(Squamata: Tropiduridae) from Caatinga Domain, Brazil
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Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 27-30 (2021) (published online on 08 January 2021) Natural history note of the endangered psammophilous lizard Eurolophosaurus amathites (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from Caatinga domain, Brazil Maria Aldenise Xavier1,2,*, Tainara Lima da Silva2,3, Gabriel Deyvison dos Santos Carvalho2, and Eduardo José dos Reis Dias1,2,3 The Eurolophosaurus genus is a monophyletic 1984, 1986, 1996; Leal et al., 2003), such as E. group, which previously were part of the Tropidurus amathites. However, the progressive anthropisation of nanuzae group (Frost et al., 2001; Passoni et al., the natural habitats of this rich biome (e.g. trampling, 2008). It is composed of three species: E. amathites deforestation, agriculture and sand exploration) results (Rodrigues, 1984), E. divaricatus (Rodrigues, 1986) in a continuous loss of habitat quality for such species and E. nanuzae (Rodrigues, 1981) (Passoni et al., 2008). (Leal et al., 2003; Van Sluys, 2010; Brazil, 2018). Many Eurolophosaurus amathites (Fig. 1) is an endemic of these species can disappear even before they have species of Caatinga domain, occurs in sand dunes and been studied, so it is necessary to make efforts to reduce is restricted to the right bank of the São Francisco the lack of knowledge about the biological diversity of River (Fig. 2) (Rodrigues, 1996; Passoni et al., 2008). this region. Eurolophosaurus amathites was described It is a diurnal and psammophilous species, with a three decades ago, but little is known about this species, highly restricted geographic distribution, from the especially its biology and ecology. The goal of this study municipalities of Santo Inácio, Gameleira do Assuruá was to describe some aspects of the natural history of and Lagoa de Itaparica (Rodrigues, 1984, 1996; Passoni the E. amathites lizard. et al., 2008). According to the International Union for The capture of specimens was done in region Caatinga, Conservation Nature (IUCN) this species presents data in Serra de Santo Inácio (42.73719°W, 11.12089°S; deficient (DD), however it has been categorised as Datum WGS 84; 364 m a.s.l.), municipality of Gentio endangered (EN) [EN B1ab (iii)] in Brazilian red list, do Ouro, State of Bahia, Brazil (Fig. 2). This region is due to the progressive anthropisation in their natural characterised for a short period of rains (about 687 mm/ habitats causing a destabilisation of the dunes and a annual – http://pt.climate-data.org/) and predominant continuous decline at habitat quality (Brazil, 2018). larges rock outcrops and white sandy soils, result The Caatinga refuges some endemic species, including species strictly adapted to life in sandy soils (Rodrigues, 1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus de Ondina, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, 147 - CEP: 40170-290 - Salvador, Brazil. 2 Laboratório de Biologia e Ecologia de Vertebrados, Departamento de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Campus Prof. Alberto Carvalho, Av. Vereador Olímpio Grande, s/n - CEP: 49500-000 - Itabaiana, Brazil. 3 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Campus Prof. Alberto Carvalho, Av. Vereador Olímpio Grande, s/n - CEP: 49500- 000 - Itabaiana, Brazil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Figure 1. Specimen of Eurolophosaurus amathites at Caatinga © 2020 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. domain of Santo Inácio, in northeastern Brazil. 28 Maria Aldenise Xavier������� et al. from rock intemperism, with herbaceous and arbustive We collected four individuals (LABEVL787, vegetation and cactaceous (Arias et al., 2011). LABEVL788, LABEVL789, LABEVL803) of E. We collected the lizards by stunning them with amathites (one male with 64.1 mm of snout-vent elastic bands in June and November 2016, and April length (SVL) and three females with SLV of 52.9 mm, 2017, euthanised with a lethal dose of lidocaine 50.3 mm and 51.6 mm). The diet of this species was hydrochloride®, and next measured the snout-vent length composed of 124 items, we were able to identify eight (SVL) using a digital calliper (precision of to 0.01 mm). prey categories that included arthropods and material The individuals of E. amathites were dissected and their plant. The items most representative in terms of number stomach contents were analysed. The length and width were Hymenoptera “ants” (86.3%), leaf (5.6%) and of each item were measured using a digital calliper Blattodea “termites” (3.2%), in terms of volume were (precision of to 0.01 mm), to estimate volume (mm3) larvae of Lepidoptera (42.5%), Hymenoptera “ants” using the formula ovoid-spheroid (Dunham, 1983): V = (41.8%) and leaf (4.8%), and the most frequent were 4/3π (L/2) (W/2)2, where: “L” is the length and “W” is Hymenoptera “ants” (100%) (Table 1). the width of each prey. The diet of Eurolophosaurus amathites was composed We measured the length and width of male’s testes of arthropods (termites, ants and larvae) and plant using a digital calliper (precision of to 0.01 mm) and material, indicating that this species is possibly a estimated volume using the ellipsoid formula v = π. l. generalist predator, similar to other species of the family (w²)/6, where v = gonads volume, l = gonads length and Tropiduridae (Ribeiro and Freire, 2011; Gomides et w = gonads width (Ribeiro et al., 2010). Left testis was al., 2013; Siqueira et al., 2013; Alcantara et al., 2018). removed, fixed in 10% formalin, dehydrated in a graded However, his diet was predominantly composed of series of ethanol, cleared in xylol, embedded in paraffin, plant material and ants, similar to other tropidurids, sectioned at 5 µm, mounted on slides and stained with such as Tropidurus psammonastes and E. divaricatus haematoxilin-eosin staining technique. The clutch size (Rocha and Rodrigues, 2005). The consumption of was estimated by the number of vitellogenic follicles. plant material (e.g. flowers, leaves, fruits and seeds) The lizards were deposited in the herpetological and larvae may be associated with its high energy collection of the Laboratório de Biologia e Ecologia and nutrient levels and water contents, especially dos Vertebrados (LABEV), Universidade Federal de in semiarid environments, such as Caatinga, where Sergipe. resources may otherwise be limited (Fialho et al., 2000; Ribeiro et al., 2008; Sales et al., 2012; Passos et al., 2013; Xavier et al., 2019). In addition, the consumption of plant material demonstrates the role of seed dispersal, especially in dry environments (Ribeiro et al., 2008; Passos et al., 2013; Xavier and Dias, 2015, 2017). The myrmecophagy recorded in E. amathites may be due to the plesiomorphic features of Tropidurinae (Frost et al., 2001; Rocha and Rodrigues, 2005). The microhabitat used by this species was on leaf litter under shrub and vegetation height less than 2.0 m. The specimens were collected between 10:00 and 16:00 hours. The microhabitat used by E. amathites was similar to that reported for the psammophilous species T. hygomi (Lima-Silva et al., 2019). The E. amathites male was not in the reproductive mode; the volume of the testicles was 0.63 mm³ (right) and 0.91 mm³ (left) without spermatozoa. The smallest reproductive female in this study was 50.3 mm captured in November. Three reproductive females had each two Figure 2. Sampling locality in dune fields in the lower-mid vitellogenic follicles, which is similar to what is known São Francisco River valley at Santo Inácio, municipality of for other tropidurid species, such as E. nanuzae (Galdino Gentio do Ouro, Bahia State, Brazil. SF River: São Francisco et al., 2003; Galdino and Van Sluys, 2011), T. torquatus River. (Kiefer et al., 2008) and T. hygomi (Lima, 2016). Natural history note of the endangered Eurolophosaurus amathites3 , Brazil Table 1. Number (N), volume (V, in mm ) and frequency (F) of each food item in the 29 diet of Eurolophosaurus amathites (N = 4) in Caatinga domain of Santo Inácio, 3 Table 1. Numbermunicipality (N), volume (V, of inGentio mm ) and do frequency Ouro in (F)Bahia of each State, food Brazil. item in thePercentage diet of Eurolophosaurus values (%) inamathites (N = 4) in Caatinga domainbrackets. of Santo Inácio, municipality of Gentio do Ouro in Bahia State, Brazil. Percentage values (%) in brackets. Prey type N (%) V (%) F (%) ARTHROPODA Insecta Hymenoptera (Ants) 107(86.3) 21(41.8) 4(100.0) Hemiptera 2(1.6) 1.8(3.6) 1(25.0) Coleoptera 1(0.8) 0.1(0.2) 1(25.0) Blattodea (Termites) 4(3.2) 2(4.0) 1(25.0) Lepidoptera (Unidentified larvae) 1(0.8) 21.3(42.5) 1(25.0) Arachnida Araneae 2(1.6) 0.2(0.4) 2(50.0) Arthropoda Remains - 1.4(2.8) 1(25.0) PLANTS Leaves 7(5.6) 2.4(4.8) 2(50.0) Total 124(100.0) 50.2(100.0) 4(100.0) The clutch size among reptiles is positively correlated References with the female body size (e.g. Vitt, 1981; Wiederhecker Alcantara, E.P., Ferreira-Silva, C., Sousa, J.G.G., Ávila, R.W., et al., 2002; Du et al., 2005; Kiefer et al., 2008; Galdino Morais, D.H. (2018): Ecology and parasitism of the lizard and Van Sluys, 2011). In E. nanuzae, for example, the Tropidurus jaguaribanus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) from clutch size does not have a fixed number (normally two northeastern Brazil. Phyllomedusa 17: 195–210. eggs), but larger (older) females are able to produce Arias, F., Carvalho, C.M., Rodrigues, M.T., Zaher, H. (2011): Two larger clutches (three eggs) (Galdino and Van Sluys, new species of Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae) of the C. 2011). In addition, lizard species with psammophily ocellifer group, from Bahia, Brazil. Zootaxa 3022: 1–21. habits tend to produce smaller clutches compared to Brazil.