permutations.

129 342 To help the interpretation of convergence/divergence patterns and describe their

343 relationship to environmental gradients we used linear regressions to explore trends in

344 community-weighted means (CWM, [113]) along forest and flooding gradients. CWM was

345 computed for each metacommunity (grid cell) as the mean of species trait values

346 standardized by the marginal total within the metacommunity [113]. This was calculated for

347 each morphological and dietary trait separately.

348 Functional diversity of metacommunities

349 We estimated the functional diversity of each metacommunity using functional

350 richness index (FRic) and functional dispersion index (FDis) [114], and related them to

351 environmental gradients. These indices were calculated distinctly for morphological and

352 dietary traits, and also separately for traits that maximized convergence/divergence

353 between environments and for the remaining traits. FRic measures the volume of

354 multidimensional functional space occupied by the community [113, 114] and is equivalent

355 to the convex hull volume occupied. When it is calculated based on binary data (as in our

356 diet matrix) FRic is measured as the number of unique trait value combinations in a

357 community [114], which means the number of particular dietary strategies present in the

358 community. Functional dispersion index (FDis) is the mean distance of individual species to

359 the centroid of all species of the community, in multidimensional trait space [114]. In

360 practical terms these indices are complementary, FRic will become greater with the

361 presence of more traits, while FDis measures the differences among functional entities

362 within communities [114]. The values of FRic and FDIs observed were transformed into

363 indices of standardized effect size (SES) (as in Webb 2002 [3]) based on 999 randomizations

364 of the matrix of species presences in communities, maintaining species richness across

365 samples and the trait matrix in its original configuration. Positive values indicate greater

366 functional diversity than the null expectation and negative values indicate lower functional

130 367 diversity than null expectation. We used linear regressions to explore trends in functional

368 diversity along forest and flooding gradients [105].

369 Finally, to assess the extent to which the observed patterns in functional diversity

370 were linked to site-specific factors structuring assemblages, rather than arising by chance

371 from random assembly of the communities we assessed the statistical significance (α = 0.05)

372 of the observed functional indices using the quantile of observed indeces vs. null community

373 indices. We used the FD package [114] for R software [104] to calculate FRic and FDis and

374 the picante [103] package to construct the null models.

375 RESULTS

376 We registered 156 species of snakes in the Paraguay River Basin (PRB) and 83 in the

377 Pantanal floodplain (S3 table). We identified a total of 115 Caenophidian species in the

378 whole basin, and, in metacommunities delimited by the 0.5 degree grid cells distributed

379 across the basin, the Chaenophidian richness varied between 15 to 61 species (Tab 1 in

380 appendix S1) and was negatively correlated only with the forest cover gradient (Pearson

381 correlation coefficient = -0.51, p = 0.003), but not with the flooding gradient (Pearson

382 correlation coefficient < 0.01, p = 0.96).

383 Although there was a tendency for clustering, NRI and NTI indices of the entire

384 Pantanal floodplain were not different from those observed for randomly assembled

385 communities (NRI = 1.27, p = 0.11; NTI = 2.10, p = 0.06), considering the Paraguay River

386 Basin (PRB) as a regional pool. The indices for the 31 metacommunities distributed across

387 the PRB showed that five of them had significantly overdispersed phylogenetic composition

388 (regarding NRI and/or NTI) and all other metacommunities had non-significant values,

389 indicating phylogenetic randomness (Tab 1 in appendix S2). Overdispersed

390 metacommunities considering NRI were located in non-flooded areas dominated by open

391 vegetation (forest cover between 8 and 30%), while overdispersed communities considering

131 392 NTI were widely distributed throughout of flooding and forest cover gradients (Fig 2 and Tab

393 1 in appendix S2).

394 Only NRI was significantly related to environmental variables: mecommunities with

395 more flooded areas showed higher NRI, that is, exhibited a tendency to contain more

396 phylogenetically related species considering oldest relationships between species (Fig 2).

2 397 However, flooding accounted for only 24.8% of the variation in NRI values (R = 0.2484, F1,29

398 = 0.585, p = 0.004).

399

400 Figure 2. Variation in NRI and NTI in relation to the amount of flooded area and forest 401 cover in snake metacommunities of the PRB. Positive values indicate phylogenetic 402 clustering and negative values indicate overdispersion. Values between dashed lines are 403 not statistically significant, indicating phylogenetic randomness. Grey lines show adjusted 404 linear models to the respective environmental gradients, and dotted grey lines show the 405 95% confidence interval of the model.

132 406 The axes of the PCPS analysis described about 35% (27% on the pcps1 and 8% on

407 pcps4) of the phylogenetic composition of the 31 metacommunities distributed across the

408 PRB. The first pcps was positively related to the NRI index (Pearson correlation coefficient =

409 0.78, p < 0.001) and was determined mainly by the presence of species from the tribe

410 Elapomorphini, the genus Xenopholis, and the tribes Echinanterini, Hydrodynastini,

411 Hydropsini, Pseudoboini, Tachymenini and Philodryadini, and negatively with the occurrence

412 of species of the family Viperidae (Fig 3). The fourth axis was related positively to both the

413 aggregation index (NTI: Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.36, p = 0.049 and NRI: Pearson

414 correlation coefficient = 0.49, p = 0.005) and to the presence of species of Xenodontini and

415 Psomophini in the metacommunities and absence of Dipsadini, Imantodini and Elapidae (Fig

416 3).

417 When we analysed the pcps axes separately, the first pcps axis was related to

2 418 environmental gradients (R = 0.311, F1,28 = 6.31, p = 0.005), positively with flood gradient

419 and negatively with forest cover (y=0.013 + 0.001*flooding – 0.0019*forest). The fourth

2 420 PCPS was slightly related with forest cover (R = 0.1272, F1,28 = 4.23, p = 0.048, y= -0.029 +

421 0.001*forest).

422 In general, metacommunities located in the Pantanal ecoregion had more

423 phylogenetic similarities with Cerrado communities. Metaommunities in these two

424 ecoregions showed positives values on the first pcps. Considering the fourth pcps, most of

425 the Pantanal metacommunities had positive values, while Cerrado metacommunities had

426 lower values. The metacommunities from the other ecoregions (Dry and Humid Chaco and

427 Alto Paraná Altantic Forest) were almost totally restricted to negative values on the first

428 pcps.

133 429

430 Figure 3. Scatter diagram of the two principal coordinates of phylogenetic structure (PCPS) 431 of snake species occurring in areas with different amounts of flooding and forest cover. 432 Size of empty circles is relative to the amount of flooding and the size of grey circle is 433 equivalent to the forest cover. Letters near the circles indicate in what ecoregion the 434 metacommunity is located: P – Pantanal, Ce – Cerrado, DCh – Dry Chaco, HCh – Humid 435 Chaco and AtF – Atlantic Forest. Other taxa included the tribe Elapomorphini, the genus 436 Xenopholis, and the tribes Echinanterini, Hydrodynastini, Hydropsini, Pseudoboini, 437 Tachymenini and Philodryandini; Col. g1 includes the genera Chironius, Drymoluber, 438 Mastigodryas, Leptophis and Oxybelis; Col. g2 includes the genera Drymarcon, Pseutes, 439 Spilotes, Simophis.

440 Among the eleven morphological proportions considered, density of ventral scales

441 (DVS), head shape in width (HSW), and nostril position in relation to head height (NPH) and

442 width (NPW) maximized metacommunity convergence and divergence in relation to

134 443 environmental gradients. Metacommunity composition weighted by mean trait values was

444 significantly correlated with environmental gradients (ρ(TE) = 0.377, p = 0.01), indicating

445 morphological convergence at the metacommunity level. We also found trait-divergence

446 patterns related to ecological gradients (ρ(XE.T) = 0.268, p = 0.01). For the four traits above,

447 we found a correlation of phylogenetically structured assembly patterns to trait-

448 convergence assembly patterns (ρ(PT) = 0.624, p = 0.038) (metacommunities that were

449 more similar in terms of phylogenetic structure were also similar regarding their average

450 trait values, causing convergence), but we did not find phylogenetically structured patterns

451 when considering the trait-divergence responses (ρ(PX.T) = -0.364, p = 0.991). Also, we did

452 not find neither a phylogenetic signal at species level (ρ(BF) = 0.066, p = 0.113), nor a

453 relationship between phylogenetic structure and the ecological gradient (ρ(PE) = 0.138, p =

454 0.595). Indeed, morphological convergence and divergence after controlling for the

455 phylogenetic structure of the metacommunities still occurred (ρ(TE.P) = 0.376, p = 0.007 and

456 ρ(XE.P) = 0.412, p = 0.006, respectively) showing that the action of the environmental

457 gradients on the mean traits of metacommunities was, at some level, independent of

458 phylogeny.

459 Metacommunities from areas with higher seasonal flooding contained species with

460 less DVS on average, and with nostrils more dorsally positioned (lower NPW and higher

461 NPH). Conversely, species with higher DVS were found in metacommunities from areas with

462 higher forest cover (Fig 4). Considering these traits, the amount of functional space filled by

463 the metacommunity (SESFRic) and the dispersion of the species in the multifunctional space

464 (SESDis) were positively correlated with the amount of flooding cover and had no

2 465 relationship to the amount of forest (R = 0.171, F1,29 = 5.97, p = 0.021, y= - 0.35 +

2 466 0.0085*flooding cover for SESFRic and R = 0.169, F1,29 = 5.895, p = 0.022, y= - 0.43 +

467 0.0104*flooding for SESDis), indicating that areas with more flooding had metacommunities

468 with more functional diversity (Fig 1 in appendix S2).

135 469

470 Figure 4. Relationships of community-weighted ecomorphological means to environmental 471 gradients. Closed black dots and grey line show the relationship to flooding gradient and 472 open dots and dashed line show the tendencies regarding the forest cover gradient. 473 Coefficient f: flooding cover; coefficient c: forest cover.

474 Considering the other seven morphological traits describing the shape of species

475 (RBS, RTS, ROB, DSS, HSH, EPH and EPW), the environmental gradients were not correlated

2 476 with amount of functional space filled by the metacommunity (R = 0.126, F1,29 = 2.065, p =

477 0.146) but the dispersion of species in that space decreased in communities from areas with

2 478 greater flooding cover area (R = 0.311, F1,29 = 13.08, p = 0.001, y= 0.35 - 0.0108*flooding -

136 479 Fig 1 in appendix S2). Thus, metacommunities more affected by seasonal floods were

480 composed of species more similar in the morphological traits cited above. Metacommunities

481 from areas with higher cover of seasonal flooding contained species with lower density of

482 subcaudales scales (R2 = 0.311, p = 0.005), smaller distance between eyes (R2 = 0.201,

483 p=0.011), and an enlarged posterior part of the head (R2 = 0.123, p = 0.052). Communities

484 from areas with higher forest cover contained species with higher robustness (R2 = 0.147, p =

485 0.033) and higher density of subcaudal scales (R2 = 0.311, p = 0.005). These relations can be

486 visualized in Fig 3 in appendix S2.

487 When we investigated the metacommunities regarding diet, the consumption of

488 invertebrates, caecilians and amphisbaenians, snakes, and mammals maximized

489 metacommunity convergence in relation to environmental gradients. In this case we did not

490 find clear patterns of convergence/divergence related to the environment. We found just a

491 weak tendency for trait-convergence assembly patterns (ρ(TE) = 0.291, p = 0.07), that

492 decrease after controlling for the phylogenetic structure of the metacommunity (ρ(TE.P) =

493 0.260, p = 0.08). Metacommunities that were more similar in terms of phylogenetic

494 structure were also similar regarding their average trait values causing convergence (ρ(PT) =

495 0.493, p = 0.011), and we found phylogenetic signal at the species level (ρ(BF) = 0.136, p =

496 0.002) regarding the consumption of the prey mentioned above.

497 Metaommunities from areas with higher seasonal flooding cover had a greater

498 frequency of species preying on snakes and a lower frequency preying on mammals. And the

499 increase of forest cover was related to the decrease of the frequency of species consuming

500 invertebrates (Fig 5).

501 Forest and flooding cover were not correlated neither with the amount of dietary

2 502 strategies used by the species (R = 0.139, F1,29 = 2.25, p = 0.124), nor with the dispersion of

503 the species in the multidimensional space of consumption of invertebrates, caecilians and

2 504 amphisbaenians, snakes, and mammals (R = 0.109, F1,29 = 1.7, p = 0.2 - Fig 2 in appendix S2).

137 505

506 Figure 5. Relationship of environmental gradients and of consumption frequencies of 507 dietary items by species from metacommunities. Closed black dots and grey lines show the 508 relationship to flooding gradient and open dots and dashed lines show the tendencies 509 regarding the forest cover gradient. Coefficient f: flooding; coefficient c: forest.

