Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 947-949 (2020) (published online on 26 November 2020)

New record of Mesoclemmys gibba (Schweigger, 1812) (Testudines, Chelidae) for the state of Amapá, northern Brazil

Patrick Ribeiro Sanches1,*, Fillipe Pedroso-Santos1, Vinicius A. M. B. de Figueiredo1, Rodrigo Tavares-Pinheiro1, and Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos1

Brazil has the greatest diversity of Chelidae turtles, Amapari River, in the western portion of Parque Natural comprising 20 of the 58 species of this family (Rhodin Municipal do Cancão (0.9089°N, 52.0131°W; WGS84). et al., 2017). Among the 14 genera in the Chelidae The specimen was found during monitoring activities family, the genus Mesoclemmys comprises 10 assigned of the Herpetofauna of Parque Natural Municipal do species (Rhodin et al., 2017), all of which five species Cancão, municipality of Serra do Navio, Amapá, Brazil. are widely distributed throughout Amazon River basin We captured the specimen only for photographic record (Costa and Bérnils, 2018). Up to now, only two species to posterior identification (Fig. 1). The individual was of this genus are positively recorded to occur in Amapá identified as an adult M. gibba measuring 233 mm in state: M. nasuta and M. raniceps (Vogt, 2008; Costa and carapace length. The specimen was identified through Bérnils, 2018). One remarkable exception among the its morphological characteristics in life following Vogt genus is M. gibba, which seems to lack official records et al. (2008). This species is characterised by its narrow in Amapá state (Costa and Bérnils, 2018). head with dorsal surface covered by granular scales and The Toadhead turtle Mesoclemmys gibba (Schweigger, its carapace broad and flattened with a soft keel. 1812) belongs to the family Chelidae and is widely A total of 92 localities were assembled for the species distributed the northern region of South America, M. gibba (Fig. 2). All occurrence data is based on the occurring mainly in wet forest habitats throughout the detailed literature review and museum specimen’s data Orinoco and Amazon River basins. This species inhabits obtained from Species Link Database (SpeciesLink, streams of shallow water with marginal vegetation. 2019). Records with unspecified or unknown localities Being also found inhabiting flooded areas and ephemeral ponds within the forest (Mittermeier et al., 1978; Vogt, 2008). The species has one of the largest distributions in South America from its congeners (Mittermeier et al., 1978; Bour and Zaher, 2005). Nevertheless, the number of dispersed records indicate that the species distribution may be broader than expected. We provide here data on distribution of M. gibba and report the first official record of Amapá state. On the night of 26 February 2018 at around 19:00 h, we documented a single freshwater turtle on the mud bottom of a shallow water stream tributary of the

1 Universidade Federal do Amapá, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Macapá, Figure 1. Mesoclemmys gibba recorded at Parque Natural AP, Brazil, CEP: 68.903-419. Municipal do Cancão, municipality of Serra do Navio, Amapá, * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Brazil. 948 Patrick Ribeiro Sanches et al.

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of Mesoclemmys gibba through South America. Red arrow represents our new locality in Amapá state, and black circles represents data from the literature.

were not used. We compiled geographical references and et al., 2009; Brito et al., 2012a), Rondônia (Brito et al., checked all coordinates obtained, comparing coordinates 2012b), Tocantins (Pavan and Dixo, 2004) and Amapá and locality and excluding any errors. All localities were (this study). This record of M. gibba presented here georeferenced using Google Earth 6.2 (Google Inc 2013, represents the first record of this species in Amapá Mountain View, CA, USA) (geographical projection, state and extend its Brazilian distribution 213.44 km decimal degrees, datum: WGS84). northwest from the nearest locality in Almeirim, Pará The distribution of M. gibba in northern Brazil has state (Ávila-Pires et al., 2010). The current geographical always been presented without much detail, Mittermeier distribution of M. gibba covers continually the basins of et al. (1978) depicted and discuss the distribution of Orinoco and Amazon rivers basins, and surroundings. M. gibba throughout northern South America, clearly This novel record of M. gibba helps to fill the gaps on its showing a discontinuity with a gap along northern distribution, especially in northern Brazil, and highlights Brazil, and the most occurrence points in Colombia and the importance of further studies for better understand Suriname. The Brazilian records of the species were the distribution of this species. commented by Brito et al. (2012a) that lists the presence of M. gibba in the Brazilian stats of Amazonas, Pará, Acknowledgments. We are grateful Elizangela Brito for the pre- Acre, Tocantins and Mato Grosso. peer review and many constructive criticisms that have helped Based on recorded localities, the geographic us to improve the quality of our manuscript. We also thank distribution of M. gibba actually covers the Brazilian Richard Vogt for helping us with the identification of the turtle. We thank Christopher Jaster from Parque Nacional Montanhas states of Amazonas (Schneider et al., 2009), Pará do Tumucumaque for making facilities available and for local (Mittermeier et al., 1978; Ávila-Pires et al., 2010; Vaz- support. We thank the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Silva et al., 2015), Maranhão (Barreto et al., 2007), Biodiversidade for the collection permits (#48102-2). Acre (Bernarde et al., 2011), Mato Grosso (São-Pedro New record of Mesoclemmys gibba for the state of Amapá, northern Brazil 949

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Accepted by Eric Munscher