Imantodes Cenchoaprinted in Colom in Venezuela.Bia
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HERPETOTROPICOS Vol. 10(1-2):09-16 ISSN 1690-7930 (Printed) ISSN 1856-9285 (Online) ROJAS-MORALES J.A. et al - GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF IMANTODES CENCHOAPrinted IN COLOM in Venezuela.BIA. All rights reserved9 Copyright © 2014 BIOGEOS GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF IMANTODES CENCHOA (SERPENTES: DIPSADIDAE) IN COLOMBIA: FILLING GAPS FOR THE MONTANE CLOUD FORESTS OF NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA JULIÁN ANDRÉS ROJAS-MORALES1,2, HÉCTOR FABIO ARIAS-MONSALVE2 AND IVÁN MENDOZA-MENDOZA3,4 1 Associate researcher of the División de Historia Natural, Centro de Museos, Universidad de Caldas, Cra. 23 # 58-65, A.A. 275, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. 2 Current address: Postgrado en Ecología Tropical, Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas (ICAE), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. 3 Biology student, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida 5101, Venezuela. 4 Colección de Anfibios y Reptiles, Laboratorio de Biogeografía, Escuela de Geografía, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida 5101, Venezuela. Abstract: We provide detailed information on the geographical distribution of Imantodes cenchoa in Colombia, based on 103 geo-referenced records taken from specimens in scientific collections and literature.Imantodes cenchoa has a wide longitudinal and altitudinal distribution in Colombia, found in 26 of the 32 departments of this country. There exist six records of the species in montane cloud forests in elevations above 2000 m. Key words: Biogeographic units, Colombia, Imantodes cenchoa, life zones, montane cloud forest. Resumen: J.A. Rojas-Morales, H.F. Arias-Monsalve e I. Mendoza-Mendoza. “Distribución geográfica deImantodes cenchoa (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) en Colombia: llenando vacíos de información para el bosque de niebla montano del norte de Sudamérica”. Proveemos información detallada sobre la distribución geográfica de Imantodes cenchoa en Colombia, basada en 103 registros georreferenciados de especímenes en colecciones científicas y reportes de literatura. Imantodes cenchoa presenta una amplia distribución longitudinal y altitudinal en Colombia, hallándose en 26 de los 32 departamentos del país. Seis registros por encima de 2000 m de elevación corroboran la presencia de la especie en el bosque de niebla montano del norte de Suramérica. Palabras clave: Colombia, bosque de niebla montano, Imantodes cenchoa, unidades biogeográficas, zonas de vida. INTRODUCTION Imantodes cenchoa is one of the most common and adaptively there is no summarized information that allows for an analysis of plastic Neotropical snake species. It has a widespread distribution, the general distribution in this country. ranging from México to northeastern Argentina, inhabiting a wide Its presence in the montane cloud forests of northern South variety of natural areas from sea level up to 2200 m of altitude America was suggested by Pérez-Santos and Moreno (1988), based (Rivero-Blanco and Dixon 1979, Zug et al. 1979, Pérez-Santos on one record from San Vicente, department of Antioquia, Colombia and Moreno 1988, 1991, Savage 2002, Köhler 2003, Cisneros- at 2200 m of elevation (Cordillera Central), but no museum specimen Heredia 2006, Ruiz et al. 2007, Castro-Herrera and Vargas-Salinas or field detailed data was provided. On the other hand, it was also 2008, Rojas-Morales 2012). In Colombia, this is one of the most reported by Castro-Herrera and Vargas-Salinas (2008) up to 2200 conspicuous snake species, which have been recorded in almost m of altitude, from an unknown locality at the Cordillera Occidental all herpetofaunistic studies carried out since XX century and early of Colombia, in the department of Valle del Cauca, but we could XXI. However, as with most Colombian snakes, for this species not access the voucher and the information about it. Due to the Received / Recibido: 15 SEP 2013 1 Send correspondence to / Enviar correspondencia a: Accepted / Aceptado: 05 MAR 2014 [email protected] 09 Published / Publicado: 15 DEC 2014 10 HERPETOTROPICOS Vol. 10(1-2):09-16 © 2014 uncertainty of the presence of this species in the Montane cloud MATERIALS AND METHODS forests of South America and Colombia, as well as the deficiency in Our results are based on 103 geo-referenced records taken from literature summarized information of its general distribution in this country, we and specimens housed in the following scientific collections: (1) Instituto herein present a compilation of the known geographical distribution de Ciencias Naturales (ICN), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, of this snake in Colombia, and we provide six confirmed records Bogotá; (2) Museo Herpetológico de la