510 Concerning the other four prey categories, the amount of dietary strategies used by

511 the species in metacommunities was again uncorrelated with environmental gradients (R2 <

1 512 0.001, F ,29 = 0.008, p = 0.992) whereas the dispersion in the multidimensional space of prey

513 consumed showed a tendency to decrease following the increase in flooding cover (R2 =

514 0.135, F1,29 = 4.53, p = 0.042, y= 0.26 - 0.0108*flooding cover, Fig 2 in appendix S2). Species

515 that consumed fishes and anurans occurred with more frequency in areas with more

516 flooding cover (R2 = 0.143, p = 0.036, and R2 = 0.173, p = 0.02, respectively), whereas the

138 517 occurrence of snakes that prey on lizards and birds tended to decrease in those areas (R2 =

518 0.264, p = 0.003, and R2 = 0.177, p = 0.06, respectively). Forest cover did not significantly

519 affect the frequency of consumption of these prey (Fig 4 in appendix S2).

520 Eleven metacommunities showed SESFRic or SESFDis values differing from the null

521 models considering morphological and dietary traits. Besides the tendencies mentioned

522 above, these metacommunities where placed along the whole flooding and forest gradients

523 (Tab 1 in appendix S2).

524 DISCUSSION

525 Flood disturbance has been reported as an important driver of diversity patterns in

526 floodplain plants and animals in different regions [47, 50, 115, 116]. In the Paraguay River

527 Basin (PRB), as in other Neotropical regions [115], seasonal flooding seems to play a role on

528 snake species turnover between flooded and non-flooded areas [117]. However, in our

529 study we failed to find a clear pattern that could support flooding acting as an

530 environmental filter. The snake fauna of the Pantanal floodplain showed only a weak trend

531 toward being composed by closely related species, primarily considering recent

532 relationships. Biotic filters are frequently detected in broader scales because, in general, at

533 these scales environments diverge in current ecological conditions and also biogeographic

534 history and, in consequence, have divergent biotas [8, 118]. The Pantanal snake fauna is a

535 subset of the highly diverse pool present in the PRB and originated in different ecoregions

536 that the basin overlap, and the tendency of phylogenetic clustering may reflect the subset of

537 biotic and abiotic conditions that the Pantanal is subject to when compared to the entire

538 basin area, rather than reflect just the difference in flooding influences. On smaller spatial

539 scales, local communities that showed phylogenetic structure indicating a non-random

540 assemblage process were overdispersed, rather than clustered as expected under the

541 influence of habitat filters and the occurrence of phylogenetic conservatism, and were

139 542 located mostly in non-flooding areas. However, by analysing the phenotypic structure of

543 communities in different niche dimensions combined with phylogenetic structure, we were

544 able to find some evidence of non-random factors acting on the assembly of the PRB snake

545 metacommunities, as we found a significant pattern of phenotypical convergence and

546 divergence linked to environmental differences at the metacommunity level.

547 However, our results also indicate the effects of historical contingencies on the

548 assemblage of PRB local communities. The ordination by phylogenetic structure (Fig 3)

549 resulted in metacommunities grouped by ecoregions (sensu Olson et al 2001 [56]), which

550 means that phylogenetic composition of metacommunities may be largely influenced by the

551 history of the regional pool [119]. This result agrees with previous studies that highlight the

552 influence of neighbouring environments on some communities from central South America

553 [120]. The PRB is a meeting point of regions with divergent origins and divergent current

554 environmental conditions [51]. In order to stochastic or deterministic (niche-based)

555 processes shape communities at small scales, species have to be available in the regional

556 pool and divergent pools would respond differently to the same processes due to

557 evolutionary constraints and histories [119]. Then, the evolutionary histories of the regional

558 pool can have produced the patterns of phylogenetic similarities observed in

559 metacommunities at the PRB and also influenced assembly process that resulted in the

560 other community patterns we found at smaller scales.

561 Contrary to our predictions, evidences of environmental filters (morphological

562 convergence at the metacommunity level even after controlling for the phylogenetic

563 structure of metacommunities) found in PRB were not related to flooding gradients, but at

564 some level could be correlated to the forest cover gradient. But, rather than having a higher

565 frequency of arboreal species than open areas as already reported for other snake

566 communities from South America [24], forested areas at the PRB have lower species

567 richness than open areas and lower frequency of species usually found in open areas

140 568 elsewhere in the PRB. This could reflect a restriction imposed by forested areas on species

569 adaptated to open habitats.

570 It is not surprising to find lower richness in more forested areas at PRB considering

571 that a large part of the region is historically linked to open areas. The PBR is located almost

572 entirely at the ‘diagonal of open formations’ [121, 122], a continuum of relatively open

573 ecoregions running from northeastern Brazil to south-central South America (Catinga,

574 Cerrado, and Chaco). Animal communities from this region currently show a high

575 dominance of open habitat species [23, 123, 124], with some of them probably originating

576 from diversification processes in situ [125]. These species are generally adapted to habitats

577 that tend to be drier, hotter or more exposed to direct sunlight and/or are subject to higher

578 ranges in these conditions than forest habitats. Thus, climatic conditions in forests may

579 constrain the occupation of these habitats by most open-habitat species that compose the

580 PRB species pool, resulting in lower snake richness in regions with higher forest cover. For

581 instance, forests provide a lower availability of adequate microhabitats for thermoregulation

582 [117, 126, 127, 128]). Furthermore, at the PBR, forest patches are restricted, discontiguous,

583 and isolated in a matrix dominated by open landscapes, what also might constrain the

584 diversity and distribution of forested adapted snakes that probably have originated in

585 adjacent forested ecoregions (e.g. Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest and Andean Yungas).

586 Despite evidence for habitat filtering, functional diversity constrained by the

587 richness of local communities (SESFRic and SESFDis) was not different between areas with

588 different forest cover, a pattern that would be expected as a result of habitat filtering. Thus,

589 we are unable to totally refute the hypothesis that convergent patterns of metacommunities

590 of more forested areas originated through non-deterministic processes, such as the

591 historical contingences mentioned above. Even considering that the morphological

592 convergence pattern was significant after controlling for the phylogenetic structure of

593 metacommunities (ρ(TE.P) = 0.376, p = 0.007), the high correlation of phylogenetically

141 594 structured assembly patterns to trait-convergence assembly patterns (ρ(PT) = 0.624, p =

595 0.038) also point to the interplay between environmental filter and historically mediated

596 stochastic processes acting to sort the composition of metacommunities.

597 Although habitat filtering could have acted over a forest cover gradient, many of the

598 significant changes in morphology occurred along the flooding gradient, as indicated by the

599 values of species traits that characterized the metacommunities. In general, our results point

600 to an expected increase in the occurrence of species with aquatic habitats (e.g, Hydrops

601 caesurus, Pseudoeryx plicatilis) in local communities more subjected to seasonal flooding.

602 Mean morphological values in these assemblages reflected a larger frequency of species

603 with more dorsally positioned eyes and narrower anterior part of the head. Aquatic snakes

604 have an enlarged posterior portion of the head to circumvent the physical constraints of

605 underwater displacement without losing the ability to swallow large prey, and the dorsal

606 position of the eyes and nostril allow aquatic species to target prey or to see predators that

607 are positioned above them, while keeping their bodies submerged [88, 130]. Changes in

608 mean trait values not directly associated to aquatic habitats were also detected with the

609 increased influence of flooding in metacommunities (e. g., decrease in ventral and subcaudal

610 density and more laterally placed eyes). This may be a result of the tendency of

611 metacommunities from flooded areas to have also generalist species, in which

612 morphological adaptations to specialized habits are absent. Additionally, the morphological

613 dissimilarity among species within communities (FDis) from flooded areas was higher than

614 non-flooded areas considering traits that maximized the associations to environmental

615 gradients (DVS, HSW, NPH and NPW, Fig 1 in appendix S2). This probably caused the

616 divergent pattern found at the metacommunity level (ρ(XE.T) = 0.268, p = 0.01). This means

617 that the increased occurrence of aquatic species bearing a typical aquatic morphology not

618 only changed the mean values of morphological ratios, but also produced divergent patterns

619 because they co-occurred with species that use different habitats. However, when other

142 620 morphological traits (RBS, RTS, ROB, DSS, HSH, EPH and EPW) are considered,

621 metacommunities from areas under higher flooding influence were composed by species

622 with more similar morphologies in the multidimensional trait space (smaller FDis, Fig 1 in

623 appendix S2). This also agrees with the hypothesis that areas under higher flooding influence

624 have snake metacommunities with a higher frequency of generalist species than those from

625 areas under lower or no flooding influence, and that seasonal flooding constrain certain

626 specialist habits (e.g. fossoriality).

627 It was expected and supported by our results that the seasonal flooding favours the

628 establishment of aquatic species in local communities. Recurrent flooding, in addition to

629 promoting the dispersion of riparian or aquatic taxa [61, 69], provides essential conditions

630 for aquatic species and seems to increase their frequency in local communities. The rarity of

631 species from typically aquatic clades in non-flooded areas and their higher frequency in

632 flooded areas should have originated the positive relationship between the percentage of

633 flooding area and net relatedness index (NRI). This relationship occurred with the index

634 starting at negative values (overdispersion of communities) in non-flooded areas and

635 reaching null values in areas with high flooding influence, rather than varying between the

636 extremes of NRI (overdisperded and clustered values). The increased frequency of diets

637 including fish and anurans as prey in assemblages more subjected to flooding (Fig 4 in

638 appendix 2) also seems to be a consequence of the higher frequency of aquatic species in

639 those areas, since fish and anurans are the main prey of aquatic and semiaquatic snakes

640 [88].

641 But the role of flooding on the assemblage of PRB snake communities can go beyond

642 the dispersion and succesfull occupation of aquatic species. We believe that flooding can

643 decrease the relative force of deterministic processes that could also affect the assembly of

644 comunities (e. g., competitive interactions) as it frequently disturbs the ecosystem. Two

645 thirds of the metacommunities from areas with high flooding cover (with 75% or more of

143 646 flooding cover) had random phylogenetic and phenotypic structure. Meanwhile, most

647 metacommunities with significantly overdispersed phylogenetic or phenotypic structure

648 were located in areas with no seasonal flooding (table 1 in appendix S2). Large seasonal

649 water-level changes in tropical floodplains result in continuous disassembly and reassembly

650 of aquatic and wetland communities, due to high exchange rates and redistribution of

651 organisms that temporarily leave and subsequently recolonize the space [131, 132, 133].

652 Thus, it is likely that seasonal flooding favors the dominance of generalist species due to the

653 hypothesis that generalists cope better with environmental changes, primarily because they

654 are apparently able to change between resources [130, 134]. In bird assemblages in the

655 Brazilian Cerrado, the high seasonality and predisposition to disturbance (such as fire and

656 drought) exhibited by open habitats were also indicated as mechanisms selecting for

657 generalist species that adaptively respond to different environmental conditions throughout

658 the year [118].

659 However, some associations between species traits and environmental gradients are

660 not explained by the hypotheses presented above. For example, the unpredicted decrease in

661 the frequency of lizards, birds, and mammals in snake diets from seasonally flooded areas,

662 and the pronounced increase in robustness with an increase in forest cover were against our

663 expectations. These patterns might result from biotic features that were not considered in

664 our analysis (e.g. a lower availability of lizards, birds and mammals in flooded areas may

665 have caused the observed decreased consumption of these items) and/or from conserved

666 traits. Additionally, we failed to find a clear pattern between functional diversity and flood

667 or forest gradients when we compared observed values with null models (Tab 1 in appendix

668 S2). Thus, the hypotheses that functional diversity patterns result from stochastic or

669 antagonistic forces acting on local scales can not be rejected completely. Moreover,

670 although significant, the relationships between community structure and the environmental

671 parameters considered showed low correlation values. This result indicates that flooding

144 672 and forest cover were not the only factors that have affected the assembly of PRB snake

673 communities.

674 Despite the limitations mentioned above, we provided evidence that habitat

675 filtering can be acting through the forest cover gradient in addition to historical

676 contingences, and that seasonal flooding can increase the importance of neutral processes

677 on the structure of snake communities in the Pantanal and the PRB. Future research using

678 detailed and systematic biological sampling and assessing environmental conditions in more

679 detailed ways and smaller scales could provide stronger evidence for the processes

680 mentioned here. A better understanding of the causal relationships between species traits

681 and fitness would also be useful. However, as these approaches are more challenging and

682 the knowledge about emergent community patterns of the Pantanal and their origins are

683 still scarce, the descriptive approaches used herein provided useful indications of the

684 mechanisms affecting community assembly in this recent ecoregion, as well as a set of

685 quantitative hypotheses to be addressed and extended to other areas with seasonal

686 flooding.

