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Note on the Distribution of the Caecilian Potamotyphlus Kaupii (Berthold, 1859) (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) in Brazil

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Note on the Distribution of the Caecilian Potamotyphlus Kaupii (Berthold, 1859) (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) in Brazil Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 395-396 (2017) (published online on 06 July 2017) Note on the distribution of the caecilian Potamotyphlus kaupii (Berthold, 1859) (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) in Brazil Kleiton R. Alves-Silva1,*, Michelle P. Mercês2, Aline L. dos Santos3 and Leandro C. Ramos3 According to a recent review of Amazonian caecilians (Maciel and Hoogmoed, 2011), the species Potamotyphlus kaupii (Berthold, 1859) occurs throughout the Amazon and Orinoco drainages in northern South America. In Brazil, it was reported from the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Goiás, Pará, and Roraima. Oliveira et al. (2012) extended its distribution to the Madeira river, which was the first record for the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Taylor (1968) mentioned that the type locality of Chthonerpeton microcephalum Miranda-Ribeiro, 1931, a junior synonym of P. kaupii, was reported as “Mato Grosso” state, which he considered as Amazon drainage. Figure 1. Distribution map of Potamotyphlus kaupii. Black However, doubts remained about the occurrence of this triangle: Type locality; Black circles: Brazilian records (based species in this region (e.g. Maciel & Hoogmoed (2011) on Maciel and Hoogmoed, 2011 and Oliveira et al. 2012); and Frost (2017) do not include this locality in their Red star: New record.); Black diamonds: records from other accounts of the distribution). South American countries. Names of countries and acronyms During a fauna rescue operation on 26 February 2015 of Brazilian states are only provided for those entities where at Apiacás river (-10.3208° S/ -57.9730° W; Figure 1), the species is known to occur. Acronyms: AC: Acre; AM: municipality of Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, Amazonas; AP: Amapá; GO: Goiás; MT: Mato Grosso; PA: one specimen of Potamotyphlus kaupii was collected Pará; RO: Rondônia; RR: Roraima. (Figure 2). This confirms the occurrence of the species in the northwestern part of Mato Grosso, in the basin of the Apiacás river, which is part of the Tapajos and Amazon basins. Marty et al. (2007) reported that the species was found in running water. The area where we 1 Laboratório de Ecologia e Zoologia de Vertebrados, Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Correia, CEP 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil 2 Mastozoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Av. Perimetral nº 1901, CEP 66077530, Belém, PA, Brazil 3 Laboratório de Paleobiologia, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, campus Porto Nacional, Rua 07 Quadra 15, CEP: 77500-000, Porto Nacional, TO, Brazil Figure 2. Specimen of Potamotyphlus kaupii collected in * Corresponding author e-mail: Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Photo: Aline L. dos [email protected] Santos. 396 Kleiton R. Alves-Silva et al. observed this specimen was also running water, where it was localized between the rocks on the river bottom. The Apiacás specimen was deposited in the Oswaldo Rodrigues Cunha Herpetological Collection of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG 39999), Belém, Brazil. Acknowledgments. We are grateful to Dr. Adriano O. Maciel for the help with the identification of the specimen. We are grateful to Dr. Marinus S. Hoogmoed for the comments that improve this manuscript. References Frost, D. R. (2017): Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 (Accessed June 14, 2017). Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/ amphibia/index.html. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Maciel, A. O., Hoogmoed, M. S. (2011): Taxonomy and distribution of caecilian amphibians (Gymnophiona) of Brazilian Amazonia, with a key to their identification. Zootaxa 2984: 1–53. Marty, C., Ravet, E. B. D., Lescure, J. (2007): Redécouverte de Potamotyphlus kaupii (Berthold, 1859) (Amphibia, Gymnophiona, Typhlonectidae) en Guyane française. Bulletin Societ Herpétologique de France 121: 35–36. Oliveira, U. S. C., Meneghelli, D., Messias, M. R., Gomes, I. B. S. R., Coragem, J. T. (2013): First record of Potamotyphlus kaupii (Berthold, 1859) (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) for the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 5: 155–156. Taylor, E. H. (1968): The Caecilians of the World. A taxonomic review. Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas. Accepted by Hendrik Müller.
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