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Home , Xenodon, Xenodon merremii

Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 297-299 (2020) (published online on 14 April 2020)

First record of leucism in merremii (Wagler, 1824) in

Hugo Andrade1,2,*, Gabriel Deyvison dos Santos Carvalho1, Josefa Jaqueline Santos Oliveira1, and Eduardo José dos Reis Dias1,2

Chromatic variations such as melanism, albinism, Methods and Results leucism and xanthism have been documented to several is a Dipsadidae broadly distributed groups of vertebrates (Sazima and Di Bernardo, 1991; in the Guianas, Brazil, , , , Acevedo and Aguayo, 2008; Sueiro et al., 2010; Abegg Ecuador and (Peters and Orejas-Miranda, 1970; et al., 2014; Talamoni et al., 2017; Barbosa et al., 2019), Carreira and Achaval, 2007; Cacciali, 2010). In Brazil, as a result of varying quantity and quality of basic it occurs in the biomes of Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, colours produced by chromatophores (Bechtel, 1978). Cerrado, Pampas, and Pantanal (Guedes et al., 2014), Melanism confers dark colorations, and is presented besides a disjointed population that was documented to in certain individuals due to an overplay of melanin the Amazon Forest (Moura-Leite and Bernarde, 1999; produced by melanophores. Remaining integument França et al., 2006). It exhibits terrestrial and diurnal chromatic variations, that lack phenotypic pigmentation, habits, being characterized for diversified colouration are mainly related to iridophores and xanthophores patterns such as yellowish, greenish and brownish hues (Bechtel, 1978; Bechtel and Bechtel, 1981; Vitt and with semicircular blotches (Giraudo, 2001). Caldwell, 2014). During a data sampling in Museu Nacional do Rio de Leucism is characterized by the absence of Janeiro (MNRJ) an individual with voucher MNRJ17486 pigmentation in parts of the body, but soft tissues may was analysed. The specimen was a leucistic male (Fig. remain coloured (e.g., wings and eyes; Jehl, 1985; 1), measuring 270 mm in snout-vent-length (SVL) and Bechtel, 1991). In Brazilian , there are few records 40 mm in tail length (TL). It was registered in 2008 to of leucism (Sazima and Di Bernardo, 1991). Examples Jardim do Olimpo, municipality of Duque de Caxias are the reports in Atractus reticulatus Boulenger, 1885 in Rio de Janeiro State (22°37’0”S, 43°16’0”W). The (Entiauspe-Neto, 2018), Drymarchon corais Boie, 1827 specimen had dark eyes with white colour in both dorsal (Vargas, 2015) and Pseudoboa nigra Duméril, Bibron & and ventral body regions; it had no blotches or stripes Duméril, 1854 (Noronha et al., 2013). The present work in the dorsum nor pigmentation in the ventral part of brings the first record of leucism in Xenodon merremii the body, which is common to smaller specimens of the (Wagler, 1824), from Brazil. (H. Andrade personal observation).

Discussion Here we report the occurrence of a leucistic Xenodon merremii male. Curiously besides leucism, X. merremii 1 Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Departamento de may also exhibit partial albinism (Scrocchi et al., 2006) Biociências, Laboratório de Biologia e Ecologia de and melanism (França et al., 2012). Our report thus Vertebrados, Avenida Vereador Olímpio Grande s/n, Centro, expands the knowledge about leucism in snakes of Itabaiana, SE 49506-036, Brazil. the Dipsadidae family, and adds information about the 2 Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução, colouration patterns in X. merremii. Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Biologia, Campus Ondina, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo 147, Salvador, BA Differences in colouration can directly affect 40170-290, Brazil. the ecological fitness of individuals (Forsman et al., * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 2008). Melanism, for example, can increase heating 298 Hugo Andrade et al.

Figure 1. Specimen of male leucistic Xenodon merremii – MNRJ 17486, registered to Jardim do Olimpo, municipality of Duque de Caxias in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. A) Shows dorsal view while B), the ventral view of the specimen. Photos by Hugo Andrade.

capacity (Gibson and Falls, 1979) if compared to Acevedo, J., Aguayo, M. (2008): Leucistic South American sea brighter individuals (Forsman et al., 2008) such as lion in Chile, with a review of anomalously color in otariids. leucistic ones. Moreover, it is expected that Revista de Biología Marina Y Oceanografia 43: 413–417. colouration undergoes selection pressures related to Amézquita, A., Ramos, Ó., González, M.C., Rodríguez, C., Medina, I., Simões, P.I., Lima, A.P. (2017): Conspicuousness, color camouflage capacity and scape from predators (Jackson resemblance, and toxicity in geographically diverging mimicry: et al., 1976; Sazima and Di Bernardo, 1991), when it is The pan-Amazonian frog Allobates femoralis. Evolution 71(4): not selected towards conspicuous signalling for specific 1039–1050. purposes such as for mate selection (e.g., Lisboa et al., Barbosa, V.N., Amaral, J.M.S., Lima, L.F.L., França, R.C., 2017), or aposematism (e.g., Amézquita et al., 2017). A França, F.G.R., Santos, E.M. (2019): A case of melanism in review carried out by Krecsák (2008) pointed out that Dendrophidion atlantica Freire, Caramaschi & Gonçalves, 2010 leucism decreases camouflage capacity of individuals, () from Northeastern Brazil. Notes 12: increasing susceptibility to . Studies bringing 109–11. Bechtel, H.B. (1978): Color and Pattern in snakes (Reptilia, up information on animal colours are important for Serpentes). Journal of Herpetology 12: 521–532. future research to assess the relation between phenotypic Bechtel, H.B. (1991): Inherited color defects. Comparison between trait and environment structure conditions. humans and snakes. International Journal of Dermatology 30: Investigations about ecological, genetic, and biological 243–246. aspects (e.g., behaviour, physiology, reproduction) in Bechtel, H.B., Bechtel, E. (1981): Albinism in the , Elaphe leucistic specimens and other colour anomalies may obsoleta. Journal of Herpetology 15: 397–402. clarify its effects and causes, which is still a research Cacciali, P. (2010): Chromatic variation in population of line with little information on literature. Xenodon merremi (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) in Paraguay. Acta Herpetologica 5: 107–112. Carreira, S., Achaval, F. (2007): Sobre la presencia de Waglerophis Acknowledgements. We thank Paulo Passos for permiting to merremii (Wagler, 1824) em Uruguay (Reptilia: ). analyse the species in Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro (MNRJ) Boletín de la Sociedad Zoológica del Uruguay 16: 32–35. and Pedro Pinna for providing information about the specimen. Entiauspe-Neto, O.M., Abegg, A.D., Quintela, F.M., Mario-da- We thank Rony Peterson Santos Almeida for critical reviews on the manuscript. Rosa, C., Malta-Borges, L., Loebman, D. (2016): First record of leucism for Atractus reticulatus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae). Brazilian Journal of Biology 78: 1–2. References Forsman, A., Ahnesjӧ, J., Caesar, S., Karlsson, M. (2008): A Abegg, A.D., Rosa, C.M., Cavalheiro, C.P., Ortiz, F.R., Borges, model of ecological and evolutionary consequences of color L.M. (2014): Partial albinism in Sibynomorphus ventrimaculatus polymorphism. Ecology 89: 34–40. (Boulenger, 1885) (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) in Rio Grande do Sul França, F.G.R., Mesquita, D.O., Colli, G.R. (2006): A checklist state, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 7: 475–476. of snakes from amazonian savannas in Brazil, housed in the First record of leucism in Xenodon merremii in Brazil 299

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Accepted by Andre Bruinjé