Tail Bifurcation in Tropidurus Hispidus (Spix, 1825) and Copeoglossum Nigropunctatum (Spix, 1825)

Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 601-603 (2021) (published online on 29 March 2021)

Tail bifurcation in Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) and Copeoglossum nigropunctatum (Spix, 1825)

Ana Carolina Brasileiro1

Tails of lizards perform important functions, such as On 24 September 2019, we collected a female T. balance maintenance and an energy reserve, and they hispidus (weight = 15.5 g, snout–vent length = 79.3 mm) are involved in social aspects (Bateman and Fleming, in an agricultural area known as Roça Velha, Ubajara 2009). Caudal autotomy, despite accompanying Municipality, Ceará State, Brazil (3.7357°S, 40.8724°W). negative implications including loss of social status (Fox The tail showed signs of regeneration beginning 20.1 and Rostker, 1982) and increased energy consumption mm posterior to the cloaca. The tail had developed (Naya et al., 2007), plays a crucial role in increasing the unidirectionally until it reached a length of 38.2 mm from chances of survival when escaping from predators for the cloaca. At this point, the tail shifted at an angle of many species (Downes and Shine, 2001). approximately 45° to the left, with an additional length During regeneration, the tail of lizards may suffer of 10.4 mm (Fig. 1A). In the region where the directional from abnormalities, including furcation, the division of shift occurred, a second branch with a length of 5.7 mm tail into branches. Tail furcation is found in a variety developed that also grew towards the left (Fig. 1C). of lizard families, such as Agamidae (Ofori et al., Several additional individuals (n = 33) were collected 2018), Anguidae (Conzendey et al., 2013), Gekkonidae from nearby localities (up to 9.5 km away) during the (Maria and Al-Razi, 2018), Gymnophthalmidae same year, but none presented tail abnormalities. (Pheasey et al., 2014), Iguanidae (Hayes et al., 2012), On 9 July 2018, we collected an adult female Lacertidae (Koleska and Jablonski, 2015), Mabuyidae Copeoglossum nigropunctatum (weight = 22.3 g, snout– (Magalhães et al., 2015), Phyllodactylidae (Koleska, vent length = 94.4 mm) in a rainforest area in Ubajara 2018), Scincidae (Mitchell et al., 2012), Teiidae (Passos Municipality, Ceará State, Brazil (3.8378°S, 40.9403°W). et al., 2016), and Tropiduridae (Passos et al., 2014). Its tail had a bifurcation at a distance 91.2 mm posterior This abnormality, however, usually appears in very to the cloaca, with a branch of length 5.7 mm growing to low proportions within populations (Hayes et al., 2012; the left of the main tail (Fig. 1D). The main axis of the tail Kolenda et al., 2017). had a total length of 106.4 mm. (Fig. 1B). Tropidurus hispidus is a tropidurid lizard distributed In mabuyids, tail bifurcation has been recorded in species predominantly in northeastern Brazil, but it is also found such as Brasiliscincus heathi (Magalhães et al., 2015), on rocky outcrops in the Amazon, in Minas Gerais State, Notomabuya frenata, and Psychosaura macrorhyncha and in Venezuela (Vitt et al., 1996; Rodrigues, 2004; Van (Vrcibradic and Niemeyer, 2013). For tropidurids, tail Sluys et al., 2004). Copeoglossum nigropunctatum is a bifurcation has been recorded in Tropidurus semitaeniatus mabuyid distributed in areas of the Amazon rainforest, (Passos et al., 2014) and members of the T. torquatus Atlantic Forest, and Cerrado in South America. It also group (Martins et al., 2013). The effects on lizard fitness has disjunct populations in rainforest enclaves in the due to malformed tails are still poorly known, probably northeastern Brazil (Ribeiro-Júnior and Amaral, 2016). due to the low incidence in which they occur in nature. In this paper, we present the first case of tail bifurcation There may be a higher energy cost associated with the in Tropidurus hispidus (Spix, 1825) and Copeoglossum production of extra tails (Pelegrin and Leão, 2015). In nigropunctatum (Spix, 1825). addition, displacement problems can occur (Passos et al., 2014), which may, for example, increase the risk of predation (Downes and Shine, 2001). Despite their rarity, 1 Department of Biology, Pici Campus, Federal University of reports on tail bifurcation in neotropical lizards are of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará Code 60440-900, Brazil. interest due to their potential behavioural and ecological *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] impact on the individual. © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 602 Ana Carolina Brasileiro

Figure 1. Tail bifurcation in two female lizards from Ubajara Municipality, Ceará State, Brazil shown in whole body photographs and with details of their bifurcated tails. (A, C) Tropidurus hispidus. (B, D) Copeoglossum nigropunctatum. Tail Bifurcation in Tropidurus hispidus and Copeoglossum nigropunctatum 603