687 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

688 For give us access to the zoological collections under their care or for assist the 689 gathering of the morphological data we thanks Gustavo Graciolli, Thomaz R.F. Sinani, Iris 690 Stefano, Felipe F. Curcio, Jacqueline Pimentel, Frederick Bauer, Andrea W. de Albertini, 691 Humberto Sanchés, Katia A. Wood, Nicolas Martinez, Diego B. Villafañe, Hugo Cabral, Jorge 692 D. Williams, Leandro Alcalde, Julian Faivovich, Santiago J. Nenda, Esteban O. Lavilla, Sonia Z. 693 Kretzschmar, Blanca Alvarez, Soledad Palomas, Hussam Zaher, Alberto B. Carvalho, Giuseppe 694 Puorto and Valdir G. Germano. We are most grateful to Marcus Cianciaruso and Hamanda B. 695 Cavalheri for useful comments and insights, and Hannah Doerrier for the English revision of 696 earlier drafts of the manuscript. V.L.F. thanks FUNDECT (187/14), for partial financial 697 support. C.N.N. thanks CNPq and FAPESP (2012/19858-2) for postdoctoral fellowships. The 698 authors declare no conflict of interest.

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1042 SUPPORTING INFORMATION

1043 S1 Appendix. Description of Paraguay River basin (PRB) regarding flooding and forest

1044 cover, occurrence of snakes species at PRB and phylogenetic and phonotypic

1045 characterizations of species.

1046 S2 Appendix. Values of phylogenetic and functional structure of snake metacommunities,

1047 and additional relations of communities’ functional diversity with environmental gradients

1048 at Paraguay River basin (PRB).

156 1049 SUPPORTING INFORMATION - The role of seasonal flooding in assembling snake communities in the Brazilian Pantanal and surrounding 1050 areas

1051 S1 Appendix. Description of Paraguay River basin (PRB) regarding flooding and forest cover, occurrence of snakes species at PRB and phylogenetic and

1052 phonotypic characterizations of species.

1053 Figure 1. Maps showing the limits of Paraguay River basin, Pantanal floodplain, local communities and the distribution of seasonal flooded areas, evergreen 1054 broadleaf forest and deciduous broadleaf forest.

157 1055 Table 1. Species presence-absence table in the 31 0.5 x 0.5 degree grid cell delimiting metacommunities at Paraguay River Basin. The first two lines indicate 1056 coordinates of the centroid of each cell. The column PTN indicate which species occur at the Pantanal floodplain.

PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Long -56.0 -57.0 -56.0 -55.5 -57.5 -56.5 -57.0 -56.5 -55.0 -57.5 -59.5 -60.5 -57.5 -56.5 -59.5 -57.5 Lat -15.1 -15.6 -15.6 -15.6 -16.1 -16.1 -16.6 -16.6 -17.6 -18.1 -18.6 -19.1 -19.1 -19.1 -23.1 -19.6 Amerotyphlops brongersmianus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Amerotyphlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Anilius scytale 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis nigroterminata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Boiruna maculata 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1

158 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Bothrops pauloensis 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 Chironius fuscus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia clelia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Corallus hortulanus 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia vellardi 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

159 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Erythrolamprus almadensis 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Eunectes murinus 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Eunectes notaeus 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Helicops angulatus 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Hydrops caesurus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Liotyphlops beui 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

160 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Lygophis dilepis 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus diana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1

161 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas agassizii 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Philodryas nattereri 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Philodryas psammophidea 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Psomophis genimaculatus 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

162 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus turgidus 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Simophis rhinostoma 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Xenodon merremii 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0

163 PTN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Long -57.0 -56.0 -60.0 -58.0 -57.0 -56.5 -56.0 -55.5 -55.0 -58.0 -56.5 -60.0 -56.0 -56.5 -57.5 Lat -19.6 -19.6 -20.1 -20.1 -20.1 -20.1 -20.6 -20.6 -20.6 -21.6 -21.6 -22.6 -22.6 -24.6 -25.1 Amerotyphlops brongersmianus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Amerotyphlops reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Anilius scytale 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis ambiniger 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Apostolepis assimilis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 Apostolepis intermedia 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis nigroterminata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Atractus reticulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus thalesdelemai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boa constrictor 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 Boiruna maculata 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bothrops alternatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 Bothrops diporus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bothrops jararaca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

164 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Bothrops jararacussu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops moojeni 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Bothrops pauloensis 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 Chironius bicarinatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Chironius fuscus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia clelia 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Clelia langeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Corallus hortulanus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 Dipsas catesbyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drepanoides anomalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Drymarchon corais 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates alvarezi 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Epicrates cenchria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epicrates crassus 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 Epictia albipuncta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Epictia munoai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

165 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Epictia vellardi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 Erythrolamprus reginae 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Eunectes murinus 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 Eunectes notaeus 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Helicops angulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 Helicops modestus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hydrops caesurus 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1

166 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Leptophis ahaetulla 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 Liotyphlops beui 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Liotyphlops ternetzii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Lygophis dilepis 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus altirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus annellatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Micrurus corallinus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus diana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Micrurus lemniscatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus paraensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus silviae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Mussurana quimi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

167 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Oxyrhopus melanogenys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Paraphimophis rustica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 Phalotris mertensi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Phalotris tricolor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 Philodryas psammophidea 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Philodryas varia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phimophis guerini 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa coronata 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0

168 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Pseud oeryx plicatilis 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 Psomophis obtusus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rena unguirostris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus mikanii 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 Simophis rhinostoma 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Spilotes pullatus 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tachymenis peruviana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 Tantilla melanocephala 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes lanei 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes strigatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida brasiliensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Trilepida koppesi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon dorbignyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon histricus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

169 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Xenodon merremii 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1057 Table 2. Morphological characterization of Caenophidia snakes from Paraguay River Basin. N: number of specimens analized; SVL: snout-vent length; TL: tail 1058 length; CM: circumference around mid-body; VS: ventral scale count; SS: subcaudal scale count; HH-E: head height at eye position; HH-N: head height at 1059 nostril position; HW-E: head width at eye position; HW-N: head width at eye and nostril position; HE: height of inferior border of the eye; HN: height of the 1060 nostril; DE: distance between eyes; DN: distance between nostrils. Measures are in milimeters. SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Apostolepis ambiniger 3 459.00 41.33 22.33 225 28 3.99 2.68 5.07 3.40 2.88 1.66 4.31 3.40 Apostolepis assimilis 7 447.14 42.57 21.29 242 31 4.13 2.33 5.35 2.84 2.59 1.68 4.01 2.63 Apostolepis dimidiata 7 374.57 39.29 19.00 228 30 3.53 2.11 4.48 2.69 2.15 1.36 3.70 2.56 Apostolepis intermedia 1 278.00 36.00 13.00 210 31 2.71 1.40 2.99 1.89 1.54 0.93 2.60 1.72 Apostolepis nigroterminata 7 257.00 30.57 14.00 204 30 2.67 1.60 3.39 1.90 1.41 0.92 2.73 1.75

170 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Apostolepis vittata 4 303.00 30.50 13.00 239 32 2.43 1.58 3.09 2.03 1.34 0.87 2.69 1.81 Atractus albuquerquei 5 302.80 39.60 21.00 172 31 4.14 2.51 5.25 3.37 2.26 1.71 4.03 2.85 Atractus paraguayensis 4 288.25 39.75 25.00 149 27 4.77 2.78 5.39 2.67 2.53 1.94 4.27 2.41 Boiruna maculata 6 996.17 216.67 85.33 225 75 13.60 7.99 17.23 9.41 7.77 5.32 12.62 8.24 Bothrops alternatus 5 706.00 110.20 83.20 174 46 13.01 8.66 16.48 7.89 9.05 5.53 14.35 7.46 Bothrops diporus 7 690.14 108.14 84.43 175 48 14.27 8.38 16.44 7.20 8.91 5.92 14.77 6.73 Bothrops mattogrossensis 13 599.54 104.85 68.54 173 50 11.69 6.65 14.37 6.10 7.36 4.58 12.33 5.83 Bothrops moojeni 7 735.71 136.43 85.14 193 65 13.18 8.00 17.61 7.54 8.54 5.00 15.72 7.32 Bothrops pauloensis 7 525.00 89.86 50.57 170 48 9.87 6.03 12.49 5.42 5.76 3.96 10.82 5.21 Chironius bicarinatus 5 944.80 536.00 68.40 159 136 12.03 6.87 14.19 8.56 4.80 4.46 13.33 8.19 Chironius exoletus 7 750.86 440.86 55.00 153 131 10.97 6.27 13.07 7.65 4.46 3.86 10.76 6.95 Chironius flavolineatus 7 577.86 385.57 35.29 154 137 7.47 5.13 8.99 5.12 3.08 2.56 7.90 4.93 Chironius laurenti 6 1129.50 590.17 92.33 162 135 14.06 7.92 17.49 9.95 6.03 4.81 15.33 9.47 Chironius quadricarinatus 8 627.88 352.75 44.00 149 112 9.23 5.39 10.60 6.26 3.83 3.47 8.99 6.01 Chironius scurrulus 6 1085.83 543.00 85.50 155 116 14.98 8.14 16.46 9.58 6.49 5.40 15.09 9.04 Clelia clelia 4 971.75 250.00 96.50 211 73 12.50 7.17 15.34 8.24 7.09 4.68 11.56 7.21 Clelia plumbea 5 1099.40 276.40 87.20 221 83 13.55 7.98 16.97 9.47 7.81 5.40 12.76 8.57 Crotalus durissus 9 915.44 103.44 136.33 174 29 16.74 11.36 23.77 10.26 12.02 8.64 20.65 9.32 Dipsas indica 2 584.50 235.00 29.00 198 114 8.85 5.84 8.83 5.25 3.17 3.52 8.04 5.25

171 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Drymarchon corais 6 1464.17 318.17 130.00 207 76 22.02 13.45 26.02 13.60 11.94 8.18 21.89 12.25 Drymoluber brazili 5 813.00 391.20 55.40 186 116 9.98 6.16 13.01 6.93 4.29 3.98 10.23 6.08 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 7 536.14 80.71 42.14 196 41 7.70 4.45 8.66 5.32 3.83 2.83 7.24 4.99 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 6 459.67 89.67 41.50 187 51 7.66 4.66 9.42 5.22 3.95 3.28 6.66 4.58 Erythrolamprus almadensis 8 324.63 93.63 31.25 156 61 6.23 3.43 6.78 3.90 3.05 2.26 4.92 3.19 Erythrolamprus frenatus 4 457.75 83.75 37.00 191 50 6.86 4.51 7.69 4.86 3.41 3.28 6.02 4.04 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 8 310.50 96.25 29.63 157 66 5.37 3.11 6.01 3.36 2.33 2.09 4.67 2.84 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 4 290.25 89.50 27.00 153 64 5.45 3.07 6.70 3.47 2.66 2.29 4.45 2.92 Erythrolamprus miliaris 6 554.33 125.67 56.00 165 55 9.82 6.26 11.98 6.73 5.37 4.60 8.10 5.43 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 13 385.31 85.69 42.69 154 49 6.92 4.52 9.69 5.10 4.06 3.23 6.11 4.23 Erythrolamprus reginae 7 436.57 173.29 38.14 152 80 7.44 4.08 8.95 4.81 3.39 3.01 6.58 4.29 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 7 451.43 173.14 40.86 182 90 7.31 4.28 8.88 4.80 3.53 3.34 6.21 4.19 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 2 680.00 146.50 58.50 180 57 11.91 6.55 13.90 7.04 7.41 5.09 9.93 6.33 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 5 368.80 90.00 41.20 151 54 7.02 4.04 8.30 5.02 3.80 2.94 6.30 4.36 Erythrolamprus typhlus 5 371.00 70.80 32.60 172 44 6.65 3.83 8.41 4.51 3.34 2.72 5.88 4.03 Helicops angulatus 7 316.00 193.86 39.43 111 87 6.70 4.17 8.76 4.92 3.68 3.71 5.47 2.62 Helicops infrataeniatus 6 332.67 147.50 42.83 129 71 7.92 5.04 8.71 4.68 4.54 4.48 5.49 2.43 Helicops leopardinus 14 318.50 143.00 42.86 116 69 7.11 4.31 8.93 5.03 4.26 3.90 5.33 2.43 Helicops modestus 7 296.86 133.14 41.29 120 75 6.29 3.91 7.53 4.07 3.60 3.54 4.38 2.00

