Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 43-45 (2015) (published online on 10 March 2015)

New record of Chthonerpeton noctinectes da Silva, Britto-Pereira and Caramaschi, 2003 (, ) from the Monte Cristo Island, Todos-os-Santos Bay, Bahia State, northeastern Brazil

Marcelo Felgueiras Napoli1,*, Milena Soeiro2, Camila Costa Trevisan2 and Rejâne Maria Lira da Silva1

The Gymnophiona family Typhlonectidae Taylor, 1968 is composed of five genera and currently has 13 valid species distributed in South America (Frost, 2014). The typhlonectid genus Chthonerpeton Peters, 1880 includes eight species, seven of which occur in Brazil (Wilkinson et al., 2011; Frost, 2014). Chthonerpeton noctinectes da Silva, Britto-Pereira and Caramaschi, 2003 is one of the species from this mostly aquatic family, which inhabits continental swamps and flooded areas fed by the Itapicuru River (in the Itapicuru sub-basin of the Itapicuru-Paraguaçu basin; MMA, 2006) almost 10 km from its mouth (da Silva et al., 2003). Since its description, the only records known are that from the type locality, Sítio [do Conde] (11,8333oS, 37,5833oW, datum WGS84, sea level), in the Municipality of Conde, State of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. Here we report the first record of the species outside of the type locality, extending its range ca. 175- straight line km southwards. This new record is from an island at the Paraguaçu River estuary and a distinct sub-basin of the Itapicuru-Paraguaçu basin.

Figure 1. Geographic distribution of Chthonerpeton noctinectes. Above, type locality and new record of the species on map featuring the hydrographic sub-basins of the Eastern 1 Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, Atlantic Hydrographic Region in the Bahia State, Brazil Campus Universitário de Ondina, 40170-115 Salvador, (MMA, 2006). The Itapicuru-Paraguaçu basin comprises the Bahia, Brasil. Itapicuru, Paraguaçu, Recôncavo Sul, and Recôncavo Norte 2 Universidade Federal da Bahia, Programa de Pós-Graduação sub-basins. Underneath, the Todos-os-Santos Bay (BTS) in em Diversidade , Instituto de Biologia, Campus detail, featuring the Monte Cristo Island (in red) amid the Universitário de Ondina, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, 40170- estuary of the Paraguaçu River (PR), in which C. noctinectes 115 Salvador, Bahia, Brasil. was found. Islands in orange; continental lands follow the * Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] (MFN) color caption of hydrographic sub-basins. 44 Marcelo Felgueiras Napoli et al.

2014, from 18h30min to 20h30min, four specimens were attracted with fresh bait (bovine liver and lung) and were collected [liver tissue samples in parentheses: UFBA 12453, 12455 (UFBA 657), and 12456 (UFBA 658), adult males; UFBA 12454 (UFBA 656), adult female]. Individuals were found occupying two different microhabitats of the pond: mud environments, in border areas with water depths ranging from 20cm to 50cm, and in the middle of the pond where the depth was 1.75m. In order to confirm the identification of the Monte Cristo Island specimens as C. noctinectes, we checked the color pattern, tooth series, and performed measurements on body traits, following Nussbaum and Wilkinson (1987) and da Silva et al. (2003). Specimens from the Monte Cristo Island were diagnosed as C. noctinectes by having the following characteristics (Fig. 2): (1) total length 272-336 mm; (2) dorsal and ventral color pattern uniform dark bluish-gray, with minute white spots (both live and ethanol preserved specimens); (3) 93-96 primary annuli; (4) 33-34 premaxilary-maxilary teeth; (5) 32 vomeropalatine teeth; (6) 28-32 dentary teeth; (7) marked sexual dimorphism in the width of the vent area (males being larger); and (8) tentacle closer to Figure 2. Chthonerpeton noctinectes from the Monte Cristo Island, Paraguaçu River, Todos-os-Santos Bay, Bahia State, northeastern Brazil. (A) Adult male live specimen (UFBA 12453); (B) right side of head and neck and (C) ventral view of terminus of adult male UFBA 12453; (D) ventral view of terminus of adult female UFBA 12454. Photos Lucas M. Table 1. Measurements (in millimeters) and tooth counts of Silva. Chthonerpeton noctinectes specimens from the Monte Cristo Island, Municipality of Saubara, State of Bahia, northeastern Brazil.Table 1. Measurements (in millimeters) and tooth counts of Chthonerpeton noctinectes specimens from the Monte Cristo Island, Municipality of Saubara, State of Bahia, northeastern Brazil.