Acknowledgments. This study was financed in part by the Passos, D.C., Fonseca, P.H.M., Romo de Vivar, P.R., Kanayama, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, C.Y., Teixeira, V.P.A., Martinelli, A.G. (2016): Tail trifurcation Brasil (Finance Code 001), the Instituto Chico Mendes de in the lizard Salvator merianae (Squamata: Teiidae) investigated Conservação da Biodiversidade, and the Instituto Humanize. I also by computer tomography. Phyllomedusa 15: 79–83. gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Fundo Brasileiro Pelegrin, N., Leão, S.M. (2016): Injured Salvator merianae para a Biodiversidade. (Teiidae) regenerates six tails in central Argentina. Cuadernos de Herpetología 30: 21–23. References Pheasey, H., Smith, P., Brouard, J.P., Atkinson, K. (2014): Natural history notes. Vanzosaura rubricauda (Red-tailed Vanzosaur). Bateman, P.W., Fleming, P.A. (2009): To cut a long tail short: a Bifurcation and Trifurcation. Herpetological Review 45(1): review of lizard caudal autotomy studies carried out over the last 138–139. 20 years. Journal of Zoology 277: 1–14. Ribeiro-Júnior, M.A., Amaral, S. (2016): Diversity, distribution, Conzendey, P., Campos, S.P.S., Lanna, F.M., De Amorim, J.D.C.G., and conservation of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) in the Brazilian De Sousa, B.M. (2013): Natural history notes. Ophiodes striatus Amazonia. Neotropical Biodiversity 2: 195–421. (Striped Worm Lizard). Bifurcated tail. Herpetological Review Rodrigues, M.T. (2004): Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In: Ecologia e 44: 145–146. Conservação da Caatinga, p. 181–236. Leal, I.R., Tabarelli, M., Downes, S.J., Shine, R. (2001): Why does tail loss increase a lizard’s Silva J.M.C., Eds., Recife, Brazil, Editora da UFPE. later vulnerability to snake predators? Ecology 82: 1293–1303. Van Sluys, M., Rocha, C.F.D., Vrcibradic, D., Galdino, C.A.B., Fox, S.F., Rostker, M.A. (1982): Social cost of tail loss in Uta Fontes, A.F. (2004): Diet, activity and microhabitat use of two stansburiana. Science 218: 692–693. syntopic Tropidurus species (Lacertilia: Tropiduridae) in Minas Hayes, W.K., Iverson, J.B., Knapp, C.R., Carter, R.L. (2012): Do Gerais, Brazil. Journal of Herpetology 38: 606–611. invasive rodents impact endangered insular iguana populations? Vitt, L.J., Zani, P.A., Caldwell, J.P. (1996): Behavioural ecology Biodiversity and Conservation 21: 1893–1899. of Tropidurus hispidus on isolated rock outcrops in Amazonia. Kolenda, K., Wieczorek, M., Najbar, A., Najbar, B., Skawiński, T. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12: 81–101. (2017): Limb malformation and tail bifurcation in sand lizards Vrcibradic, D., Niemeyer, J. (2013): Natural history notes. Mabuya (Lacerta agilis) and common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) from frenata, M. macrorhyncha. Tail bifurcation. Herpetological Poland. Herpetology Notes 10: 713–716. Review 44(3): 510–511. Koleska, D. (2018): First record of tail bifurcation in Asaccus gallagheri from the United Arabian Emirates. Herpetology Notes 11: 115–116. Koleska, D., Jablonski, D. (2015): Tail trifurcation recorded in Algyroides nigropunctatus (Duméril & Bibron, 1839). Ecologica Montenegrina 3: 26–28. Magalhães, F.F., Camurugi, R.R., Silveira-Filho, S.M., Conceiçao, B.M. (2015): Natural history notes. Brasiliscincus heathi (Brazilian mabuya) tail bifurcation. Herpetological Review 46(4): 624–625. Maria, M., Al-Razi, H. (2018): Observation of tail bifurcation in Hemidactylus frenatus (Schlegel, 1836). Herpetology Notes 11: 953–954. Martins, R.L., Peixoto, P.G., Fonseca, P.H.M., Martinelli, A.G., Silva, W.L., Pelli, A. (2013): Abnormality in the tail of the collated lizard Tropidurus gr. torquatus (Iguania, Tropiduridae) from Uberaba city, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 6: 369–371. Mitchell, J.C., McDaniel, W., McDaniel, J. (2012): Natural history notes. Plestiodon inexpectatus (Southeastern Five-lined Skink). Bifurcation. Herpetological Review 43: 650. Naya, D.E., Veloso, C., Munõza, J.L.P., Bozinovic, F. (2007): Some vaguely explored (but not trivial) costs of tail autotomy in lizards. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 146: 189–193. Ofori, B.Y., Martey, P., Musah, Y., Attuquayefio, D. (2018): Tail bifurcation in the African Rainbow Lizard (Agama picticauda Peters 1877) from Ghana, West Africa. Herpetology Notes 11: 843–845. Passos, D.C., Pinheiro, L.T., Galdino, C.A.B., Rocha, C.F.D. (2014): Accepted by Javier Cortés Suárez Natural history notes. Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Calango de Lagedo). Tail Bifurcation. Herpetological Review 45(1): 138.