172 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Helicops polylepis 5 393.60 236.00 55.60 126 95 7.98 5.39 10.05 6.49 5.19 4.94 6.27 2.95 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 3 851.67 317.33 118.00 167 80 16.96 9.64 21.55 11.41 12.46 7.92 14.55 8.70 Hydrodynastes gigas 6 1197.00 389.50 137.83 161 73 19.86 11.87 24.55 12.54 12.90 9.44 17.54 10.35 Hydrops caesurus 4 338.75 90.75 29.50 147 54 4.90 2.63 6.59 3.72 2.77 2.33 4.29 1.77 Imantodes cenchoa 4 640.50 275.25 20.25 261 159 5.24 2.66 6.96 3.16 1.88 1.85 5.40 2.98 Leptodeira annulata 13 438.08 149.92 35.62 193 83 6.96 4.18 9.18 4.74 3.29 2.78 6.38 4.28 Leptophis ahaetulla 10 749.00 428.70 53.90 160 134 9.81 5.48 11.32 5.85 5.17 4.10 9.25 5.28 Lygophis dilepis 7 358.29 105.71 27.29 171 67 5.56 3.13 6.02 3.47 2.41 2.25 4.35 3.05 Lygophis flavifrenatus 6 350.33 136.17 27.83 161 81 5.98 3.37 6.39 3.34 2.45 2.48 4.78 2.92 Lygophis meridionalis 6 393.50 154.00 31.00 169 84 6.12 3.52 6.97 3.53 2.46 2.57 4.80 3.13 Lygophis paucidens 7 327.57 112.71 24.86 170 74 5.11 3.09 5.86 3.01 2.12 2.14 4.18 2.72 Mastigodryas bifossatus 9 1073.33 394.11 106.78 169 90 16.20 9.88 19.44 9.65 8.90 6.83 14.79 8.03 Mastigodryas boddaerti 4 758.00 286.25 50.00 186 107 10.32 6.12 11.27 5.91 4.49 3.86 10.67 5.67 Micrurus baliocoryphus 4 736.50 55.00 44.50 224 26 9.58 7.00 11.36 7.00 6.32 5.10 8.50 6.21 Micrurus diana 1 804.70 51.70 53.75 218 23 9.82 7.34 11.19 7.01 6.33 4.65 9.41 6.71 Micrurus frontalis 8 960.00 58.00 53.75 224 22 9.82 7.34 11.19 7.01 6.33 4.65 9.41 6.71 Micrurus lemniscatus 6 826.83 78.33 42.50 236 35 9.36 7.10 12.70 8.30 7.25 5.35 7.89 6.33 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 6 660.83 47.33 40.00 234 28 7.92 5.82 9.92 6.22 4.93 4.17 7.23 5.47 Micrurus surinamensis 6 665.67 95.17 62.50 160 36 10.83 7.15 14.40 7.55 8.09 5.84 8.29 6.10

173 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Micrurus tricolor 5 658.80 49.60 41.00 224 27 8.01 5.78 10.51 6.26 4.95 4.15 7.79 5.66 Mussurana bicolor 12 456.58 136.08 45.08 170 67 7.11 4.48 8.93 4.66 3.72 3.32 6.04 4.00 Oxybelis aeneus 7 646.29 420.29 22.00 188 164 6.42 2.86 5.61 3.00 2.55 2.18 5.26 2.78 Oxybelis fulgidus 7 1015.86 504.29 52.86 205 153 11.02 4.30 12.81 5.11 5.01 2.80 11.77 5.02 Oxyrhopus guibei 7 528.29 160.00 38.43 195 81 6.85 4.65 8.18 4.74 3.47 3.29 6.43 4.02 Oxyrhopus petolarius 7 640.57 212.86 42.71 211 99 7.25 4.74 8.78 4.84 3.25 3.31 6.50 4.41 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 9 406.56 111.67 32.89 198 78 5.33 3.38 6.77 3.63 2.35 2.40 4.87 3.12 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 6 499.17 143.50 35.67 201 82 6.52 3.93 8.23 4.44 2.92 2.62 5.93 3.73 Phalotris matogrossensis 6 405.67 42.33 27.50 203 30 5.15 3.49 6.80 3.55 3.48 2.44 4.43 3.24 Phalotris mertensi 4 587.25 56.75 28.00 228 33 6.43 4.18 7.69 4.14 4.21 2.80 5.97 3.92 Phalotris nasutus 4 380.25 58.50 25.50 182 37 3.96 2.09 6.20 3.15 2.60 1.30 4.47 3.01 Phalotris nigrilatus 1 380.25 58.50 25.50 182 37 3.96 2.09 6.20 3.15 2.60 1.30 4.47 3.01 Phalotris tricolor 1 516.00 56.00 30.00 206 30 5.89 3.58 7.88 3.92 4.20 2.32 4.83 3.48 Philodryas aestiva 4 550.50 251.50 39.25 192 119 7.51 4.78 8.16 4.48 3.20 2.94 6.78 4.11 Philodryas agassizii 3 300.67 105.00 26.67 129 63 5.96 3.13 6.24 3.30 2.87 2.20 4.85 3.13 Philodryas baroni 3 1105.67 462.00 90.00 230 131 12.38 7.81 14.48 7.09 5.67 5.19 12.21 6.50 Philodryas livida 1 614.00 170.00 57.13 154 83 10.56 6.13 11.60 5.69 5.21 4.19 8.85 5.35 Philodryas mattogrossensis 8 810.88 374.75 65.75 223 135 10.72 6.66 11.53 6.43 5.23 4.85 9.28 5.92 Philodryas nattereri 8 799.13 363.50 68.63 204 125 11.07 6.74 12.60 6.10 4.93 4.72 10.22 5.78

174 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Philodryas olfersii 10 618.00 272.10 43.10 191 114 8.39 5.14 9.71 5.27 4.08 3.39 8.41 5.01 Philodryas patagoniensis 8 648.00 275.63 57.13 174 105 10.56 6.13 11.60 5.69 5.21 4.19 8.85 5.35 Philodryas psammophidea 3 553.33 205.33 41.67 193 96 7.63 4.71 8.58 4.43 3.67 3.31 7.29 4.05 Philodryas viridissima 4 749.50 298.25 58.00 220 123 10.94 6.68 13.01 6.49 6.05 4.82 10.51 5.92 Phimophis guerini 5 644.40 150.60 60.40 199 69 8.09 4.82 10.96 6.47 4.25 3.31 7.80 5.85 Phimophis vittatus 5 537.60 109.20 50.60 202 54 8.11 4.68 9.16 4.65 4.10 2.86 6.20 4.16 Phrynonax poecilonotus 5 811.80 313.00 63.60 195 118 13.34 8.62 14.76 7.99 5.51 5.63 14.00 7.91 Pseudoboa coronata 6 586.67 228.33 48.17 188 91 8.16 5.38 10.57 6.84 4.31 3.58 8.05 5.94 Pseudoboa nigra 6 787.33 278.33 77.00 207 98 9.67 5.86 11.84 7.03 5.08 3.78 8.91 6.04 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 5 571.40 137.80 80.00 131 44 9.65 5.62 9.55 5.50 5.51 4.88 6.71 2.40 Psomophis genimaculatus 8 281.88 79.00 20.38 192 62 3.91 2.37 4.89 2.58 1.80 1.61 3.58 2.24 Rhachidelus brazili 4 1108.50 252.00 123.50 187 64 14.26 9.48 18.14 9.81 7.78 6.69 13.53 8.52 Sibynomorphus lavillai 5 372.00 105.60 28.20 163 56 7.55 4.57 7.77 4.64 3.81 3.25 6.63 4.42 Sibynomorphus mikanii 5 337.00 83.20 26.00 165 49 5.66 3.85 6.65 4.02 2.81 2.56 4.88 3.46 Sibynomorphus turgidus 12 295.33 70.92 26.42 154 47 5.45 3.58 6.10 3.67 2.79 2.42 4.56 3.24 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 6 308.33 85.67 29.83 161 54 6.38 3.91 7.20 4.03 3.46 2.62 5.63 3.94 Simophis rhinostoma 4 473.75 125.50 32.00 175 66 7.56 4.40 9.29 5.28 3.78 2.76 7.16 4.77 Siphlophis compressus 6 580.33 192.17 30.50 240 107 6.35 4.04 7.81 4.54 2.34 2.80 6.30 3.77 Spilotes pullatus 6 1293.33 447.33 104.50 210 115 16.25 9.92 19.04 11.64 8.54 6.23 17.28 9.80

175 SP N SVL TL CM VS SS HH-E HH-N HW-E HW-N HE HN DE DN Spilotes sulphureus 5 1299.60 522.20 92.00 212 136 18.15 11.04 20.59 12.16 9.13 7.02 19.43 11.54 Taeniophallus occipitalis 7 315.29 116.57 20.29 176 78 4.22 2.38 5.14 2.72 1.51 1.40 4.42 2.46 Tantilla melanocephala 8 217.38 64.88 15.75 152 55 2.91 1.85 3.88 2.46 1.26 1.19 3.37 2.23 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 13 438.85 128.77 42.00 149 64 8.36 4.51 9.37 4.45 3.90 2.96 7.42 3.99 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 9 353.22 137.00 30.11 144 74 6.46 3.69 7.18 3.42 2.93 2.53 5.59 2.97 Thamnodynastes lanei 3 352.67 133.33 23.00 151 76 5.56 3.20 6.07 3.03 2.55 2.24 4.95 2.60 Thamnodynastes rutilus 4 330.50 146.00 39.50 125 74 7.22 4.13 7.86 4.06 4.11 3.37 6.13 3.30 Xenodon matogrossensis 5 351.00 58.20 47.20 135 32 8.59 4.67 10.11 5.60 5.02 2.90 6.63 4.94 Xenodon merremii 16 582.19 108.56 66.69 141 41 12.47 7.29 15.27 8.43 7.12 4.66 8.90 6.50 Xenodon nattereri 1 358.00 74.60 48.20 135 39 8.28 4.94 9.96 5.47 5.66 2.95 6.31 4.35 Xenodon pulcher 8 390.88 63.50 51.88 158 35 8.06 4.44 10.07 5.65 4.92 2.69 6.65 4.75 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 5 513.60 94.80 51.60 139 45 11.10 6.31 12.79 6.86 5.75 4.59 9.68 6.06 Xenodon severus 4 576.75 94.00 71.75 135 38 12.98 7.34 17.47 9.74 6.48 5.17 13.62 8.44 Xenopholis undulatus 1 335.67 60.17 24.50 176 39 4.90 2.82 7.05 3.77 2.99 2.02 4.69 3.16 Xenopholis werdingorum 6 335.67 60.17 24.50 174 39 4.90 2.82 7.05 3.77 2.99 2.02 4.69 3.16

176 1061 Especimens consulted to gathering morphological measures. 1062 Museums acronyms ar as follow: CZCEN, Colección Zoológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; FML, Fundación Miguel Lillo; IB, Instituto 1063 Butantã; LPR, Colección de Reptiles del Museo de La Plata; MACN, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales; MNHNP, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del 1064 Paraguay; MUZUSPS, Coleção de Serpentes do Museu de Zoologia d Universidade de São Paulo; UFMTR, Coleção de Répteis da Universidade Federal de 1065 Mato Grosso; UNNEC, Colección Herpetológica de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; ZUFMS, Coleção Zoológica de Referência da Universidade Federal 1066 de Mato Grosso do Sul 1067 1068 Apostolepis ambiniger: IB10005, MNHNP3493, MNHNP5163; Apostolepis assimilis: ZUFMS-CEUCH05081, ZUFMS-REP00233, IB087318, IB022405, IB00816, 1069 IB009466 ,IB009115; Apostolepis dimidiata: MNHNP1180, UNNEC12232, MZUSPS15294, MZUSPS15292, IB04817, IB081522, IB082510; Apostolepis 1070 intermedia: ZUFMS-REP1269; Apostolepis nigroterminata: UFMTR05502, UFMTR10672, UFMTR11293, UFMTR01178, UFMTR01215, UFMTR01118, 1071 UFMTR01172; Apostolepis vittata: UFMTR-COM163, ZUFMS-NH569, ZUFMS-NH496, MZUSP111461; Atractus albuquerquei: UFMTR09368, UFMTR09356, 1072 UFMTR00325, UFMTR09357, UFMTR09378; Atractus paraguayensisi: FML06221, IB30196, IB50857, IB50864; Boiruna maculata: MNHNP6553, 1073 MNHNP2619, MNHNP7674, MNHNP2625, MNHNP7937, UFMTR02376; Bothrops alternatus: MNHNP11039, UNNEC10138, UNNEC6968, UNNEC10136, 1074 FML11410; Bothrops diporus: MNHNP9050, MNHNP2588, MNHNP9735, CZCEN0197, LPR5207, MACN37367, UNNEC8026; Bothrops mattogrossensis: 1075 MNHNP10189, MNHNP8432, MNHNP4012, MNHNP10453, CZCEN0296, ZUFMS-NH358-4714, ZUFMS-NH349-4713, ZUFMS-CEUCH5757, ZUFMS-VLF125, 1076 ZUFMS-CEUCH4718, FML02612, UFMTR11222, UFMTR01896; Bothrops moojeni: MNHNP3910, MNHNP8394, MNHNP8474, MNHNP6831, UFMTR01950, 1077 ZUFMS-REP01365, ZUFMS-REP01871; Bothrops pauloensis: MNHNP2595, UFMTR00382, UFMTR00512, UFMTR01688, UFMTR01691, ZUFMS-REP01871, 1078 ZUFMS-REP01356; Chironius bicarinatus: MACN791, FML06715, MZUSPS19586, MZUSPS18039, MZUSP11578; Chironius exoletus: ZUFMS-CEUCH2192, 1079 ZUFMS-CEUCH2189, ZUFMS-CEUCH2187, ZUFMS-CEUCH2188, ZUFMS-CEUCH0962, UFMTR11540, UFMTR00571; Chironius flavolineatus: MNHNP5201, 1080 ZUFMS-CEUCH3523, ZUFMS-CEUCH4976, ZUFMS-CEUCH3031, UFMTR06785, UFMTR00548, UFMTR00547; Chironius laurenti: ZUFMS-CEUCH2164,

