sign in sign up
<<
Home , Bothrops moojeni, Physalaemus, Physalaemus nattereri

Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 781-782 (2020) (published online on 29 September 2020)

First predation record by moojeni (, Serpentes, ) on nattereri (Anura, ) in the , Central

Cirley Gomes Araújo dos Santos1, Rinneu Elias Borges2,*, Marcelino Benvindo-Souza1,3, Rhayane Alves Assis1,4, Josilene Maria de Souza2, and Lia Raquel de Souza Santos1,*

Bothrops moojeni occurs throughout the Cerrado , mainly , while adult individuals region of central and southeastern Brazil, mainly in preferentially feed on rodents and birds. However, open and forested riparian areas (Campbell and Lamar, more research is still needed to better understand its 2004). This has a generalised diet for different biology (Nogueira et al., 2003). In this sense, we add taxonomic group species (Martins et al., 2002) such to the literature the first predation event of the species as: Hypsiboas albopunctatus (Fiorillo et al., 2012), by Bothrops moojeni. Hypsiboas crepitans (Moura et al., 2012), Pithecopus On 31 August 2016, at 15:30 h we recorded through a azureus (Pontes et al., 2018), Sporophila nigricollis Samsung ST71 digital camera an adult specimen (P. (Camera et al., 2014), Ameiva ameiva (Pontes et al., nattereri) being preyed by a juvenile (B. moojeni) 2018), Calomys expulsus (Betzel et al., 2018), in during a monitoring campaign in the construction area addition to and centipedes (Martins et al., 2002; of the Norte Sul Railway, located in the Rio Preto region Nogueira et al., 2003). (18.162222”S, -50.918333”W) in Rio Verde, Goiás, This snake presents poor mobility and the ability to Brazil. feed on proportionately large prey (Stuginski, 2012). At the time of registration, the snake had already Although its feeding frequency is relatively low, captured the frog, where only its hind legs were exposed perhaps due to sedentary habits, night activity and other (Fig. 1). The snake, upon noticing our presence, factors associated with climate conditions (Martins et remained motionless for about seven minutes and then al., 2002; Nogueira et al., 2003). According to Nogueira moved slowly towards the grass. It was approximately et al. (2003) juvenile snakes prey more on ectodermic 40 cm long, although adult individuals of the species can reach up to 130 cm snout-vent length (Andrade et al, 1996). The tip of the tail was visible with white colouring, being a characteristic of juvenile animals (Andrade et al., 1996; Nogueira et al., 2013), and this characteristic is rare in adult individuals of the species 1 Laboratory of Biology, Federal Institute of Goiás, (Nogueira et al, 2003). As for the anuran, we noticed Campus Rio Verde, Rodovia Sul Goiana, Km 01, Zona Rural, that it was an adult P. nattereri, due to the two ocelli Rio Verde, GO CEP 75.901-970, Brazil. clearly visible in the posterior, dorsal inguinal region. 2 Department of Biology, University of Rio Verde, Fazenda Fontes do Saber, Rio Verde, GO CEP 75.901-970, Brazil. Animals were not captured in order to not interfere with 3 Laboratory of Mutagenesis, Biological Sciences Institute, ICB the predation event, which did not allow also to identify I - Federal University of Goiás, Campus Samambaia, Goiânia the sex of the prey and predator. - GO. CEP: 74690-900, Brazil. Food preference for anurans is associated commonly 4 Department of Biology, Paulista State University - Júlio de with juvenile individuals (Nogueira et al., 2003), where Mesquita Filho, UNESP, campus São José do Rio Preto, R. they use the conspicuous end of the tail, to attract Cristóvão Colombo, 2265, Jardim Nazareth, São José do Rio Preto, SP CEP 15.054-000, Brazil. ectodermal prey (Andrade et al., 1996). However, this * Corresponding author. �������E-mail: [email protected]; characteristic has also been described for other snakes [email protected] (Heatwole and Davison, 1976; Rabatsky and Farrel, 782 Cirley Gomes Araújo dos Santos et al.

