Notes on Corallus Blombergi from Ecuador
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SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 21 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juni 2008 SHORT NOTE 91 Ankara, 23: 111-114. ATATÜR, M. K. & ARIKAN, H. & species level (C. blombergi) from formerly MERMER, A. (1998): Erythrocyte sizes of some urode- C. annulatus blombergi by HENDERSON et al. les from Turkey.- Turkish J. Zool., Ankara; 22: 89-91. DUGUY, R. (1970): Numbers of blood cells and their (2001) on the basis of morphological fea- variation; pp. 93-109. In: GANS, C. & PARSONS, T. S. tures. This elevation resulted in a compara- (eds.): Biology of the Reptilia, Vol. 3 (Morphology C). tively small range area of the new species in London, New York (Academic Press). EISELT, J. the west of Ecuador. Unlike the rest of the (1965): Einige Amphibien und Reptilien aus der nordöstlichen Türkei, gesammelt von Herrn H. species which are abundant in collections, C. STEINER.- Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums, blombergi is a little known snake with limit- Wien; 67: 387-389. FOXON, G. E. H. (1964): Blood ed records of specimens in museums and ref- and respiration; pp. 151-209. In: MOORE J. A. (ed.): erence collections (HENDERSON 1998). Physiology of the Amphibia. New York (Academic Press). JERRETT, D. P. & MAYS, C. E. (1973): Com- Herein, we present information on its parative hematology of the Hellbender, Cryptobran- distribution, natural history and aspects of chus alleganiensis in Missouri.- Copeia, Washington; its current status of conservation. Abbrevi- 1973 (2): 331-337. KURAMOTO, M. (1981): Relation- ations used in the text include: FHGO = ships between number size and shape of red blood cells in amphibians.- Comparative Biochemistry and Fundación Herpetológica Gustavo Orcés, Physiology, New York; (A) 69: 771-775. OLGUN, K. & Quito; UDA-AMARU = Universidad del BARAN, İ. (1993): A systematic research on the Azuay – ZooAmaru, Herpetological Col- Triturus vittatus (GRAY, 1835) (Urodela: Amphibia) lection, Cuenca; SVL = snout-vent length. populations in the inner part of the Middle Black Sea Region.- Turkish J. Zool., Ankara; 17: 445-456. A single specimen of C. blombergi STURKIE, P. D. (1954): Avian physiology. 2nd ed. (UDA-AMARU 0019) was collected at 79° Ithaka (Comstock Publishing), pp. 423. SZARSKI, H. & 23’48”W, 02°45’15”S, 256 m a.s.l. in the CZOPEK, G. (1966). Erythrocyte diameter in some small tropical rain forest reserve of Bosque amphibians and reptiles.- Bulletin de L’Académie Polonaise des Sciences, Varsovie; (Série des Sciences Protector Molleturo Mullopungo located in Biologiques) 14: 433-437. VERNBERG, J. F. (1955): the parish of Molleturo, province of Azuay, Hematological studies on salamanders in relation to some few kilometers off the route Cuenca- their ecology.- Herpetologica, Lawrence; 11: 129-133. Molleturo and 15 kilometers from the city YILMAZ, I. (1983): Morphological and taxonomical investigation of Thracian urodeles (Urodela; Sala- of Naranjal, province of Guayas. This indi- mandridae).- Doğa Bilim Dergisi. Temel Bilmler; vidual represents the southernmost record of Ankara; 7: 119-130. the species in Ecuador and the whole of KEY WORDS: Amphibia: Caudata: Salaman- South America. Thus, the currently known dridae; Lissotriton vulgaris, haematology, blood cells distribution of C. blombergi in Ecuador in- normal morphology, blood smears, histology, Turkey cludes the province of Esmeraldas in the SUBMITTED: October 24, 2007 north (major report of individuals), the AUTHORS: MURAT TOSUNOĞLU & CEMAL provinces of Guayas and Los Ríos in the cen- VAROL TOK & ÇİĞDEM GÜL & GÜLSER GÜLDALI, tral western portion (PÉREZ-SANTOS & MO- Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Sci- RENO 1991; HENDERSON 1997; HENDERSON et ence-Art, Department of Biology, Terzioğlu Campus, 17100, Çanakkale, Turkey < [email protected] > al. 2001), and the province of Azuay located in the south of the country (present record, Fig. 1). The linear distance between the southernmost known record (Guayas) and Notes on Corallus blombergi the new one (Molleturo) is 93 km. (RENDAHL & VESTERGREN, 1941) The individual collected at Molleturo from Ecuador (SVL 1115 mm, tail length 137 mm, Fig. 2) and maintained in captivity in the collection Three snake species of the genus of the Amaru Zoo, Cuenca, is of orange dor- Corallus were reported from Ecuador: C. sal coloration. There are 56 irregular circles caninus (LINNAEUS, 1758) and C. hortulanus on each side of the body, plus tail, which are (LINNAEUS, 1758) are restricted to the low- formed by dark brown spots, two scales lands of the Amazonian region, and C. blom- wide each. The size of the circles is on the bergi (RENDAHL & VESTERGEN, 1941) is dis- average, six scales in longitudinal, and 11 in tributed in the lowlands of the west of Ecua- transversal direction, including the scales of dor (HENDERSON et al. 2001; PÉREZ-SANTOS the dark edge. In the first quarter of the & MORENO 1991). The southern Corallus body, the portions of the circles which meet annulatus COPE, 1876 were elevated to in the vertebral region are connected to form 92 SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 21 