177 1081 UFMTR03538, UFMTR00934, UFMTR01559, UFMTR07443; Chironius quadricarinatus: CZCEN512, FML26130, ZUFMS-REP1581, ZUFMS-REP2147, FML06174, 1082 UFMTR0055, UFMTR00565, UFMTR01525; Chironius scurrulus: UFMTR05716, UFMTR08553, UFMTR01540, UFMTR07291, UFMTR05363, UFMTR10604; 1083 Clelia clelia: MNHNP3085, MNHNP8489, MACN36843, UNNEC8034; Clelia plumbea: FML01830, UFMTR01915, UFMTR02813, UFMTR02363, MZUSPS19939; 1084 Crotalus durissus: ZUFMS-REP1890-2049, ZUFMS-REP1877-136, ZUFMS-REP1877-125, ZUFMS-REP1883, ZUFMS-REP1894, ZUFMS-REP1876, MNHNP3068, 1085 MNHNP3073, MACN44589; Dipsas indica: MZUSPS18607, MZUSPS18606; Drymarchon corais: MNHNP6531, MNHNP1814, MNHNP8366, MNHNP7943, 1086 UFMTR06674, UFMTR06764; Drymoluber brazili: UFMTR06970, MZUSPS20556, IB26716, IB25379, IB10465; Erythrolamprus_aesculapii: MNHNP3428, 1087 MNHNP2688, UFMTR06180, UFMTR02612, UFMTR00482, ZUFMS-REP01385, ZUFMS-REP01595; Erythrolamprus albertguentheri: MNHNP6592, 1088 MNHNP2631, MNHNP3783, UNNEC9422, FML00422, FML02627; Erythrolamprus almadensis: MNHNP5204, MACN45005, UNNEC210, FML11073, 1089 FML14893, UFMTR02191, UFMTR01961, UFMTR02079; Erythrolamprus frenatus: LPR-JW1017, UNNEC478,ZUFMS-VLF00153, IB78129; Erythrolamprus 1090 jaegeri: MNHNP10652, UNNEC351, UNNEC10878, UNNEC5403, FML11316, FML11309, FML11261, ZUFMS-CEUCH04984; Erythrolamprus maryellenae: 1091 MZUSP09927, IB01209, IB12559, IB63142; Erythrolamprus miliaris: MNHNP3777, MACN3198, MACN3174, UNNEC10666, FML14889, UFMTR-CSMT2400; 1092 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus: ZUFMS-REP1283, ZUFMS-REP1006-CH285, ZUFMS-REP1278, ZUFMS-REP01685-00422, ZUFMS-REP1125, ZUFMS-REP1550, 1093 UNNEC706, MNHNP10925, MNHNP2544, MNHNP5126, MNHNP4201, MNHNP6696, MNHNP2637; Erythrolamprus reginae: MNHNP5192, FML23548, 1094 UFMTR11155, UFMTR03013, UFMTR03710, UFMTR10204, UFMTR09014; Erythrolamprus sagittifer: MNHNP7230, MNHNP5194, MNHNP4214, 1095 MNHNP7936, MNHNP5197, MNHNP3491, MACN41977; Erythrolamprus semiaureus: MNHNP6574, MNHNP2527; Erythrolamprus taeniogaster: 1096 UFMTR08026, UFMTR03684, UFMTR08028, UFMTR10718, MZUSPS17251; Erythrolamprus typhlus: ZUFMS-REP 1130, ZUFMS-CEUCH4406, ZUFMS-VLF124, 1097 FML00536, UFMTR01680; Helicops angulatus: UFMTR00518, UFMTR07393, UFMTR06807, UFMTR06806, UFMTR06835, UFMTR02181, UFMTR07440; 1098 Helicops infrataeniatus: MNHNP2632, MNHNP5203, MACN35080, UNNEC317, UNNEC323, UFMTR04351; Helicops leopardinus: MNHNP5048, MNHNP8524, 1099 MNHNP5124, MNHNP5557, MNHNP9199, MNHNP7309, ZUFMS-REP1327, ZUFMS-CEUCH097, ZUFMS-CEUCH660, ZUFMS-CEUCH662, ZUFMS-CEUCH664, 1100 ZUFMS-CEUCH646, UFMTR08290, UFMTR00014; Helicops modestus: ZUFMS-REP1538, ZUFMS-REP1584, MZUSPS17745, MZUSPS17740, MZUSP02789,

178 1101 MZUSP03266, MZUSP03279; Helicops polylepis: MZUSP05120, MZUSP09124, MZUSP04781, MZUSP10594, MZUSP08637; Hydrodynastes bicinctus: 1102 UFMTR08037, UFMTR09593, MZUSP08019; Hydrodynastes gigas: MNHNP5045, MNHNP5047, MNHNP7940, MNHNP8419, MNHNP10690, UNNEC9598; 1103 Hydrops caesurus: FML24887, FML24888, UFMTR01192, UFMTR08684; Imantodes cenchoa: MNHNP7673, FE202, IB87713, IB86124; Leptodeira annulata: 1104 MNHNP3595, MNHNP3776, MNHNP3396, MNHNP2513, ZUFMS-VLF0283-NHU03, ZUFMS-VLF0264-N88, ZUFMS-NH718-4334, ZUFMS-REP1292, ZUFMS- 1105 CEUCH3513, ZUFMS-RN194, ZUFMS-VLF0083, ZUFMS-REP1531-00166, ZUFMS-REP2177, PRF77; Leptophis ahaetulla: MNHNP6676, MNHNP2525, 1106 MNHNP0331, MNHNP2521, MNHNP2518, MNHNP2520, ZUFMS-REP1576, ZUFMS-REP1917, UNNEC499, UFMTR11775; Lygophis dilepis: MNHNP5053, 1107 MNHNP5476, MNHNP3123, MNHNP5248, UNNEC9710, UNNEC6598, FML11924; Lygophis flavifrenatus: MACN47377, UNNEC11263, UNNEC11013, 1108 UNNEC10226, FML16253, UFMTR03624; Lygophis meridionalis: MNHNP2673, UNNEC10819, UNNEC9333, UFMTR00659, UFMTR00299, ZUFMS-VLF00273; 1109 Lygophis paucidens: UFMTR00588, UFMTR11313, MZUSPS18697, MZUSP10797, MZUSP11560, MZUSPS14969, MZUSPS14970; Mastigodryas bifossatus: 1110 MNHNP9439, MNHNP10728, MNHNP10078, LPR-JW1510, UNNEC75, FML11078, FML11129, UFMTR08417, ZUFMS-REP02011; Mastigodryas boddaerti: 1111 UFMTR01637, UFMTR01408, UFMTR07217, UFMTR04878; Micrurus_baliocoryphus: MNHNP5044, UNNEC279, UNNEC376, UNNEC121; Micrurus frontalis: 1112 MNHNP2685, MNHNP2687, MNHNP2600, MNHNP5139, MNHNP3405, ZUFMS-REP02016, ZUFMS-REP1416, ZUFMS-REP1836; Micrurus lemniscatus: 1113 MNHNP5145, ZUFMS-VLF00180, MZUSPS19708, MZUSPS15534, MZUSP04792, MZUSPS17325; Micrurus pyrrhocryptus: MNHNP4018, MNHNP9227, 1114 MNHNP2686, CZCEN983, FML11446, UFMTR01197; Micrurus surinamensis: UFMTR07798, UFMTR07799, UFMTR07170, UFMTR07210, MZUSP08716, 1115 MZUSPS20838; Micrurus tricolor: UFMTR02182, UFMTR11712, UFMTR11782, UFMTR11786, UFMTR11785; Mussurana bicolor: MNHNP3942, 1116 MNHNP11188, MNHNP7684, MNHNP2616, MNHNP6552, MNHNP6674, MNHNP9226, ZUFMS-CEUCH3719, ZUFMS-CEUCH3720, ZUFMS-CEUCH5100, 1117 ZUFMS-CEUCH5175, UFMTR11219; Oxybelis aeneus: LPR-JW0694, UFMTR01717, UFMTR00611, UFMTR01427, UFMTR06650, UFMTR05954, ZUFMS- 1118 CEUCH00850; Oxybelis fulgidus: UFMTR010375, UFMTR08576, UFMTR09817, UFMTR010582, MZUSPS20450, MZUSP11417, MZUSPS19281; Oxyrhopus 1119 guibei: MNHNP3495, MACN44794, MACN37125, FML11328, UFMTR02194, UFMTR07657, ZUFMS-REP00244; Oxyrhopus petolarius: UFMTR3795, 1120 UFMTR08239, UFMTR06035, UFMTR05972, UFMTR09217, ZUFMS-REP01420, ZUFMS-CEUCH00196; Oxyrhopus rhombifer: MNHNP3496, MNHNP5149,

179 1121 MNHNP5151, MNHNP10035, MNHNP2569, MNHNP4056, CHEUCH 4669, UFMTR09877, UFMTR11436; Oxyrhopus trigeminus: UFMTR09865, UFMTR00825, 1122 UFMTR00824, UFMTR02193, UFMTR02125, UFMTR08283; Phalotris matogrossensis: MNHNP2627, UFMTR04124, UFMTR011791, UFMTR10494, ZUFMS- 1123 REP00186, ZUFMS-REP01426; Phalotris mertensi: IB00110, IB02631, IB15828, IB08570; Phalotris nasutus: UFMTR03773, UFMTR01471, ZUFMS- 1124 CEUCH03549, ZUFMS-CEUCH03696; Phalotris tricolor: MNHNP10574; Philodryas aestiva: UNNEC9905, UNNEC4677, FML23923, FML25059; Philodryas 1125 agassizii: UFMTR11118, UFMTR11122, UFMTR09364; Philodryas baroni: MNHNP2571, FML02542, FML02008; Philodryas mattogrossensis: MNHNP10658, 1126 MNHNP2653, MNHNP2574, MNHNP2573, MNHNP6525, MACN37365, UFMTR11081, UFMTR02162; Philodryas nattereri: UFMTR02602, UFMTR00098, 1127 UFMTR02322, UFMTR02158, UFMTR00283, UFMTR01244, UFMTR00497, ZUFMS-REP2030; Philodryas olfersii: MNHNP8851, MNHNP5179, MNHNP11128, 1128 ZUFMS-REP 1525, ZUFMS-REP1713, ZUFMS-REP1431, ZUFMS-REP00986, ZUFMS-VLF 119, UFMTR01908, UFMTR02600; Philodryas patagoniensis: ZUFMS- 1129 REP0276, ZUFMS-CEUCH3777, ZUFMS-CEUCH1865, MNHNP8523, MNHNP6675, MNHNP11186, MNHNP5227, UFMTR09967; Philodryas psammophidea: 1130 MACN38656, UNNEC722, UNNEC186; Philodryas viridissima: UFMTR01906, UFMTR11707, MZUSP019786, MZUSP11250; Phimophis guerini: MACN37098, 1131 MZUSPS14569, MZUSPS14468, MZUSPS14392, MZUSPS12699; Phimophis vittatus: MNHNP2577, MNHNP5164, MNHNP3498, MNHNP10657, UNNEC10618; 1132 Pseudoboa coronata: UFMTR01246, UFMTR03714, UFMTR03732, UFMTR03728, UFMTR03726, UFMTR03719; Philodryas nigra: ZUFMS-REP2044, ZUFMS- 1133 REP1510, MNHNP0309, MNHNP3594, MNHNP7548, UFMTR4251; Pseudoeryx plicatilis: ZUFMS-REP2047, MNHNP8788, CZCEN0683, ZUFMS-CEUCH0094, 1134 UFMTR01769; Pseutes poecilonotus: UFMTR03905,, UFMTR08844, UFMTR08845, UFMTR03939, UFMTR08048; sulphureus: UFMTR05251, 1135 UFMTR08569, UFMTR8225, MZUSP07652, MZUSP09094; Psomophis genimaculatus: ZUFMS-CEUCH4400, ZUFMS-CEUCH4402, ZUFMS-CEUCH4684, ZUFMS- 1136 REP1443, ZUFMS-REP1441, MNHNP4199, MNHNP4200, UFMTR11294; Rhachidelus brazili: MACN1256, UFMTR01913, UFMTR05465, MZUSPS13341; 1137 Sibynomorphus lavillai: ZUFMS-CEUCH1008, ZUFMS-CEUCH1676, ZUFMS-CEUCH3551, ZUFMS-CEUCH1171, MACN33501; Sibynomorphus mikanii: ZUFMS- 1138 REP2052, UFMTR11303,UFMTR11874, MZUSPS14604, MZUSPS16905; Sibynomorphus turgidus: ZUFMS-REP2116, ZUFMS-REP2115, ZUFMS-CEUCH0926, 1139 ZUFMS-CEUCH1368, ZUFMS-CEUCH0331, ZUFMS-VLF0266, MNHNP10915, MNHNP10649, MNHNP3393, MNHNP10017, MNHNP3346, MNHNP2682; 1140 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus: ZUFMS-REP2089, ZUFMS-REP2097, MNHNP3774, UNNEC9966, FML06716, FML02384; Simophis rhinostoma: ZUFMS-

