Serpentes: Dipsadidae), and First Record of Dermatonotus Muelleri (Boettger, 1885) (Anura: Microhylidae) As a Prey Item in Sergipe State, Northeastern Brazil

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Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 1065-1068 (2020) (published online on 22 December 2020)

Diet review of Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus (Wied-Neuwied, 1825) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae), and first record of Dermatonotus muelleri (Boettger, 1885) (Anura: Microhylidae) as a prey item in Sergipe State, northeastern Brazil

Hugo Andrade1,*, Sidieres Moura da Costa1, Mateus Almeida dos Santos1, and Eduardo José dos Reis Dias1

Natural history studies enable the recognition of the Northeast region of Brazil (Costa and Bérnils, patterns and their causal mechanisms, being the basic 2018). Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus is considered a information for ecological research (Ricklefs, 1990). diurnal snake that feeds mainly on anurans (Vanzolini Information such as diet, habitat use, reproduction, and et al., 1980), but there are records of nocturnal activity activity period are fundamental to the knowledge of (Guedes et al., 2014), as well as other vertebrates in animal species (Sawaya et al., 2008). Despite that, a vast its diet (Alencar and Nascimento, 2014; Corrêa et al., majority of studies refer to a small fraction of animal 2016). Here we provide the first record of Dermatonotus species, usually those common and relatively easy to muelleri (Boettger, 1885) as a prey item of this snake, study (Greene, 1994). and conducted a literature review on its diet. Fortunately, in recent years there has been an increase At 20:32 h on 24 October 2017 we observed an adult in research about the natural history of snakes (Bernarde of E. poecilogyrus foraging actively beside a stream and Abe, 2006; Gaiarsa et al., 2013; Mesquita et located in a transition area (ecotone) between the al., 2013), demonstrating the importance of detailed Atlantic Forest and semi-arid Caatinga in Canafístula information for every species (Vitt and Vangilder, 1983; Farm, municipality of Pedra Mole (10.6322°S, Marques and Sazima, 1997; França et al., 2008). In this 37.6661°W, datum WGS84), Sergipe State, Brazil. The sense, basic studies on diet bring important contributions snake was manipulated and removed from the stream to further research on trophic ecology, as well as species to be photographed; it then started the regurgitation conservation management (Araújo et al., 2018). The genus Erythrolamprus sensu Grazziotin et al. (2012) is one of the most diverse genera in Brazil (Costa and Bérnils, 2018). The species Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus (Wied, 1825) has a wide distribution in forested, open and urbanised areas of South America (Vanzolini et al., 1980; Argôlo, 2004). It exhibits several phenotypic patterns related to colour (Cole et al., 2013) and is currently recognised four subspecies: E. p. sublineatus (Cope, 1860); E. p. caesius (Cope, 1862); E. p. poecilogyrus (Wied, 1825) and E. p. schotti (Schlegel, 1837), and only the two last ones occur in

1 Laboratório de Biologia e Ecologia de Vertebrados, Figure 1. Physalaemus cuvieri (above arrow) and Departamento de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Dermatonotus muelleri (below arrow) regurgitated by Sergipe, 49500-000, Itabaiana, Sergipe, Brazil. Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus in the municipality of Pedra * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Mole, Sergipe State, Brazil. 1066 Hugo Andrade et al. process, expelling one individual of D. muelleri first, induced by our manipulation. Physalaemus cuvieri was and one Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826 afterwards a known prey of Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus (Table (Fig. 1). Both prey items were uninjured. The event 1), but Dermatonotus muelleri was not. Our literature lasted approximately two minutes. Some anuran species review uncovered that the diet of Erythrolamprus present unpalatability as a consequence of specific skin poecilogyrus is composed mainly by anurans, followed toxins (Toledo and Haddad, 2009), causing the predator by reptiles, fishes, invertebrates and mammals (Table to regurgitate. However, the regurgitation may have been 1).

Table 1. Prey items of the snake Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus previously documented in the literature and in our study. Species names follow Uetz et al. (2019) and Frost et al. (2020). Family names are in bold. Table 1.

