First Trans-Andean Record of Atractus Occipitoalbus (Jan, 1862), (Squamata, Dipsadidae), from Colombia

Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 49-51 (2017) (published online on 27 January 2017) First trans-Andean record of Atractus occipitoalbus (Jan, 1862), (Squamata, Dipsadidae), from Colombia Carlos M. Marín, Felipe A. Toro and Juan M. Daza* Atractus Wagler 1828 is a snake genus widely The collected specimen presents the following distributed in the Neotropical region, occurring from combination of characters (defined as in Passos et al. Panama to Argentina (Giraudo and Scrocchi, 2000; (2009b)): (1) 15/15/15 smooth dorsal scale rows; (2) 2 Myers, 2003). It is the most diverse snake genus with postoculars; (3) loreal moderate; (4) 1+2 temporals; (5) about 140 recognized species, with most of them on the 7/7 supralabials, 3–4 contacting orbit; (6) 7/6 infralabials, Andes and with relatively restricted distribution (Passos first four in contact with chinshields; (7) one pair of et al., 2007; Passos et al., 2009a). chinshields; (8) 3/3 gulars; (9) 3 preventrals; (10) 144 Atractus occipitoalbus (Jan, 1862) inhabits the ventrals; (11) 18 subcaudals; (12) dorsal color pattern lowland tropical rainforest and the Andean foothills uniform black with a creamish white occipital band; on the Amazon versant (Passos et al. 2009b). It is a forest dweller found on the ground, amidst leaf litter, or under rocks and logs (Silva 2004). In the last 30 years, new records have expanded the previously known distribution, with most of the records from Ecuador (Passos et al. 2009b). In Colombia, only one occurrence of A. occipitoalbus has been reported on the eastern side of the Cordillera Oriental in the Department of Putumayo (Silva, 2004). In a recent fieldwork on the northern Andes of Colombia, a female of Atractus occipitoalbus (Figure 1) was collected in the locality El Edén, Vereda San Antonio, municipality of Alejandría, Department of Antioquia, on the eastern flank of the Cordillera Central (6.3676N, 75.0263W, elevation 1280 m above sea level, WGS84) (Figure 2). The specimen was collected at night (21:00 h), on August 19 of 2016. The specimen was photographed, measured, euthanized using 2% Xylocaine and deposited at the Museo de Herpetología Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia (MHUA-R 15131). Sex was determined by the absence of hemipenis after a longitudinal incision in the ventral surface of the tail. Grupo Herpetológico de Antioquia, Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Figure 1. Atractus occipitoalbus from municipality of Antioquia, Calle 67 # 53-108, Bloque 7-121, A.A. 1226, Alejandría, Department of Antioquia, Colombia (MHUA-R Medellín, Colombia. 15131). A) Live specimen, B) ventral view. Photos by C.M. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Marín. 50 Carlos M. Marín et al. northernmost record of Atractus occipitoalbus in South America (Figure 2). Furthermore, our record expands the upper altitudinal distribution limit of the species by 280 m. A recent study shows another example of a cis-andean species (Cochranella resplendens) that has been found on the eastern slope of the northern Cordillera Central in Colombia (Molina-Zuluaga et al. 2017). These findings highlight the need for thorough sampling in the Magdalena river basin to elucidate the recent biogeographic connection between this region and the western Amazon basin. Atractus occipitoalbus is currently listed as near threatened (NT) in the IUCN redlist due to its reduced geographic range of approximately 9600 Km2; the ongoing decline in the extent and quality of habitat in Colombia by mining, expanding urban areas and expanding small-holder farming; and the construction of hydroelectric dams and associated roads, projected to produce a strong negative impact throughout its distribution range in Ecuador (Cisneros-Heredia et al. 2016). After incorporating the new record, we used the GeoCAT tool (Bachman et al. 2011) and estimated Figure 2. Specimen records of Atractus occipitoalbus in the area of occupancy (AOO) of A. occipitoalbus to South America, after Passos et al. (2009b). The new record is be approximately 44.000 km2. This finding suggests highlighted with a red square. that the IUCN threat status of the species should be reassessed in the near future. Acknowledgements: Specimen collection was conducted under (13) black venter with anterior margins of scales white permit No. 112–0046 granted by the Corporación Autónoma (Figure 1B); (14) small size, total length 116 mm; (15) Regional CORNARE. This study was funded by Isagen and the short tail, 10 mm (8,62% of total length). According to Universidad de Antioquia under project 47/574. We thank P. Passos et al. (2009b) a clear differentiation of Atractus Passos and A. Rodriguez for the comments to the manuscript and occipitoalbus from other Atractus species with 15 J. J. Quintero, R. Puerta and S. Puerta for their assistance in the field. dorsal scale rows can be established by the following combination of characters: presence of a light color References occipital band (absent in A. albuquerquei, A. boettgeri, A. emmeli, A. reticulatus, A. paraguayensis and A. Bachman, S., Moat, J., Hill, A.W., de la Torre, J., Scott, B. (2011): taeniatus), 7–8 supralabials (6 in A. albuquerquei, A. Supporting Red List threat assessments with GeoCAT: geospatial boettgeri, and A. taeniatus); 7 maxillary teeth (8–9 in A. conservation assessment tool. In: Smith V, Penev L (Eds) e- Infrastructures for data publishing in biodiversity science. paraguayensis) and 9–20 subcaudal scales in females ZooKeys 150: 117–126. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.150.2109. (27–44 in A. albuquerquei, 27–43 in A. boettgeri, Cisneros-Heredia, D.F., Ortega, A. (2016): Atractus occipitoalbus. 22–30 in A. emmeli, 21–27 in A. reticulatus, 21–30 The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. < www. in A. paraguayensis). The values herein reported for iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 September 2016. specimen MHUA-R 15131 are well within these ranges Giraudo, A., Scrocchi, G. (2000): The genus Atractus (Serpentes: allowing to unambiguously diagnose it as Atractus Colubridae) in northeastern Argentina. Herpetological Journal occipitoalbus. 10(3): 81-90. Molina-Zuluaga, C., Cano, E., Restrepo, A., Rada, M., Daza, J.M. Our finding represents the second record for this (2017): Out of the Amazonia: the unexpected trans-Andean species for Colombia, and the first locality out of the distribution of Cochranella resplendens (Lynch and Duellman, Amazon versant of the Andes. We also extend the 1978) (Anura: Centrolenidae). Zootaxa. latitudinal distribution of the species approximately 661 Myers, C. (2003): Rare snakes. Five new species from eastern km north of Department of Putumayo, representing the Panama: Reviews of northern Atractus and southern Geophis First trans-Andean record of Atractus occipitoalbus from Colombia 51 (Colubridae: Dipsadinae). American Museum Novitates 3391: 1-47. Passos, P., Fernandes, D., Borges, D. (2007): A new species of Atractus (Serpentes: Dipsadinae) from a relictual forest in Northeasten Brazil. Copeia 2007(4): 788-797. Passos P., Arredondo J., Fernandes R., Lynch J. (2009a): Three new Atractus (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) from Andes of Colombia. Copeia 2009(3): 425-438. Passos, P., Chiesse, A., Torres-Carvajal, O., Savage, J.M. (2009b): Testing species boundaries within the Atractus occipitoalbus complex (Serpentes: Dipsadidae). Herpetologica, 65(4): 384- 403. Silva, J. (2004): Las serpientes del género Atractus Wagler, 1828 (Colubridae, Xenodontinae) en la Amazonia colombiana. Revista. Academia Colombiana de Ciencia, 28 (108): 409-446. Accepted by Ariel Rodriguez.

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