180 1141 REP1649, UFMTR00244, MZUSPS14745, MZUSPS21192; Siphlophis compressus: UFMTR08186, UFMTR09124, UFMTR03670, UFMTR03671, UFMTR03674, 1142 UFMTR03666; Spilotes pullatus: ZUFMS-CEUCH2120, ZUFMS-CEUCH1174, ZUFMS-CEUCH2119, MNHNP3054, MNHNP3057, MNHNP3053; Taeniophallus 1143 occipitalis: ZUFMS-CEUCH1038, ZUFMS-CEUCH2994, ZUFMS-CEUCH3753, ZUFMS-CEUCH4674, MACN38575, UFMTR09370, UFMTR09362; Tantilla 1144 melanocephala: ZUFMS-CEUCH1984, ZUFMS-CEUCH1976, ZUFMS-CEUCH5329, ZUFMS-CEUCH4965, ZUFMS-CEUCH4409, MNHNP10627, UFMTR00416, 1145 UFMTR00568; Thamnodynastes chaquensis: ZUFMS-CEUCH5321, ZUFMS-CEUCH5745, ZUFMS-CEUCH3800, ZUFMS-REP1205, ZUFMS-REP0970, ZUFMS- 1146 REP1621, ZUFMS-REP1015, MNHNP8483, MNHNP7387, MNHNP3353, MNHNP7388, MNHNP11051, MACN36729; Thamnodynastes hypoconia: ZUFMS- 1147 REP1042, MNHNP6569, MNHNP7563, MNHNP7589, MNHNP7586, MNHNP6567, MACN46534, FML11293, UFMTR00347; Thamnodynastes lanei: ZUFMS- 1148 CEUCH0199, UNNEC-CHINM1918, MZUSPS20692; Thamnodynastes rutilus: MZUSPS17584, MZUSPS17557, MZUSPS17555, MZUSPS17561; Xenodon 1149 matogrossensis: ZUFMS-REP1471, ZUFMS-REP1523, ZUFMS-REP1648, ZUFMS-REP1700, ZUFMS-REP2001; Xenodon merremii: ZUFMS-REP1487, ZUFMS- 1150 REP1495, ZUFMS-REP1493, ZUFMS-REP1723, ZUFMS-REP1478, ZUFMS-CEUCH001, ZUFMS-CEUCH0090, ZUFMS-CEUCH1175, MNHNP2659, MNHNP2663, 1151 MNHNP2664, MNHNP2610, MNHNP2658, MNHNP9992, FML11230, UFMTR00478; Xenodon pulcher: MNHNP11190, MNHNP2561, MNHNP10576, 1152 MNHNP4028, MNHNP2566, MNHNP10161, MNHNP3503, MACN44678; Xenodon rhabdocephalus: UFMTR04621, UFMTR03599, UFMTR03587, 1153 UFMTR03592, UFMTR03586; Xenodon severus: UFMTR00726, UFMTR02176, UFMTR03662, UFMTR03940; Xenopholis werdingorum: UFMTR2106, 1154 UFMTR00665, UFMTR01193, UFMTR01191, UFMTR11538, ZUFMS-CEUCH03676. 1155

181 1156 Table 3. Consume of eight discrete prey categories by Caenophidia snakes from Paraguay River Basin. cae_amph: caecilians and amphisbaenians.

snakes cae_amph fish anurans lizards mammals birds invertebrates Apostolepis ambiniger 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis assimilis 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis dimidiata 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis intermedia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis nigroterminata 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Apostolepis vittata 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Atractus albuquerquei 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Atractus paraguayensis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Boiruna maculata 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bothrops alternatus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Bothrops diporus 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops mattogrossensis 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Bothrops moojeni 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 Bothrops pauloensis 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 Chironius bicarinatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius exoletus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius flavolineatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius laurenti 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Chironius quadricarinatus 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Chironius scurrulus 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Clelia clelia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Clelia plumbea 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Crotalus durissus 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Dipsas indica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

182 snakes cae_amph fish anurans lizards mammals birds invertebrates Drymarchon corais 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 Drymoluber brazili 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus aesculapii 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus albertguentheri 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus almadensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus frenatus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus jaegeri 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus maryellenae 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus miliaris 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus reginae 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus sagittifer 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus semiaureus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus taeniogaster 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Erythrolamprus typhlus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops angulatus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Helicops infrataeniatus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops leopardinus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops modestus 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Helicops polylepis 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hydrodynastes bicinctus 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 Hydrodynastes gigas 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 Hydrops caesurus 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Imantodes cenchoa 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Leptodeira annulata 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

183 snakes cae_amph fish anurans lizards mammals birds invertebrates Leptophis ahaetulla 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis dilepis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis flavifrenatus 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Lygophis meridionalis 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Lygophis paucidens 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Mastigodryas bifossatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Mastigodryas boddaerti 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus baliocoryphus 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus diana 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus frontalis 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus lemniscatus 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Micrurus surinamensis 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Micrurus tricolor 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mussurana bicolor 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Oxybelis aeneus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Oxybelis fulgidus 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Oxyrhopus guibei 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus petolarius 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Oxyrhopus rhombifer 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Oxyrhopus trigeminus 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Phalotris matogrossensis 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris mertensi 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nasutus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Phalotris nigrilatus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

184 snakes cae_amph fish anurans lizards mammals birds invertebrates Phalotris tricolor 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Philodryas aestiva 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Philodryas agassizii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Philodryas baroni 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Philodryas livida 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Philodryas mattogrossensis 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 Philodryas nattereri 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Philodryas olfersii 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Philodryas patagoniensis 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 Philodryas psammophidea 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Philodryas viridissima 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Phimophis guerini 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phimophis vittatus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Phrynonax poecilonotus 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Pseudoboa coronata 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Pseudoboa nigra 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Pseudoeryx plicatilis 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 Psomophis genimaculatus 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Rhachidelus brazili 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Sibynomorphus lavillai 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus mikanii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus turgidus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Simophis rhinostoma 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Siphlophis compressus 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

185 snakes cae_amph fish anurans lizards mammals birds invertebrates Spilotes pullatus 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Spilotes sulphureus 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Taeniophallus occipitalis 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Tantilla melanocephala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Thamnodynastes chaquensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes hypoconia 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes lanei 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Thamnodynastes rutilus 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 Xenodon matogrossensis 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenodon merremii 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenodon nattereri 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Xenodon pulcher 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenodon rhabdocephalus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenodon severus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis undulatus 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Xenopholis werdingorum 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

1157 Bibliografical references consuted to describe species diet: 1158 Achaval F, Olmos A. Anfibios y reptiles del Uruguay. Montevideo: Facultad de Ciencias; 1997. 1159 Alencar LRV. Ecomorfologia em serpentes neotropicais: um estudo de caso com a tribo Pseudoboini. M. Sc. Thesis, Universidade de São Paulo. 2010. 1160 Alencar LRV, Galdino CAB, Nascimento LB. Life history aspects of Oxyrhopus trigeminus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from two sites in southeastern Brazil. J 1161 Herpetol. 2012; 46:9-13.

186 1162 Almeida-Santos SM, Germano VJ. Crotalus durissus (Neotropical Ratlesnake). Prey. Herpetol Rev. 1996; 27:255-255. 1163 Amaral A. Contribuição à biologia dos ofídios Brasileiros. I-II. Nota previa. Coll Trab Inst Butantan. 1918; 2:1. 1164 Amaral A. Contribuição à biologia dos ophidios brasileiros (habitat, hábitos e alimentação). Coll Trab Inst Butantan. 1924; 2:177-181. 1165 Amaral A. Curiosos Habitos e Particularidades da Boipeva (Xenodon merremii: Colubridae). Boletim Biologico, Orgão do Clube Zoologico do Brasil. 1934; 2: 1166 1-2. 1167 Amaral A. Serpentes do Brasil: Iconografia Colorida. São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo; 1978. 1168 Starace F. Guide des Serpents et Amphisbènes de Guyane. Guadeloupe: Ibis Rouge; 1998. 1169 Andrade DV, Abe AS, Santos MC. Is the venom related to diet and tail color during Bothrops moojeni ontogeny? J Herpetol. 1996; 30:285-288. 1170 Ávila-Pires TC. Lizards of Brazilian Amazônia (Reptilia: Squamata). The Netherlands: Zoologische Verhandelingen Zoologische Nationaal Natuurhistorisch 1171 Museum Leiden; 1995. 1172 Ávila RW, Porfírio GEO. Bothrops moojeni (Brazilian Lancehead). Predation. Herpetol Rev. 2008; 39:467-467. 1173 Bailey JR, Thomas RA, Silva NJ. A Revisiono f the South American snake genus Thamnodynastes Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes, Colubridae, Tachymenini). I. Two 1174 new species of Thamnodynastes from Central Brazil and adjacent areas, with a redefinition of and neotype designation for Thamnodynastes pallidus 1175 (Linnaeus, 1758). Phyllomedusa. 2005; 4:83-101. 1176 Barbo FE, Marques OAV, Sawaya RJ. Diversity, natural history, and distribution of snakes in the municipality of São Paulo. South Am J Herpetol. 2011: 6:135- 1177 160. 1178 Barbosa AR, Nishida AK, Costa ES, Cazé ALR. Abordagem etnoherpetológica de São José da Mata – Paraíba – Brasil. Revista de Biologia e Ciências da Terra. 1179 2007; 7:117-123. 1180 Beebe W. Field notes on the snakes of Kartabo, British Guiana, and Caripito, . Zoologica. 1946; 31:11-52. 1181 Bernarde PS, Abe AS. A Snake Comunity at Espigão do Oeste, Rondônia, Southwestern Amazon, Brazil. South Am J Herpetol. 2006; 1:102-113.

