Herpetology Notes, volume 11: 1065-1067 (2018) (published online on 19 December 2018) Death-feigning as defensive behaviour in blue-tailed microteiid lizard Micrablepharus atticolus Rodrigues, 1996 Gabryella de Sousa Mesquita1, Denes Ferraz2,3,*, Werther Pereira Ramalho2,3, Iberê Farina Machado2, and Wilian Vaz-Silva4 Death-feigning or thanatosis is a defensive behaviour pattern with conspicuous black and white stripes in the in which the animal pretends to be dead when it dorsolateral region and bluish tail (Sousa, 2016), which is physically threatened by a potential predator are characteristic that may be effective to divert predator (Hamphreys and Ruxton, 2018). This behavioural attack to the tail region (Bateman et al., 2014). In this strategy aims to discourage the predator to attack study, we report the first observation of death-feigning (Hamphreys and Ruxton, 2018). Death-feigning has behaviour in M. atticolus and the third report for the been reported for several species of reptiles, including family Gymnophthalmidae. snakes (Mirza et al., 2011; Iiftime, 2014) and lizards of On the morning of 7 September 2017, during a field the families Anelytropsidae (Torres-Cervantes et al., survey in a typical Cerrado environment in the Floresta 2004), Crotaphytidae (Gluesing, 1983), Liolaemidae Nacional de Silvânia, municipality of Silvânia, state (Santos et al., 2010), Mabuyidae (Ribeiro et al., 2010) of Goiás, central Brazil (16.633029°S, 48.651674°W, Tropiduridae (Gomes et al., 2004; Nunes et al., 2012) datum SAD 69, 937 m a.s.l.), we captured an adult and Gymnophthalmidae (Muscat et al., 2016; Machado- specimen of M. atticolus in a pit-fall trap with drift- Filho et al., 2018). However, current knowledge about fences. When handled by the researchers at the such behaviour in gymnophtalmids is still limited with laboratory, at 3:07 pm, the lizard turned the ventral only two records reported in the scientific literature. region up and contracted the limbs, simulating a Gymnophthalmidae is composed of microteiid lizards, condition similar to a dead individual (Fig. 1A). After including two species of the genus Micrablepharus manifesting this behaviour, the lizard remained in the (Rodrigues, 1996). Micrablepharus atticolus Rodrigues, same position, even when touched by the researchers, 1996, is endemic to the Brazilian Cerrado biome returning to the normal position after approximately (Ribeiro and Walter, 2008) and found exclusively in 50 seconds (Fig. 1B). The specimen was collected and open environments (Santos et al., 2014). It is a small deposited in the Coleção Herpetológica do Centro de (snout-vent length: 34.47± 6.33 mm) and elongated Estudos e Pesquisas Biológicas (CEPB) of the Pontifícia body shape lizard with reduced limbs, a staining Universidade Católica de Goiás, Brazil (CEPB 12085; Collection permit ICMBio 58600-1). In the literature, the known predators of M. atticolus include spiders (Maffei et al., 2011) and snakes (França and Araújo, 2005; Silva et al., 2017). Lizards like M. 1 Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, atticolus have autotomic tail with a striking colour as Universidade Federal de Goiás, CEP 74690-612, Goiânia, a defensive strategy. This characteristic can increase Goiás, Brazil. the risk of being seen by the predator, but avoid attacks 2 Instituto Boitata de Etnobiologia e Conservação da Fauna, on the head region, reducing the chances of being CEP 74093-250, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. preyed (Bateman et al., 2014). Due to semifossorial 3 Programa de Pós-graduação em Recursos Naturais do Cerrado, habit, reduced size and short lifespan of M. atticolus, Universidade Estadual de Goiás, CEP 75132-903, Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil. tail autotomy apparently does not impair locomotion 4 Pontífícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, CEP 74605-010, or affects vulnerability to predation in such species Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. (Sousa et al., 2016). Alternatively, M. atticolus may * Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] have developed death-feigning behaviour as a last 1066 Gabryella de Sousa Mesquita et al. be present in more species than is currently described (Hamphreys and Ruxton, 2018). The characteristics of death-feigning reported in this study for M. atticolus are similar to those previously described for Placosoma glabellum (Muscat et al., 2016) and Iphisa elegans (Machado-Filho et al., 2018), indicating that this behaviour may be shared among gymnophthalmids. Finally, death-feigning behaviour needs to be further investigated since the disclosure of these events is important not only to increase knowledge about the natural history of the species, but also provide data that can be useful to understanding how such behaviour evolved in the family. Acknowledgements. We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for providing scholarships to DF and WPR; Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás (FAPEG) for providing GSM with a Master’s scholarship. This study is part of the project PELD - COFA Nº 441278/2016-7 and supported by CNPq/ Capes/ FAPs/ BC - Fundo Newton. ICMBio provided collection permits (Nº 58600-1). References Bateman, P.W., Fleming, P.A., Rolek, B. (2014): Bite me: Blue tails as a ‘risky-decoy’ defense tactic for lizards. Current Zoology 60: 333–337. França, F.G.R., Araújo, A.F.B. (2005): Natural history notes. Oxyrhopus rhombifer septentrionalis (False Coral Snake). Diet. 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