Universidad de Antioquia for the Montane cloud forests over 2000 of altitude (Figs. 1-3; (MHUA), Medellín; (3) Colección Biológica Instituto Alexander von Appendix 1). Humboldt (IAvH), Villa de Leyva; (4) Museo de Historia Natural de FIG. 1. Distribution map of Imantodes cenchoa in Colombia, indicating the known localities below 2000 m of altitude (circles) and above this limit (yellow squares). Red circles are from specimens in scientific collections, and orange circles are data from literature. Map obtained from SIGOT (Sistema de Información Geográfica para el Ordenamiento Territorial, Colombia). Mapa de distribución de Imantodes cenchoa en Colombia, indicando las localidades conocidas por debajo de 2000 m de elevación (círculos) y por encima de este límite (cuadrados amarillos). Círculos rojos son de ejemplares en collecciones científicas, y círculos naranja son datos de la literatura. Mapa obtenidos de SIGOT (Sistema de Información Geográfica para el Ordenamiento Territorial, Colombia). ROJAS-MORALES J.A. et al - GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF IMANTODES CENCHOA IN COLOMBIA. 11 la Universidad de Caldas (MHN-UC), Manizales; (5) Museo de La Salle (MLS-BOG), Bogotá; (6) Colección Herpetológica, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Bucaramanga; and (7) Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca (MHNUC), Popayán. To analyze the occurrence of the species in the different life zones and biogeographic regions of the country,we follow the classifications proposed by Espinal (1987) and Hernández-Camacho et al. (1992), respectively (Appendix 1). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In Colombia, I. cenchoa is distributed along the Amazonian and Pacific lowlands rainforests, dry forests in the Caribbean coast, and the trans and cisAndean forests in the Eastern, Central and Western Cordilleras (Cordillera Oriental, Central and Occidental, respectively), and even in rainforest areas of the Gorgona island at the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1, Appendix1). Imantodes cenchoa is present in 26 of the 32 departments of Colombia. Records are from: FIG. 3. Colombian montane cloud forest at the Cordillera Central where Amazonas, Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Caquetá, Imantodes cenchoa has been recorded at high elevation (Corozal village, Casanare, Cauca,Cesar, Chocó, Córdoba, Cundinamarca, La municipality of Villamaría, department of Caldas, 2300 m of altitude). Guajira, Magdalena, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Photo by JARM. Bosque colombiano de niebla montano en la Cordillera Central, donde Quindío, Risaralda, Santander, Sucre, Tolima, Valle del Cauca Imantodes cenchoa ha sido reportada de altas elevaciones (Villa and Vaupés.No records are known for the departments of Arauca, Corozal, Municipio de Villamaría, Departamento de Caldas, 2300 m de Guainía, Guaviare, Huila, San Andrés, and Vichada. Is almost certain elevación). Foto por JARM. that I. cenchoa inhabits all these departments too, except San Andrés, because the last is a limestone archipelago islands separated 191 km from Central America and 775 km from the Colombian coast. Also, coconut palms and mangrove swamp are the main vegetation of these islands, which could limit ecologically the presence of I. cenchoa there (for a checklist of the herpetofauna of San Andrés see Tamsitt and Valdivieso 1963). For the rest of departments that currently have no records of this species, the scarcity of surveys and data published are the possible reasons for the current absence of records of this snake. It is possible that I. cenchoa is present in all political areas of Colombia. In eco-geographical terms, I. cenchoainhabits 10 of the28 natural life zones of the country (sensu Espinal 1987), all of which include forested environments. Such as in Panama and Ecuador (see Myers 1982 and Cisneros-Heredia 2006, respectively), in Colombia I. cenchoa does not occupy open habitats such as savannas and cattle breeding crops, but exclusively forested environments.Their dependence for this habitat type is due to their highly adapted arboreal habits, as suggested by morphology, which include elongate body with a large tail, and protuberant eyes that allow downward FIG. 2. Head, dorsal, and ventral views of Imantodes cenchoa (MHN-UC vision (Henderson and Nickerson 1976, Myers 1982). At night, 0047) from a montane cloud forest at the Cordillera Central (municipality I. cenchoa individuals are commonly founded in low vegetation of Manizales, department of Caldas, Colombia, 2160 m of altitude). less than 3 m, foraging across bushes, small trees, palm fronds Scale bar = 5 mm. and herbaceous vegetation, searching for frogs and lizards which Vistas de la cabeza y del dorso y vientre de Imantodes cenchoa (MHN- UC 0047) de un bosque de niebla montano en la Cordillera Central constitute some prey items (Myers 1982, Martins