187 1182 Bernarde PS, Abe AS. Hábitos alimentares de serpentes em Espigão do Oeste, Rondônia, Brasil. Biota Neotropica. 2010; 10:167-172. 1183 Bernarde PS, Machado MA. Oxyrhopus petola digitalis (NCN). Prey. Herpetol Rev. 2000; 31:247-248. 1184 Brites VLC. Ofiofagia de Bothrops moojeni Hoge, 1966 (Ophidia, Viperidae) na natureza. Uberlândia: Anais do Congresso científico da UFU 1; 1992. 1185 Campbell JA. Amphibians and reptiles of northern Guatemala, the Youcatán and Belize. Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma; 1998. 1186 Cantor M, Pizzatto L. Leptodeira annulata (Banded Cat-Eyed Snake). Diet. Herpetol Rev. 2008; 39: 470-471. 1187 Carreira Vidal S. Alimentación de los ofidios de Uruguay. Montevideo: Asociación Herpetológica Española. Monografías de Herpetología; 2002. 1188 Carvalho CM, Vilar JC, Oliveira FF. Répteis e Anfíbios. In: Carvalho CM, Vilar JC, editors. Parque Nacional Serra de Itabaiana - Levantamento da Biota. São 1189 Cristóvão: UFS and Aracaju: Ibama; 2005. pp. 39-61. 1190 Carvalho JA. Diversidade de Serpentes do Parque Ecológico Quedas do Rio Bonito, Lavras, MG. M. Sc. Thesis, Universidade Federal de Lavras; 2006. 1191 Carvalho MA, Nogueira F. Serpentes da área urbana de Cuiabá, Mato Grosso: aspectos ecológicos e acidentes ofídicos associados. Cadernos de Saúde 1192 Pública. 1998; 14:753-763. 1193 Carvalho MA. Composição e História Natural de uma Comunidade e Serpentes em area de Transição Amazônia-Cerrado, Ecorregião Florestas Secas de Mato 1194 Grosso, Brasil. PhD. Thesis, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; 2006. 1195 Cassimiro J, Bertoluci J. Natural history notes. Liophis maryellenae (Cobra d’a´gua). Diet. Herpetol Rev. 2003; 34:69-69. 1196 Cechin SZ. História natural de uma comunidade de serpentes na região da depressão central (Santa Maria) Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. PhD. Thesis, Pontífica 1197 Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; 1999. 1198 Condez TH, Sawaya RJ, Dixo M. Herpetofauna dos remanescentes de Mata Atlântica da região de Tapiraí e Piedade, SP, sudeste do Brasil. Biota Neotropica. 1199 2009;9:157-185. 1200 Cunha OR, Nascimento FP. Ofídios da Amazônia XIX. As espécies de Oxyrhopus Wagler, com uma subespécie nova, e Pseudoboa Schneider, na Amazônia 1201 Oriental e Maranhão (Ophidia: Colubridae). Boletim do Museu Paranaense Emílio Goeldi. 1983; 1:1-42.

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191 1261 Mesquita PCMD, Borges-Nojosa DM, Monteiro FAC. Philodryas nattereri (Paraguay Green Racer). Diet. Herpetol Rev. 2010; 41:96-96. 1262 Michaud EJ, Dixon JR. Prey items of 20 species of the Neotropical colubrid snake genus Liophis. Herpetol Rev. 1989; 20:39-41. 1263 Monteiro C, Montgomery CE, Spina F, Sawaya RJ, Martins M. Feeding, reproduction, and morphology of Bothrops mattogrossensis (Serpentes, Viperidae, 1264 Crotalinae) in the Brazilian Pantanal. J Herpetol. 2006; 40:408-413. 1265 Mount RH. The Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama. Auburn: Auburn University; 1975. 1266 Murphy JC. Amphibians and reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago. Malabar: Krieger Publishing Company; 1997. 1267 Myers CW, Cadle JE. A new genus for South American snakes related to Rhadinaea obtusa Cope (Colubridae) and resurrection of Taeniophallus Cope for the 1268 "Rhadinaea" brevirostris group. Am Mus Novitates. 1994; 3102: 1-33. 1269 Nascimento FP, Cunha OR, Ávila-Pires TCS. 1987. Os répteis da área do Carajás, Pará, Brasil (Squamata) II. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, serie 1270 Zoologia. 1994; 3:33- 65. 1271 Nogueira C, Sawaya RJ, Martins M. Ecology of the pitviper, Bothrops moojeni, in the Brazilian Cerrado. J Herpetol. 2003; 37:653-659. 1272 Palmuti CFS, Cassimiro J, Bertoluci J. Food habits of snakes from the RPPN Feliciano Miguel Abdala, an Atlantic Forest fragment of southeastern Brazil. Biota 1273 Neotropica. 2009; 9:263-269. 1274 Pavan D. Assembléias de répteis e anfíbios do Cerrado ao longo da bacia do rio Tocantins e o impacto do aproveitamento hidrelétrico da região na sua 1275 conservação. PhD. Thesis, Universidade de São Paulo; 2007. 1276 Pinto CC, Lema T. Comportamento alimentar e dieta de serpentes, gêneros Boiruna e Clelia (Serpentes, Colubridae). Iheringia, Ser Zool. 2002; 92:9-19. 1277 Pinto RR. Biologia reprodutiva e dieta de Chironius flavolineatus (Jan, 1863) e Chironius quadricarinatus (Boie, 1827) no Brasil (Serpentes: Colubridae). M.Sc. 1278 thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; 2006. 1279 Pinto RR, Gomes M, Carvalho Jr R. Micrurus surinamensis (Aquatic Coralsnake). Ophiophagy. Herpetol Rev. 2011; 42: 442-442.

192 1280 Quinteroz-Muñoz O, Peñaranda DA, Navarro F. Rodent consuption by Philodryas psammophidea (Serpentes: Colubridae), from the Inter-Andean Dry Valleys 1281 of central Bolivia. Cuadernos de Herpetologia. 2010; 24:129-131. 1282 Rocha CFD, Bergallo HG, Hatano FH, Van Sluys M. Oxyrhopus trigeminus (False Coral Snake). Prey. Herpetol Rev. 2005; 36:458-459. 1283 Rodrigues MG. Chironius exoletus (common whipsnake): Prey and Possible Diet Convergence. Herpetological Bulletin. 2008; 105:41-42. 1284 Roze JA. Coral snakes of the Americas: Biology, identification and venoms. Malabar: Krieger Publishing Company; 1996. 1285 Ruthven AG. The amphibians and reptiles collected by the University of Michigan-Walker Expedition in southern Vera Cruz, Mexico. Zool Jahrb Syst. 1912; 1286 32:295-332. 1287 Salomão MG, Santos SMA, Puorto G. Activity Pattern of Crotalus durissus (Viperidae, Crotalinae): feeding, reproduction and snakebite. Stud Neotrop Fauna 1288 Environ. 1995; 30:101-106. 1289 Sant'anna S, Abe A. Diet of the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus in Southeastern Brazil (Serpentes, Viperidae). Stud Neotrop Fauna Environ. 2007; 42:169-174. 1290 Santos-Costa MC. História natural das serpentes da Estação Científica Ferreira Penna, Floresta Nacional de Caxiuanã, Melgaço, Pará Brasil. PhD. thesis, 1291 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; 2003. 1292 Sawaya RJ, Marques OAV, Martins M. Composição e história natural das serpentes de Cerrado de Itirapina, São Paulo, sudeste do Brasil. Biota Neotropica. 1293 2008; 8:127-149. 1294 Sazima I, Strüssmann C. Necrofagia em serpentes brasileiras: exemplos e previsões. Braz J Bio. 1990; 50:463-468. 1295 Sazima I, Abe A. Habits of five Brazilian snakes with coral-snake pattern, including a summary of defensive tactics. Stud Neotrop Fauna Environ. 1991; 1296 26:159-164. 1297 Sazima I, Manzani PR. As cobras que vivem numa reserva florestal urbana. In: Morellato PC, Leitão Filho HF, editors. Ecologia e Preservação de uma Floresta 1298 Tropical Urbana. Campinas Editora Unicamp; 1995. 1299 Sazima I. Feeding behaviour of the Snaileating Snake, Dipsas indica. J Herpetol. 1989; 23:464-468.

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1310 Strüssmann C, Sazima I. Esquadrinhar com a cauda: uma táctica de caça da serpente Hydrodynastes gigas no pantanal, Mato Grosso. Memórias do Instituto 1311 Butantan. 1990; 52: 57-61. 1312 Toledo LF, Ribeiro RS, Haddad CFB. Anurans as prey: an exploratory analysis and size relationships between predators and their prey. J Zool. 2007; 271:170– 1313 177. 1314 Valdujo PH, Nogueira C, Martins M. Ecology of Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae) in the Brazilian cerrado. J Herpetol. 2002; 1315 26:169-176. 1316 Vaughan A, Ruiz-Gutierrez V. Clelia clelia. Diet. Herpetol Rev. 2006; 37:93-94. 1317 Vitt LJ, Valgilder D. Ecology of a Snake Community in Northeastern Brazil. Amphibia-Reptilia. 1983; 4:273-296. 1318 Vitt LJ. Ecological observations on sympatric Philodryas (Colubridae) in northeastern Brazil. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, São Paulo. 1980; 34:87-98.

194 1319 Vitt LJ. Diversity of reproductive strategies among Brazilian lizards and snakes: the significance of lineage and adaptation. In: Hamlett WC, editor. 1320 Reproductive Biology of South American Vertebrates. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1992. 1321 Yuki RN, Galatti U, Rocha RAT. Contribuição ao conhecimento da fauna de Squamata de Rondônia, Brasil, com dois novos registros. Boletim do Museu 1322 Paranaense Emílio Goeldi. 1999; 15:181-193. 1323 Yanosky AA, Dixon JR, Mercolli C. Ecology of the snake community at El Bagual Ecological Reserve, Northeastern Argentina. Herpetological Natural. 1996; 1324 4:97-110. 1325 Zweifel RG, Norris KS. Contribution to the herpetology of Sonora, Mexico: descriptions of new subspecies of snakes (Micruroides euryxanthus and 1326 Lampropeltis getulus) and miscellaneous collecting notes. American Midland Naturalist. 1955; 54:230-249

195 1327 Composite phylogeny of sankes from Paraguay River Basin

1328 The composite phylogeny used herein is based on previous studies from different

1329 authors and include all species registered to the Paraguay River Basin. Tonini et al. 2016 [1]

1330 and Pyron et al. 2013 [2] were used for the relative placement of snake families, subfamilies

1331 and tribes. Phylogenetic placement of snake species of Paraguay River basin that were not

1332 included in the available phylogenetic hypotheses were inferred according to the

1333 relationships of sister species or included as polytomies in nodes containing their closely

1334 related species. The phylogenies of Kluge 1991 [3], Rivera et al. 2011 [4], and Reynolds et al.

1335 2014 [5] were used for assessing relationships within Boidae. Within Viperidae, the

1336 phylogenies of Fenwick et al. 2009 [6] and Carrasco et al. 2012 [7] were used to determine

1337 the overall relationships among Bothrops species, whereas Machado et al. 2014 [8] was used

1338 for the relationships within Bothrops neuwiedii group. The relationships of species of

1339 Elapidae were determined using the phylogeny of Silva and Sites 2001 [9], with the position

1340 of Micrurus annellatus determined according to Slowinsky 1995 [10]. The relationships

1341 within Colubridae follow Klaczko et al. 2014 [11]. The overall relationships within Dipsadidae

1342 follow Grazziotin et al. 2012 [12], with the relationships within Pseudoboini following H.

1343 Zaher (USP, São Paulo; personal communication).

1344 REFERENCES

1345 1. Tonini JFR, Beard KH, Ferreira RB, Jetz W, Pyron A. Fully-sampled phylogenies of 1346 squamates reveal evolutionary patterns in threat status. Biol Conserv. 2016; Available: 1347 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.039 1348 2. Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Wiens JJ. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, 1349 including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evol Biol. 2013; 13:93. 1350 3. Kluge AG. Boinae snake phylogeny and research cycles. Misc publ - Mus Zool, Univ 1351 Mich. 1991; 178:1-58.

196 1352 4. Rivera PC, Di Cola V, Martínez JJ, Gardenal CN, Chiaraviglio M. Species delimitation 1353 in the continental forms of the genus Epicrates (Serpentes, Boidae) integrating 1354 phylogenetics and environmental niche models. PLoS ONE. 2011; 6:e22199. 1355 5. Reynolds RG, Niemiller ML, Revell LJ. Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and 1356 pythons: multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling. Mol 1357 Phylogenet Evol. 2014; 37:01-213. 1358 6. Fenwick AM, Gutberlet RL, Evans JA, Parkinson CL. Morphological and molecular 1359 evidence for phylogeny and classification of South American pitvipers, genera Bothrops, 1360 Bothriopsis, and Bothrocophias (Serpentes: Viperidae). Zool J Linn Soc. 2009; 156:617-640. 1361 7. Carrasco PA, Mattoni CI, Leynaud GC, Scrocchi GJ. Morphology, phylogeny and 1362 taxonomy of South American bothropoid pitvipers (Serpentes, Viperidae). Zool Scripta. 1363 2012; 41:109-124. 1364 8. Machado T, Silva VX, Silva MJ. Phylogenetic relationships within Bothrops neuwiedii 1365 group (Serpentes, Squamata): geographically highly-structured lineages, evidence of 1366 introgressive hybridization and Neogene/Quaternary diversification. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 1367 2014; 71:1-14. 1368 9. Silva NJ, Sites JW. Phylogeny of South America triad coral snakes (Elapidae: 1369 Micrurus) based on molecular characters. Herpetologica. 2001; 57:1-22. 1370 10. Slowinski JB. A phylogenetic analysis of the New World coral snakes (Elapidae: 1371 Leptomicrurus, Micruroides, and Micrurus) based on allozyme and morphological characters. 1372 J Herpetol. 1995; 29:325-338. 1373 11. Klaczko J, Montingelli GG, Zaher H. A combined morphological and molecular 1374 phylogeny of the genus Chironius Fitzinger, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae). Zool J Linn Soc. 1375 2014; 171:656-667. 1376 12. Grazziotin FG, Zaher H, Murphy RW, Scrocchi G, Benavides MA, Zhang YP et al. 1377 Molecular phylogeny of the New World Dipsadidae (Serpentes: Colubroidea): a reappraisal. 1378 Cladistics. 2012; 28: 437-459 1379

197 1380

1381 Figure 2. Composite phylogeny of the 155 snake species from the Paraguay River Basin. To 1382 improve the visualization this representation ignored the branch length.