Acknowledgments. We thank IFGoiano for the financial support and availability of infrastructure. We thank the support of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), as well as the Brazilian Fund (Funbio).

References

Andrade, D.M., Abe, A.S., Santos, M.C (1996): Is the venom related to diet and tail color during Bothrops moojeni ontogeny? Journal of Herpetology 30: 285–288. Betzel, R.L., Bernardo, L.R., Silva-Soares, T. (2018): Bothrops moojeni (Caicaca; Brazilian Lancehead). Diet. Herpetological Review 49: 124–125. Camera, B., Silva, D.J., Santos-Filho, M., Campos, V.A. (2014): Bothrops moojeni (Brazilian Lancehead). Diet. Herpetological Review 45: 705. Campbell, J.A., Lamar, W.W. (2004): The Venomous of the Western Hemisphere, Two-Volume Set Edition. Ithaca, New York., USA, Cornell University Press. Caldart, V.M., Iop, S., Rocha, M.C., Cechin, S.Z. (2011): Diurnal and nocturnal predators of Crossodactylus schmidti Gallardo, 1961 (Anura, Hylodidae) in southern Brazil. North-Western Journal of 7: 342–345. Fiorillo, B.F., Nali, R.C., Prado, C.P.A. (2012): Bothrops moojeni (Brazilian Lancehead). Diet. Herpetological Review 43: 656. Heatwole, H., Davison, E. (1976): A review of caudal luring in snakes with notes on its occurence in the Saharas and viper, Cerastes vipera. Hepertologica 32: 332–336. Maffei, F., Ubaid, F.K., Bolfarini, M. (2014): Predation of Scinax fuscovarius (Anura: Hylidae) by two invertebrates in Southeastern Brazil. Herpetology Notes 7: 371–374. Martins, M. (2002). Ecological and phylogenetic correlates of feeding habits in Neotropical pitvipers of the genus Bothrops. In: Biology of the Vipers, p. 307–328, Marques, O.A.V., Sazima, I., Ed., Utah, USA, Eagle Mountain Publishing. Moura, M.R., Godinho, L.B., Feio, R.N. (2012): Bothrops moojeni Figure 1. Juvenile snake (B. moojeni) preying on an adult frog (Squamata, Viperidae) predation on Hypsiboas crepitans of P. nattereri. (Anura: Hylidae) in southeastern Brazil. Herpetology Notes 5: 247–248. Nogueira, C., Sawaya, R.J., Martins, M. (2003): Ecology of the Pitviper, Bothrops moojeni, in the Brazilian Cerrado. Journal of 1996), which as well as B. moojeni use the evident tip Herpetology 37: 653–659. of the tail to attract prey (Rabatsky and Farrel, 1996; Pontes, M., Morais, D.H., Silva, R.J. (2018): Bothrops moojeni Andrade et al., 1996). However, caudal attraction loses (Brazilian Lancehead). Diet. Herpetological Review 49: 335. Rabatsky, A.M., Farrel, T.M. (1996): The effects of age and its function with the growth of snakes, when the diet light level on foraging posture and frequency of caudal luring changes to endothermic (Andrade et al., 1996; Rabatsky in the Rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius barbouri. Journal of and Farrel, 1996). Herpetology 30: 558–561. Although the anurans that are present in the diet of Stuginski, D.R., Sant’Anna, S.S., Fernandes, W., Abe, A.S. (2012): many organisms (Maffei et al., 2014) play an important Circadian pattern of Bothrops moojeni in captivity (Serpentes: role in food chains and affect population dynamics in Viperidae). The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Maffei et al., 2014), including Tropical Diseases 18: 97–102. there is still scarce data for this anuran species as a prey (Caldart et al., 2011). This is the first report of an in- situ predation activity of B. moojeni on P. nattereri, Accepted by Javier Cortés Suárez contributing with information about its diet as well as on its predatory behaviour.