Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 465-468 (2021) (published online on 01 March 2021) The curious, first record of cannibalism in Ameiva ameiva Linnaeus, 1758 (Squamata: Teiidae) in northeastern Brazil Katharina Nino1,*, Samuel Ribeiro2, and Ednilza Santos3 Ameiva ameiva is a large-bodied teiid lizard, broadly (Sales et al., 2011a; Pincheira-Donoso, 2012), and distributed in South America, ranging from Panama and also for the teiid lizards Cnemidophorus ocellifer in the Caribbean Islands to Argentina (Silva et al., 2003). the Brazilian semiarid Caatinga (Sales et al., 2010), In Brazil, A. ameiva can be found in a wide diversity and Ameiva festiva in Central America (Abarca and of ecosystems, including Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Knapp, 2010). Although A. ameiva can be considered an Forest, the humid enclaves known as Brejos-de-Altitude, opportunistic predator lizard (Vitt and Colli, 1994), the and Amazonia, as well as in urban areas (Vitt and Colli, behaviour of cannibalism has not yet been reported. In 1994; Ribeiro et al., 2012). It has terrestrial habits this paper, we describe such a cannibalistic event. with fossorial tendencies because these lizards build The observations occurred near a forest boundary area underground burrows (Silva and Araújo, 2008). They called State Park Dois Irmãos (8.0027°S, 34.9427°W; are active foragers, consuming a large variety of foods WGS 84; Fig. 1), a conservation unit of the Atlantic Forest (Silva et al., 2003). in the municipality of Recife, Pernambuco, northeastern The diet of A. ameiva is composed mainly of Brazil. The cannibalism event was observed using the arthropods (Silva et al., 2003; Sales et al., 2011b), but focal method (Del-Claro, 2004). Images of the event this species has been reported to casually consume other were deposited in the herpetological collections of the types of foods, including plant structures (leaves), the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (LIAR/ frogs Scinax cuspidatus (Silva et al., 2003), S. x-signatus UFRPE 130–33). The predatory individual was not caught (Sales et al., 2011b), and Leptodactylus cf. fuscus (Silva and its size, as well as that of its prey, was estimated et al., 2013), the lizards Tropidurus torquatus, Mabuya through comparison with other objects in the field. agilis (Silva et al., 2003; Siqueira and Rocha, 2008), On 30 December 2015 at 10:43 h, we observed a Vanzosaura rubricauda, eggs of Tropidurus sp. (Sales et cannibalism event in which an adult of A. ameiva al., 2011b) and T. hispidus (Nino et al., 2016), and a dead (approximately 140 mm SVL) preyed upon a conspecific bat (Moraes and Santos, 2012). juvenile (approximately 42 mm SVL; Fig. 2). The event Cannibalism has previously been recorded in some was recorded at the time the adult attacked the juvenile by species of Brazilian lizards, including Hemidactylus its neck and violently shook it. The predator left the dead agrius (Andrade, 2014), H. mabouia, Liolaemus juvenile prey on the ground and moved away, resuming its lutzae, Mabuya frenata, M. nigropunctata, Trachylepis foraging activity, returning about 40 min later. At 11:22 h, atlantica, Tropidurus hygomi, T. montanus, T. oreadicus, the predatory individual grabbed the dead juvenile again, T. torquatus (Siqueira and Rocha, 2008), T. hispidus moved about 40 cm with the prey in its mouth, and then swallowed the prey head-first. The swallowing procedure lasted about 32 s. After feeding on the juvenile, the adult lizard returned to foraging activity, flicking its tongue and 1 Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Campus Etterbeek, Boulevard de la exploring the soil and fallen leaves. Plaine 2, 1050 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. In lizard cannibalism, there seems to be a general trend 2 Laboratório de Biologia e Ecologia de Animais Silvestres, Instituto de Formação de Educadores, Universidade Federal of adults feeding on juveniles (e.g., Polis and Myers, do Cariri, Campus Brejo Santo, Ceará 63260-000, Brazil. 1985). Cannibalism can also be related to high population 3 Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Anfíbios e Répteis, Departamento densities, food stress (Siqueira and Rocha, 2008; Cooper de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, et al., 2015) or it can merely occur due to opportunistic Campus de Dois Irmãos, Recife 52171-900, Brazil. behaviour in the presence of smaller individuals (Siqueira * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] and Rocha, 2008; Pincheira-Donoso, 2012). Therefore, © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. the predatory individual benefits from decreasing 466 Katharina Nino et al. Figure 1. Location of the Parque Estadual de Dois Irmãos (black star), in the city of Recife, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. population density and reduction of intraspecific feel that it is reasonable to presume that the predator competition for food and territory, as the consumption memorized that it had killed a conspecific to feed on of conspecific juveniles may prevent the development of it afterwards. More reports of predatory behaviour of future competitors (Cooper et al., 2015). lizards could help on the understanding of the scenario. In a study of intraspecific interactions and cannibalism This record of cannibalistic behaviour in A. ameiva in Podarcis gaigeae (Lacertidae), the authors reported provides evidence of the opportunistic nature of intraspecific aggression behaviour as approach, run, the species and contributes to the understanding of attack and capture (Cooper et al., 2015). Our observation these lizards’ natural history and their function in the began when the interaction had already started, and ecosystem. Future records of cannibalism in A. ameiva therefore we can only discuss the behaviour of attack are expected, and they may elucidate how intraspecific and capture, which agrees with already published data. predation can influence population dynamics and In terms of prey ingestion behaviour, some saurophagic recruitment in this species (Polis and Myers, 1985). lizards swallow their prey head-first (Germano and Williams, 1994; Kohlsdorf et al., 2004; Abarca and Acknowledgments. We thank the Universidade Federal Rural Knapp, 2010; Sales et al., 2010), and others tail-first de Pernambuco for financing the study by offering the Bolsa de (Moraes and Santos, 2012; Lyakurwa, 2018; Ribeiro Incentivo Acadêmico scholarship and the Parque Estadual de Dois Irmãos for permission to access the study area. We thank the and Oliveira, 2018), which indicates that capture and Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e swallowing behaviour is not conservative but depends Tecnológico (BPI – FUNCAP: BP3-0139-00323.01.00/18; BP4- on the occasion or on the species. 00172-00223.01.01/20). Since the predator killed the prey first, eliminating a potential competitor without immediate ingestion, we can References argue that the dead juvenile became one more nutritional Abarca, J.G., Knapp, C.R. (2010): Natural history notes. Ameiva resource available in the environment and therefore the festiva (Central American Whiptail Lizard). Cannibalism. displayed cannibalism may not have been the purpose of Herpetological Review 41(4): 490. the behaviour. On the other hand, it has been considered Andrade, M.J.M. (2014): Ecologia e história natural de população that active foraging predators are more spatially skilful Hemidactylus agrius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) em área de than sit-and-wait foragers (Day et al., 1999). Thus, we Caatinga, com avaliação da distribuição das espécies nativas do First Record of Cannibalism in Ameiva ameiva 467 Figure 2. Cannibalistic interaction between an adult and a juvenile Ameiva ameiva at Parque Estadual de Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. (A) At 10:43 h the adult lunged at the juvenile, part of whose body is visible among the vegetation (red circle). (B) At 10:46 h, the juvenile is seen just after the attack, deceased. (C) Some time later, the adult is manipulating the juvenile by holding the anterior region of its body in its jaws. (D) The adult swallowed the juvenile at 11:22 h. Photos by Katharina Nino. gênero no nordeste do Brasil. Unpublished MSc thesis, Federal Pincheira-Donoso, D. 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