198 1383 S2 Appendix. Values of phylogenetic and functional structure of snake metacommunities,

1384 and additional relations of communities’ functional diversity with environmental gradients

1385 at Paraguay River Basin (PRB).

1386 Table 1. Values of species richness, seasonal flooded cover, forest cover and indexes of 1387 structure phylogenetic and functional from 31 snakes communities from Paraguay River 1388 Basin. Bolded values were statistically significant considering α = 0.05 (p ≤ 0.025 ou p ≥ 1389 0.975). FRic FDis FRic FDis FRic FDis FRic FDis Com Rich Flood Forest NRI NTI MOpt MOpt MN MN DOpt DOpt DN DN 1 53 0 9.67 -1.06 -1.15 -0.20 -0.24 0.53 0.21 -0.23 0.11 1.42 2.07 2 37 0 18.29 -1.44 -2.56 1.13 0.75 2.22 -0.24 0.49 -1.51 0.19 0.90 3 61 0 4.45 -1.02 -0.22 -0.11 -0.94 0.58 0.58 -0.42 -0.68 -0.12 1.14 4 37 0 9.88 -0.95 -1.07 -0.86 -0.73 0.36 -0.06 0.46 0.71 -0.82 0.19 5 34 11.11 25.06 -0.71 -0.47 0.97 1.54 0.39 1.08 -0.92 -0.88 -0.61 -0.17 6 42 44.44 9.85 0.17 -0.24 -0.01 -0.80 -0.98 -0.82 0.17 -0.27 -0.15 -0.78 7 19 100 29.91 0.46 0.14 0.89 1.76 -0.32 -0.68 -0.47 -1.37 -0.22 -0.69 8 20 100 43.53 1.43 0.65 0.78 1.80 -0.42 -0.29 -0.64 -1.92 0.59 -0.27 9 34 22.22 8.81 -0.30 -1.01 0.48 0.57 1.45 0.89 0.57 1.04 0.45 0.77 10 37 77.78 46.36 -0.11 -2.01 1.19 1.28 0.83 0.26 0.45 -0.30 1.27 0.27 11 15 0 68.37 -1.78 -2.18 -0.69 -0.41 -0.26 1.10 0.05 -0.10 1.32 0.55 12 17 0 48.77 -0.99 -0.98 -1.08 -1.15 0.15 0.28 -1.23 0.21 -0.90 -0.40 13 52 77.78 31.22 -0.34 -0.62 0.60 0.08 0.91 0.52 -0.16 -0.10 0.40 -0.94 14 32 100 3.94 0.14 -1.23 -1.16 -1.35 0.25 -1.60 -0.82 -1.24 -2.69 -3.11 15 18 56.45 40.56 -0.73 -1.49 0.34 -0.48 0.01 -0.04 -1.43 -0.88 -0.03 -1.50 16 31 88.89 15.73 -0.95 -0.49 0.48 0.89 -0.46 -0.11 -0.75 -0.02 0.67 -0.24 17 31 100 21.78 -1.28 0.33 0.28 0.43 -1.26 -1.36 -0.75 1.34 -2.50 -0.72 18 51 100 13.71 -0.12 -1.02 0.32 0.30 -0.16 -1.22 -0.20 0.92 0.48 -0.16 19 16 0 76.24 -1.30 -0.29 -1.27 -1.20 -0.98 0.01 -0.05 -0.08 -0.80 -0.54 20 18 100 12.87 0.25 0.19 1.00 1.05 -0.36 -0.52 0.71 1.58 1.86 1.32 21 28 11.11 36.94 -1.01 -0.69 -1.93 -2.31 -1.24 -1.08 -1.75 -0.07 -0.14 0.28 22 54 44.44 42.43 1.09 0.27 0.46 -0.18 1.27 -0.22 -0.30 -0.35 1.42 -0.03 23 49 11.11 11.91 0.02 -1.13 0.33 -0.22 0.96 0.82 -0.08 1.29 0.51 0.29 24 32 0 10.86 0.67 0.68 0.30 0.36 0.95 0.93 -0.80 0.03 -1.55 0.02 25 24 0 7.50 -1.85 -0.67 0.16 0.34 -0.19 0.28 1.16 1.46 1.23 1.95 26 25 44.44 35.26 -0.68 -0.42 0.02 -0.27 -0.25 -0.65 -0.13 0.27 -0.90 -0.86 27 30 0 13.83 -1.88 -0.89 -0.34 0.01 -0.50 0.43 0.81 0.10 0.77 -0.01 28 21 0 64.89 0.02 0.36 -1.43 -1.63 -1.03 -0.76 -1.88 -1.17 -1.52 -1.19 29 23 0 29.99 -1.70 -0.14 0.30 1.10 0.21 1.73 1.28 1.64 0.30 1.79 30 30 11.11 25.57 -0.29 -1.64 -0.68 -0.98 -0.19 -0.30 0.77 -0.58 -0.28 -0.97 31 37 33.33 15.32 0.11 -0.52 -1.33 -1.00 -0.36 -0.29 0.41 0.53 -1.95 -3.01

199 1390 Com: community identification; Rich: species richness; Flood: cover of seasonal flooded area; Forest: cover 1391 of forested area; NRI: net relatedness taxon index; NTI: nearest taxon index; FRic MOpt: standardized values 1392 of FRic considering morphological traits that optimized the relation with environmental variables; FDis MOpt: 1393 standardized values of FDis considering morphological traits that optimized the relation with environmental 1394 variables; FRic MN: standardized values of FRic considering the other morphological traits; FDis MN: 1395 standardized values of FDis considering the other morphological traits; FRic DOpt: standardized values of 1396 FRic considering the consume of dietary items that optimized the relation with environmental variables; FDis 1397 DOpt: standardized values of FDis considering the consume of dietary items that optimized the relation with 1398 environmental variables; FRic DN: standardized values of FRic considering the consume of the others dietary 1399 items; and FDis DN: standardized values of FDis considering the consume of the others dietary items.

1400

1401 Figure 1. Relations of standardized values of functional space filled by the community 1402 (SESFRic) and dispersion of the species in the multifunctional space (SESDis) with 1403 environmental gradients, considering morphological traits that are linked with habitat use 1404 by snakes species at Paraguay River Basin. Black closed points and grey line show the 1405 relations with flooding gradient and open points and dashed line show the tendencies 1406 regarding the forest cover gradient. Coefficient f: flooding cover; coefficient c: forest cover.

200

1407

1408 Figure 2. Relations of standardized values of functional space filled by the community 1409 (SESFRic) and dispersion of the species in the multifunctional space (SESDis) with 1410 environmental gradients, considering diet of snakes species at Paraguay River Basin. Black 1411 closed points and grey line show the relations with flooding gradient and open points and 1412 dashed line show the tendencies regarding the forest cover gradient. Coefficient f: flooding 1413 cover; coefficient c: forest cover.

201 1414

1415 Figure 3. Relations of community-weighted means with environmental gradients. Black 1416 closed points and grey line show the relations with flooding gradient and open points and 1417 dashed line show the tendencies regarding the forest cover gradient. Coefficient f: flooding 1418 cover; coefficient c: forest cover.

202 1419

1420 Figure 4. Relations of frequency of consume of alimentary items by species at communities 1421 and environmental gradients. Black closed points and grey line show the relations with 1422 flooding gradient and open points and dashed line show the tendencies regarding the forest 1423 cover gradient. Coefficient f: flooding; coefficient c: forest.

203 1 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

2 By gathering records of snake occurrence in the Pantanal and surrounding areas and

3 investigating the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and phenotypic diversity of communities we

4 aimed to better understand which processes contributed and currently act to shape these

5 communities in this floodplain. The chapters presented herein tested and originated new

6 hypotheses that formally addressed the widely invoked theory that seasonal floods are the

7 main ecological feature affecting biological communities in the Pantanal.

8 Our results about occurrence of distinct biogeographical units in the basin where the

9 Pantanal is located showed that regarding the snake fauna, the floodplain cannot be

10 considered a separated biogeographical region, neither was composed of regionalized

11 faunas found in the region. Rather, the Pantanal snake fauna is part of a species group

12 widely distributed in the study region, linked to the Paraguay River channel and nearby

13 lowland areas. We also found evidence of a vicariant role of the Pantanal origin on the

14 ancestral fauna of the region – the distribution of the regionalized fauna agrees with the

15 hypothesis that some previous species ranges may have been split or limited when the

16 floodplain arose. From these results we can infer that the present snake communities in the

17 Pantanal were not constrained by in situ evolutionary processes, but are assemblages of

18 species formed from a regional pool composed by faunas with diverse history and

19 distribution. Furthermore, the Pantanal may currently act as a barrier for some species of

20 this pool and as a dispersal corridor for others.

21 When we evaluated what factors drive beta diversity patterns among communities

22 in different areas in and around the Pantanal, forest cover was the variable that explained

23 most of the difference in composition between pairs of communities. Furthermore, beta

24 diversity was also influenced by spatial process and climatic variables, which are important

25 for snake physiology. Regarding the effect of seasonal floods, we found that it mainly

26 influenced the turnover of species between assemblages. Floods seemed to be interacting

204 27 with other environmental features and could be limiting the range of some species that do

28 not show adaptations for recurrent and seasonal flooding that bring large alterations to the

29 environments. These results helped us to identify through which environmental features the

30 forces that currently shape local communities in the Pantanal can be operating.

31 Lastly, we investigated how the phylogenetic and phenotypic structure of local

32 communities inside and around the Pantanal were correlated with the gradient of forest

33 cover and flood intensity. Our expectation that seasonal flooding could act as an

34 environmental filter was not supported. For the most part, local assemblages from flooded

35 areas were randomly structured from the regional pool and did not show morphological

36 convergence regarding specific traits that theoretically improve the use of flooded

37 environments. Contrarily, those communities were composed of species with morphological

38 divergence regarding traits related to aquatic habits, while showing a higher similarity in

39 body shape. Based on these results, we suspect that seasonal flooding, besides favoring the

40 occurrence of aquatic species, is decreasing the relative force of deterministic processes on

41 community assembly and can be favoring species with generalist habits by promoting

42 recurrent ecosystem disturbances. We also provide evidence that an environmental filter

43 can be acting through the forest cover gradient. More forested areas had lower species

44 richness and showed morphological convergence, but they did not show lower functional

45 diversity when compared to open areas. This means that historical divergences among the

46 regional pool of different local communities may also have originated the observed pattern,

47 rather than an isolated action of environmental filtering.

48 Overall, the present dissertation showed that the composition of snake communities

49 in the Pantanal is influenced by seasonal flooding and by other environmental (forest cover),

50 climatic (minimum temperature), and historical factors. Seasonal flooding seems not to act

51 on species as an environmental filter that shape local communities in a specific way. At least

52 for these mobile organisms, the main role of flooding is producing recurrent disturbances in

205 53 the ecosystems, therefore increasing the effect of random processes on the assembly of

54 communities. Furthermore, our study provided a set of new hypotheses to be addressed

55 and extended to other seasonally flooded areas, what can contribute to a better

56 understanding of the origins and maintenance of the biota in the Pantanal and other similar

57 regions.

206 INDEX

Resumo ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…… 1

Abstract …………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………… 2

General Introdution ………………………………………………..……………………………………………… 3

Chapter 1 – The role of the Pantanal floodplain in the biogeographical patterns of

snakes in the Paraguay River Basin, central South America ……………………………… 11

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

Materials and Methods ………………………..…………………………………………………… 15

Results ……………………….……………………………………………………………………………… 20

Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 23

References ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 28

S1 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 35

S2 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 37

S1 Table …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 42

Chapter 2 – Relative importance of flooding as driver of snakes species turnover in wetlands in central South America ……………………………………………………………………….. 74

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 75

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 76

Materials and Methods …………………………………………………………………………….. 77

Results ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 84

Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 89

References ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 94

S1 Table ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 103

207 Chapter 3 – The role of seasonal flooding in assembling snake communities in the

Pantanal and surrounding areas …………………………………………………………………………. 113

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 114

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 115

Materials and Methods …………………………………………………………………………… 118

Results ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 131

Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 139

References ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 146

S1 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 157

S2 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 199

Final Considerations …………………………………………………………………………………………… 204

208