Taxon References AMPHIBIANS Bufonidae Melanophryniscus montevidensis (Philippi, 1902) Heiermann et al. (2017) Rhinella arenarum (Hensel, 1867) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Rhinella crucifer (Wied, 1821) Pinto and Fernandes (2004) Rhinella diptycha (Cope, 1862) Prieto et al. (2012) Rhinella dorbignyi (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Rhinella fernandezae (Gallardo, 1957) Prieto et al. (2012) Rhinella granulosa (Spix, 1824) Michaud and Dixon (1989); Toledo et al. (2006) Cycloramphidae Thoropa miliaris (Spix, 1824) Pinto and Fernandes (2004) Hylidae Boana multifasciata (Günther, 1859) Silva Jr et al. (2003) Boana pulchella (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Dendropsophus gr. microcephalus Prieto et al. (2012) Lysapsus sp. Cope, 1862 Michaud and Dixon (1989) Phyllomedusa sauvagii (Boulenger, 1882) Cabral et al. (2017) Pseudis minuta (Günther, 1858) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Pseudis paradoxa (Linnaeus, 1758) Prieto et al. (2012) Scinax acuminatus (Cope, 1862) Prieto et al. (2012) Scinax ruber (Laurenti, 1768) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Thracycephalus typhonius (Linnaeus, 1758) Silva Jr et al. (2003); Oliveira and Silva (2007) Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus bufonius Boulenger, 1894 Schalk and Montana (2012) (tadpole and adult) Leptodactylus cf. latinasus Prieto et al. (2012) Leptodactylus chaquensis Cei, 1950 Prieto et al. (2012); Cabral et al. (2017) Leptodactylus gracilis (Duméril and Bibron, 1840) Michaud and Dixon (1989); Corrêa et al. (2016) Leptodactylus labyrinthicus (Spix, 1824) (tadpole) Muniz and Silva (2005) Leptodactylus latrans (Steffen, 1815) Corrêa et al. (2016) Leptodactylus mystacinus (Burmeister, 1861) Cabral et al. (2017) Physalaemus albonotatus (Steindachner, 1864) Prieto et al. (2012) Physalaemus biligonigerus (Cope, 1861) Schalk (2010); Cabral et al. (2017) Physalaemus cf. santafecinus Prieto et al. (2012) Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826 Michaud and Dixon (1989); this study Physalaemus fernandezae (Müller, 1926) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Physalaemus gr. biligonigerus Prieto et al. (2012) Physalaemus gracilis (Boulenger, 1883) Michaud and Dixon (1989); Corrêa et al. (2016) Microhylidae Dermatonotus muelleri (Boettger, 1885) This study Chiasmocleis albopunctata (Boettger, 1885) Cacciali and Motte (2010) Elachistocleis bicolor (Guérin-Méneville, 1838) Cacciali and Motte (2010); Prieto et al. (2012); Corrêa et al. (2016)

Diet review of Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus, northeastern Brazil 1067

Table 1. Continued.

Taxon References Elachlistocleis ovalis (Schneider, 1799) Ghizoni-Jr and Erdtmann (2009) Pipidae Pipa carvalhoi (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1937) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Odontophrynidae Odontophrynus americanus (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) Michaud and Dixon (1989); Prieto et al. (2012) Odontophrynus maisuma Rosset, 2008 Corrêa et al. (2016) FISHES Anablepidae Jenynsia multidentata Jenyns, 1842 Corrêa et al. (2016) Poeciliidae Phalloceros caudimaculatus (Hensel, 1868) Michaud and Dixon (1989); Corrêa et al. (2016) REPTILES Amphisbaenidae Amphisbaena darwinii Duméril and Bibron, 1839 Michaud and Dixon (1989) Gymnophthalmidae Cercosaura ocellata Wagler, 1830 Michaud and Dixon (1989) Cercosaura schreibersii Wiegmann, 1834 Prieto et al. (2012); Corrêa et al. (2016) Teiidae Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Tupinambis teguixin (Linnaeus, 1758) Michaud and Dixon (1989) Tropiduridae Liolaemus occipitalis Boulenger, 1885 Michaud and Dixon (1989) Scincidae Aspronema dorsivittatum (Cope, 1862) Michaud and Dixon (1989) MAMMALS Unidentified Corrêa et al. (2016) INVERTEBRATES Unidentified Michaud and Dixon (1989); Prieto et al. (2012)

The environment where we found the snake has natural history and ecology in modified areas in Sergipe suffered high anthropic pressure, mainly, for activities State. like agriculture and cattle raising (H. Andrade, pers. obs.). October marks the end of the wet season in Pedra Acknowledgements. The authors thank Vinícius Sudré for Mole and for this reason the perennial watercourses critical reviews on the manuscript. exhibit temporary water in this month, an ideal moment to encounter the species D. muelleri, which emerges of References the estivation period to feed and reproduce (Nomura Alencar, L.R.V., Nascimento, L.B. (2014): Natural history data and Rossa-Feres, 2011). Erythrolamprus poecilogyrus of a common snake suggest interpopulational variation and has long been considered an anurophagous snake conservatism in life history traits: the case of Erythrolamprus (Vanzolini et al., 1980), and our literature search poecilogyrus. Herpetological Journal 24: 79–85. indeed indicate anurans as its main food item (72.7% Araújo, J.S., Corrêa, F., Soares, L.J., Souza, M.B. (2018): Record of of species recorded; Table 1). Moreover, this species predation by two amphibians Rhinella major and Ctenophryne can display opportunistic predation, due to the presence geayi by Erythrolamprus dorsocorallinus (Esqueda, Natera, of other taxonomic groups in its diet. The few records La Marca & Ilija-Fistar, 2005) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) in northwestern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 78: 793–795. of microhylid frogs compared to other anuran families Argôlo, A.J.S. (2004): As Serpentes dos Cacauais do Sudeste da (9.3%, Table 1) might be a reflex of this opportunistic Bahia. Editus, Ilhéus. predation in the wet season (Nomura and Rossa-Feres, Bernarde, P.S., Abe, A.S. (2006): A snake community at Espigão 2011). Our new species record and review on the diet do Oeste, Rondônia, Southwestern Amazon, Brazil. South of E. poecilogyrus will contribute to studies about its American Journal of Herpetology 1: 102–113. 1068 Hugo Andrade et al.

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