UFBA UFBA UFBA UFBA UFBA The Monte Cristo Island (Fig. 1) belongs to the 12453 12454 12455 12456 12380 Municipality of Saubara, State of Bahia, Brazil, and has Sex Male Female Male Male Male TL 33.6 27.2 31.1 28.5 28.6 2 an area of 1.83 km . It is separated from the continent CD 10 8 10 8 12 by a narrow brackish canal, and lies in the Paraguaçu ETD 3.4 2.2 3.1 2.3 3.2 sub-basin of the Itapicuru-Paraguaçu basin (MMA, END 4.7 3.3 4 3.1 3.7 IOD 6.5 5.2 5.7 5.1 6.2 2006). The island is located in the Todos-os-Santos Bay IND 4.3 3.4 3.7 2.9 3.9 with other 54 islands, and it is composed of a mosaic HL 12.9 12.1 13.5 10.3 11.5 of Atlantic Forest vegetation, mangroves and restingas, HW 11.1 8.6 9.3 8.5 10.1 BW 12.8 9.9 10 11.5 12.1 including one permanent and some intermittent fresh PW 8.3 5.1 6.5 6.5 7 water ponds amid forested habitats. All specimens of C. PA 95 93 96 96 - noctinectes were observed only in the permanent pond VP 32 32 32 32 - PM 34 33 34 34 - o o (44.5m x 26.5m; 12,8428 S, 38,8280833 W; datum D 28 29 32 32 - WGS84; sea level). On 07 March 2014, at 20h00min, S 6 6 6 6 - PA = primary annuli, TL = total length, CD = cloacal denticles, ETD = eye-tentacle three specimens were found coiled among each other, distance, END = eye-naris distance, IOD = interorbital distance, IND = internarial but only one was collected (UFBA 12380, adult male; distance, HL = head length, HW = head width, BW = body width, PW = posterior width, PA = primary annuli, VP = vomeropalatine, PM = premaxilary-maxilary, D liver tissue sample UFBA 651). On 23-28 August = dentary, S = splenial

1  New record of Chthonerpeton noctinectes from northeastern Brazil 45 the naris than to the eye. Measurements and counts are in Table 1.

Acknowledgements. We are grateful to Sarah Pondé for allowing us to access research areas under her care at the Monte Cristo Island. We thank Ulisses Caramaschi (MNRJ) for valuable comments on the manuscript; Felipe B. Dias (UFBA), Vincent M. Knaebel (UFBA), and Mirella M. Carvalho (UFBA) for collection of Chthonerpeton noctinectes specimens; and Lucas M. Silva (UFBA) for photographs of C. noctinectes. The Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) permitted collection of specimens (Licenses 33065-6 and 78597/12988 MMA/ICMBio/SISBIO). MFN and RMLS thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for research productivity grants (Proc. 309672/2012-0 and 310192/2013-7, respectively). CCT thanks the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB) for master fellowship (grant BOL3531/2014). MSS thanks the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) for master fellowship.

References da Silva, H.R., Britto-Pereira, M.C., Caramaschi, U. (2003): A new species of Chthonerpeton (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) from Bahia, Brazil. Zootaxa 381: 1-11. Frost, D.R. (2014): Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. Electronic Database available at http:// research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Last accessed on 10 October 2014. MMA – Ministério do Meio Ambiente (2006): Caderno da região hidrográfica Atlântico Leste. Brasília, Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Secretaria de Recursos Hídricos. Nussbaum, R.A., Wilkinson, M. (1987): Two new species of Chthonerpeton (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) from Brazil. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, The University of Michigan 716: 1-15. Wilkinson, M., San Mauro, D., Sherratt, E., Gower, D.J. (2011): A nine-family classification of (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Zootaxa 2874: 41-64.

Accepted by Hendrik Müller