First Record of Erythrolamprus Viridis (Günther, 1862) to Tocantins State, in the Brazilian Cerrado, with Comments on Some Puzzling Literature Reports

Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 791-794 (2021) (published online on 18 May 2021)

First record of Erythrolamprus viridis (Günther, 1862) to Tocantins state, in the Brazilian Cerrado, with comments on some puzzling literature reports

Suellen Walterman1,*, Antonio Moraes-da-Silva1,2, and Felipe Franco Curcio1,3

The Xenodontinae species Erythrolamprus viridis subspecific names to indicate different populations of (Günther, 1862) occurs predominantly in the Caatinga the same nominal species (Dixon, 1987; Freitas et al., and Atlantic Forest biomes of the southeastern and 2016a; Marques et al., 2016; Savage and McDiarmid, northeastern regions of Brazil, in the states of Alagoas, 2017). Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Recent studies addressing the distribution of Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe Erythrolamprus viridis introduced confusing (Peters and Orejas-Miranda, 1970; Dixon, 1985, 1987; information on endemism and limits of occurrence. Guedes et al., 2014; Marques et al., 2016; Nogueira et al., Regarding endemism, Guedes et al. (2014: 41) 2019). It has terrestrial habits and feeds predominantly considered the species endemic to the Caatinga, based on frogs and lizards (Vanzolini et al., 1980; Mesquita et on the territorial limits defined by Velloso et al. (2002) al., 2013). and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística Dixon (1987) recognized the subspecies (IBGE, 2004). However, studies as those of Dixon Erythrolamprus viridis viridis (Günther, 1862) and E. v. (1987), Freitas (2014), and Marques et al. (2016) report prasinus (Jan and Sordelli, 1866) based on differences E. viridis in localities typically attributed to the Atlantic of ventral counts and general distribution. The nominal Forest (e.g., Salvador in the state of Bahia, and, Recife taxon exhibits 169–188 ventrals, and occurs in areas in the state of Pernambuco), representing the area of of the Atlantic Forest and Restinga environments in occurrence of the nominal subspecies (see Marques the states of Bahia and Pernambuco; in contrast, the et al., 2016: 117, 120, and 126). In addition, Freitas et latter form has higher ventral counts (181–202) and al. (2016a: 3) recorded the species in the eastern limit is widespread in the open and dry formations of the of the Cerrado and transitional areas of Cerrado and Caatinga, eastern region of the Cerrado, and transitional Caatinga (western Bahia State, in the municipalities of areas between both domains (Dixon, 1987; Freitas et Correntina, Santa Maria da Vitória, and São Félix do al., 2016a; Nogueira et al., 2019, but see Marques et Coribe; see Fig. 1), bringing the first well-documented al., 2016). Nonetheless, the literature seldom recurs to report of E. viridis in typical Cerrado formations. With respect to distribution limits, the map of Nogueira et al. (2019) brings a point of occurrence in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil [26.8833ºS, 48.6833ºW; 1 Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Datum SIRGAS 2000; Nogueira et al. (2019: Table Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando Corrêa S2)]. However, this record represents an error in data da Costa, 2367, Cuiabá 78060-900, Mato Grosso, Brazil. transcription, since their supplementary information 2 Departamento de Zoologia/Programa de Pós-Graduação (Nogueira et al., 2019: Table S2) associate these data em Biologia Animal, Centro de Biociências, Universidade to a record of Dixon (1987) from “Ceará-Mirim, Rio Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, Grande do Norte”, for which the correct coordinates 1235, Cidade Universitária, Recife 50670-901, Pernambuco, Brazil. are 5.6344ºS, 35.4256ºW, located in the western region 3 Instituto Nacional de Áreas Úmidas, Av. Fernando Corrêa da of the Caatinga. Other literature inconsistencies that Costa, s/nº, Cuiabá 78060-900, Mato Grosso, Brazil. probably represent misidentifications and/or errors of *Corresponding author. E-mail: locality attributions appear in Boulenger (1894: 136), [email protected] with specimens attributed to “Rio de Janeiro” and © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. “Salta, Buenos Ayres”, and Dixon (1987: 183) with one 792 Suellen Walterman ��

specimen (IB 543) attributed to “São Paulo: Leme (in error)”. Considering the most comprehensive geographic catalogues approaching the general distribution of Erythrolamprus viridis (i.e., Dixon, 1987; Guedes et al., 2014; Nogueira et al., 2019), the westernmost precisely marked limit of occurrence lies in the locality of Barreiras, Bahia State, also in the eastern border of the Cerrado [see Dixon et al. (1987) and Freitas et al. (2016a)]. Nonetheless, although Guedes et al. (2014) had the same record in their study, they maintained the species as restricted to the Caatinga apparently based on literature parameters (Velloso et al., 2002; IBGE, 2004). Figure 1. Distributional records of Erythrolamprus viridis Thus, although the literature already reports E. viridis in northeastern Brazil, with the new record from the state of in Cerrado localities, such sites lie no farther than 60 Tocantins reported herein (red triangle). Grey circles represent km west from the nearest Cerrado/Caatinga transitional localities reported strictly in Nogueira et al. (2019); white environments, suggesting a stronger association of the circles reflect localities of occurrence of E. viridis prasinus species with the Caatinga dryer habitats. recovered from Dixon (1987), Freitas et al. (2016b), Silva et al. (2017), and Costa et al. (2018); black circles reflect While revising the snake samples of the Coleção localities of occurrence of E. viridis viridis recovered from Herpetológica do Instituto de Biociências da Dixon (1987), Freitas (2014, 2016a), and Marques et al. Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, we found (2016). Localities of concern in the present studies (see text) a specimen of Erythrolamprus viridis (Figs. 2–3), are as follows: 1 = region of collection of E. viridis viridis attributed to the locality of Caverna das Rãs, in the by Freitas et al. (2016a); 2 = Barreiras, Bahia state [centroid municipality of Aurora do Tocantins, Tocantins State, coordinates, sensu Dixon et al. (1987)]; 3 = Barreiras, Bahia (12.7131ºS, 46.4078ºW; datum SIRGAS 2000, 473 m state [sensu Nogueira et al. (2019); previous westernmost above sea level). The specimen is an adult male (snout- point of occurrence of E. viridis]; 4 = Parnaguá, Piauí state; 5 vent length = 421 mm; tail length = 132mm), with = Lagoa de João Pereira, Maranhão state (northernmost record 19/19/17 dorsals; nasal semidivided; supralabials 9/8, of E. viridis), and 6 = Ceará-Mirim, Rio Grande do Norte state 5th–6th (right side) and 4th–5th (left side) in contact with [misplaced by Nogueira et al. (2019)].

Figure 2. Dorsal and ventral views of the Erythrolamprus viridis specimen (UFMT-R 12524), from Caverna das Rãs, in the municipality of Aurora do Tocantins, Tocantins state, in the Brazilian Cerrado. Photos by S. Walterman. First record of Erythrolamprus viridis to Tocantins state, in the Brazilian Cerrado 793

Figure 3. Dorsal, ventral (top) and lateral views (bottom) of the head of Erythrolamprus viridis specimen (UFMT-R 12524), from Caverna das Rãs, in the municipality of Aurora do Tocantins, Tocantins state, in the Brazilian Cerrado. Photos by S. Walterman.

orbit; infralabials 11/11, 1st–5th in contact with anterior Nogueira et al. (2019) had also recovered two localities chin shield, 6th in contact with posterior chin shield; mentioned by Dixon (1987) that did not appear in oculars 1 + 2; temporals 1 + 2 (lower secondary temporal the map of this author. One of these localities is the divided anteriorly); ventrals 207; subcaudals 84/83; municipality of Parnaguá, in the south of the state of anal divided; 21 maxillary teeth, diastema present. Such Piauí, that appears in Dixon (1987: 183) as “Parauagua”, a record not only represents the first record for the state either attributed to the state of Rio Grande do Norte (in of Tocantins, in the core area of the Cerrado (Fig. 1), the distribution section of E. viridis prasinus) or to “no but also considerably extends the species distribution specific state” (list of specimens examined, voucher southwest from the present westernmost point of ZMUC 601250). Paynter Jr. and Traylor Jr. (1991: 443) occurrence (Barreiras, Bahia State; sensu Nogueira et mention that the same locality appears as “Paranaguá” al., 2019). in Reiser (1910), Neiva and Penna (1916), Hellmayr Nogueira et al. (2019) mapped literature records and (1929), Namburg (1932, 1935), and Pinto (1938), many additional localities of Erythrolamprus viridis and we understand that such inconsistency justifies recovered from original data. Our distribution map (Fig. the misspelling of Dixon (1987), assuming that his 1) shows a compilation of the published literature before information came from a handwritten catalogue or the study of Nogueira et al. (2019), the new records of label. The second locality of Dixon (1987) that appears these authors, and our range extension. Considering only in the map of Nogueira et al. (2019) represents the municipality of Barreiras, Nogueira et al. (2019) the northernmost record of the species (Lagoa de João provided the coordinates 12.0798ºS, 45.6866ºW based Pereira, Maranhão state). on the records of three specimens (MNRJ 2500, 2051, All points considered, we emphasize that any further and 2503), while the centroid coordinates of the same considerations on endemism and distributional patterns locality [probably used as a reference by Dixon (1987) of Erythrolamprus viridis would benefit from the for the specimen UMMZ 108712] lie almost 80 km to assessment of general variations between the populations the east of this point (12.1333ºS, 45.000ºW) (Fig. 1). of the coastal Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado/Caatinga Therefore, assuming that the coordinates of Nogueira inner lands. A revision of the subspecies recognized by et al. (2019) comprise precise data of institutional Dixon (1987) and other authors (Marques et al., 2016; catalogues, our record from Tocantins represents a range Freitas et al., 2016a; Savage and McDiarmid, 2017) extension of nearly 110 km southwest from the previous would aid understanding of the problem. westernmost point of occurrence. 794 Suellen Walterman ��

Acknowledgements. We are grateful to D. S. Fernandes and P. Neiva, A., Penna, B. (1916): Viajem cientifica pelo norte da Bahia, Pinna for providing constructive comments on the first version sudoeste de Pernambuco, sul do Piauhí e de norte a sul de Goiaz. of the manuscript and an anonymous reviewer for constructive Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 8: 74–224. criticism on our first submission. AMS receives financial support Nogueira, C.C., Argôlo, A.J.S., Arzamendia, V., Azevedo, J.A., from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Barbo, F.E., Bérnils, R.S., et al. (2019): Atlas of Brazilian Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 (AMS #1633797 snakes: verified point-locality maps to mitigate the Wallacean and 88887.200737/2018-00; NC #88882.384453/2019-01); FFC shortfall in a megadiverse snake fauna. South American Journal is funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico of Herpetology 14(1): 1–274. e Tecnológico - CNPq [FFC #421733/2017-1 (Instituto Nacional Paynter Jr., R.A., Traylor Jr., M.A. (1991): Ornithological Gazetteer de Áreas Úmidas – INAU)], and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa of Brazil. Bird Department, Museum of Comparative Zoology, do Estado de Mato Grosso (FFC #156884/2014). Harvard University. Peters, J.A., Orejas-Miranda, B. (1970): Catalogue of the References Neotropical Squamata. Part I. Snakes. United States National Museum Bulletin 297: 1–347. Boulenger, G.A. (1894): Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Pinto, O.M.O. (1938): Catálago das aves do Brasil e lista dos Museum (Natural History). Trustees of the British Museum, exemplares que as representam no Museu Paulista. Revista do London. Museu de Paulista 22(1937): 1–566. Dixon, J.R. (1985): A New Species of the Colubrid Snake Genus Reiser (1910): Liste der Vogelarten welche auf der von der Kaiserl. Liophis from Brazil. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Akademie der Wissenschaften 1903 nach Nordostbrasilien Washington 98(2): 295–302. entsendeten Expedition unter Leitung des Herrn Hofrates Dixon, J.R. (1987): Taxonomy and geographic variation of Liophis Dr. F. Steindachner gesammelt wurden. Denkschriften der typhlus and related “green” species of South America (Serpentes: Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 76: 55–100. Colubridae). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 52(6): 113–138. Savage, J.M., McDiarmid, R.W. (2017): The Herpetological Freitas, M.A. (2014): Squamate reptiles of the Atlantic Forest of Contributions of Giorgio Jan (1791-1866). Society for the Study northern Bahia, Brazil. Check List 10(5): 1020–1030. of Amphibians and Reptiles, 920 pp. Freitas, M.A., Colli, G.R., Entiauspe-Neto, O.M., Trinchão, Vanzolini, P.E., Costa, A.M.M.R., Vitt, L.J. (1980): Répteis das L., Araújo, D., Lima, T.O., et al. (2016a): Snakes of Cerrado Caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro, 161 localities in western Bahia, Brazil. Check List 12(3): 1–10. pp. Freitas, M.A., Entiauspe-Neto, O.M., Lima, T.O., Neto, J.S.S., Velloso, A.L., Sampaio, E.V.B., Pareyn, F.G.C. (2002): Ecorregiões Araujo, D., Silva, J.M.S. (2016b): Snakes of Juazeiro, Bahia, propostas para o bioma Caatinga. Instituto de Conservação Middle of São Francisco River, Brazil. Boletim do Museu de Ambiental The Nature Conservance do Brasil, Recife, 76 pp. Biologia Mello Leitão 38(4): 331–345. Guedes, T.B., Nogueira, C., Marques, O.A.V. (2014): Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa 3863(1): 001–093. Hellmayr, C.E. (1929): A contribution to the ornithology of northeastern Brazil. Field Museum of Natural History, Zoology 12(18): 235–501. IBGE (2004): Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Mapa de biomas e vegetação do Brasil. Avaliable from: http://www. ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza. php?id_noticia=169 [accessed by Guedes et al. (2014) on 16 December 2008]. Marques, R., Mebert, K., Fonseca, E., Rödder, D., Solé, M., Tinôco, M.S. (2016): Composition and natural history notes of the coastal snake assemblage from Northern Bahia, Brazil. ZooKeys 611: 93–142. Mesquita, P.C.M.D., Passos, D.C., Borges-Nojosa, D.M., Cechin, S.Z. (2013): Ecologia e História Natural das Serpentes de uma Área de Caatinga no Nordeste Brasileiro. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 53(8): 99–113. Namburg, E.M.B. (1932): Three new birds from north-western Brazil. American Museum Novitates 554: 9. Namburg, E.M.B. (1935): Gazetteer and maps showing collecting stations visited by Emil Kaempfer in eastern Brazil and Accepted by Mirco Solé Paraguay. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 68: 449–469.