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juni 2008 SHORT NOTE stead, while other individuals have 43 spots at the most. The Neotropical treeboa C. blombergi inhabits primary and secondary forest and is active at night (19:00–24:00) (MORALES- MITE 2005). Two individuals (FHGO 1572, UDA-AMARU 0019) were encountered active (probably hunting) among vegetation one to three meters above the ground, the rest of snakes (5 specimens) were found in the canopy, in the top of big trees; another individual (FHGO 2410) was found between the branches of a cut tree near the forest floor. In nature, some individuals were ob- served trying to capture small bats flying between the branches of trees (RUIZ & VA- LENCIA 2001). One snake captured (FHGO live coll. 2410), regurgitated a bat (Carollia castanea), and the snake’s excrements con- tained rodent remnants not identified yet. Fig. 1: Distribution of the Neotropical tree boa When captured, an individual (UDA- Corallus blombergi (RENDAHL & VESTERGREN, 1940) in Ecuador. %- material deposited at the Fundación AMARU 0019) regurgitated a small bird not Herpetológica Gustavo Orcés, Quito, Ecuador or identified as well. University of Azuay; < - data from the literature The snakes of the genus Corallus are (HENDERSON et al. 2001). ovoviviparous, and little is known about their reproductive biology. A female C. annulatus gave birth to seven young, five of which were bobbin-shaped brown spots. Dorsally, spo- alive (BLODY & MEHAFFEY 1989). The authors radic brown spots are dispersed over the observed the mating in a pair of C. blomber- body. The venter is cream and orange in gi (male FHGO live coll. 1074, female FHGO some sections, the dorsal circles can reach live coll. 2410) in March 2001 and April the ventral scales. The pupil is black and 2002. The animals remained in copula through elliptic, clearly differentiated from the 7 and 3 days, respectively. In the first case orange color of the iris. Number of longitu- the gravid female gave birth to 14 young, dinal dorsal scale rows: 44-50-32; subcau- after 6 months and 16 days, in the second to dals divided: 80; ventrals: 256; anal plate 13 young after of 5 months and 2 days. In divided; infra-loreals: 4; infra-loreals plus both cases, the neonates (mean SVL 413 mm, loreals: 7; intersupraorbitals: 10; supralabi- range 300-458 mm, SD 41.3) resembled the als: 14; infralabials 14; circumorbitals 12 mother in color-pattern. At the moment, all and supraloreals 3. Corallus blombergi is a youngs are in excellent health condition. medium sized snake with the maximum size VALENCIA & MORALES (2005), includ- documented being 1433 mm SVL in males ed C. blombergi in the IUCN category of (FHGO 1074; HENDERSON et al. 2001) and “Endangered” (EN) reptiles, based on its 1910 mm in females (FHGO live coll. 2410). rareness and distributional restriction to the In the individual collected at Molleturo fragmented remnants of the West Ecuador- the numbers of dorsals, ventrals and subcau- ian original rainforest vegetation. dals are within the ranges reported by The western lowlands of the Andes of HENDERSON et al. (2001), however, the num- Ecuador are constituted by the Choco region bers of infra-loreals and infra-loreals plus and, to a small extent, the Tumbesian loreals (4 and 7 respectively) differ by one region. Both regions form a great variety of scale. Additionally, the coloration of the ecosystems, which shelter notable biologi- Molleturo specimen does not represent big cal diversity and endemism. But at the same brown spots, but numerous (56) circles in- time, both areas are considered most threat- SHORT NOTE HERPETOZOA 21 (1/2) Wien, 30. Juni 2008 SHORT NOTE 93 Fig. 2. Corallus blombergi (RENDAHL & VESTERGREN, 1940) from Molleturo, Azuay Province, southwestern Ecuador. Photo: Jorge H. VALENCIA. ened due to uncontrollable destruction of Specimens examined –– Esmeraldas: Charco their flora and fauna. Vicente, Salto Bravo, Río Bravo (FHGO live col. 1074); Reserva Ecologica Cotacachi Cayapas, Pichi- The rainforest is highly fragmented. yacu (FHGO 1572); Pajonal, Comunidad Gualpí del Less than 8% of the original vegetation Onzolé (FHGO live col. 2410); “noroccidente” (FHGO cover persists as a result of deforestation live col. 887, 2822); no specific locality (FHGO live col. 183); Azuay: Molleturo, Comunidad y Reserva and other human activities (MEYERS 1987; Ecológica Flor y Selva (UDA-AMARU 0019). DODSON & GENTRY 1993, 1991; GUTBERLET & CAMPBELL 2001). Various anthropogenic ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The authors thank the following persons who contributed in different ways activities have a striking impact on the orig- to this investigation: Robert HENDERSON, Milwaukee inal vegetation and its animal inhabitants: Public Museum (MPM), María Elena BARRAGÁN, agriculture with its intensive use of soil Raquel BETANCOURT, Alexis BARAHONA, Fundación Her- (banana, palm trees), Eucalyptus plantations petológica Gustavo Orcés (FHGO), Fausto SIAVICHAY, Andrés MARTÍNEZ, Oscar SÁNCHEZ (Zoológico Amaru), which replace hundreds of hectares of forest Manuel MORALES-MITE, Jean Marc TOUZET, Ana María each year, the construction of highways that VELASCO, Lucas ACHIG, Amanda VEGA, José CÁCERES, cross the remnants of the vegetated areas.