“Lady and the Tramp”: Chthonerpeton Aff. Braestrupi (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) As Prey of Two Erythrolamprus Miliaris (Serpentes: Dipsadidae)
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Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 945-947 (2021) (published online on 29 June 2021) “Lady and the Tramp”: Chthonerpeton aff. braestrupi (Gymnophiona: Typhlonectidae) as prey of two Erythrolamprus miliaris (Serpentes: Dipsadidae) Letícia Leitão-Martins*,¹, Lucas Rosado Mendonça², Carlos Henrique De-Oliveira-Nogueira³, Hender Lélis Rezende Maciel¹, and Leonardo Serafim da Silveira¹ Gymnophiona (caecilians) is the least known Amphibia Brazil (Gans, 1964; Dixon, 1983). Presenting diurnal order, which can be related with the predominant and nocturnal habits, it is a generalist species associated fossoriality of most species (Nussbaum and Wilkinson, with humid environments (Marques et al., 2001). Its 1989; Gower and Wilkinson 2005). Typhlonectidae diet covers a wide variety of amphibians and fishes, (Taylor, 1968) includes the semi-aquatic and aquatic although lizards, snakes and even a mammal have caecilians of South America from five known genera already been registered as prey for this species (Araujo, (Wilkinson and Nussbaum, 2006; Wilkinson et al., 2011; 1985; Marques and Souza, 1993; Palmuti et al., 2009; Maciel, 2016): Atretochoana (Nussbaum & Wilkinson, Vrcibradic et al., 2012; Batista et al., 2019). A recent 1995), Chthonerpeton (Peters, 1880), Nectocaecilia overview by van den Burg (2020) shows that 77% of (Taylor, 1968), Potamotyphlus (Taylor, 1968) and its diet is based primarily on amphibians, but a single Typhlonectes (Peters, 1880). The genus Chthonerpeton record for Gymnophiona was found. currently includes eight species, seven of which are As individuals of the same species generally acquire present in Brazil (Napoli et al., 2015). Only one species similar resources to survive and reproduce, intraspecific of the genus, Chthonerpeton braestrupi (Taylor, 1968), competition may alter their reproductive success is registered for the state of Rio de Janeiro (Dorigo et (Rinkevick and Loya, 1985; Begon et al., 2007). al., 2018), although the taxonomy of the Chthonerpeton Although intraspecific interactions can occur indirectly, from this region is still in review and might soon result intraspecific competition usually occurs directly in a new species (Maciel, 2016). between individuals that defend territories (Begon et al., Erythrolamprus miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758) is a dipsadid 2007). Predation of Chthonerpeton viviparum Parker & snake widely distributed throughout South America, Wettstein, 1929 by E. miliaris has already been reported occurring in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, in the literature (Albolea, 1998; Chicarino et al., 1998; Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Marques and Sazima, 2004). However, here we include Venezuela (Wallach et al., 2014; Nogueira et al., 2020). a novel prey species to the list (van den Burg, 2020) It is considered as a common species in southeastern and report the first intraspecific competition event of two individuals of E. miliaris for one individual of Chthonerpeton aff. braestrupi. On 20 December 2019, we found two Erythrolamprus ¹ Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas em Animais Selvagens, miliaris simultaneously preying on a single caecilian Laboratório de Morfologia e Patologia Animal, Universidade while performing fieldwork in a Restinga area, in the Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000, Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) 28013-602 Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Caruara, in the municipality of São João da Barra, Rio 2 Departamento de Biologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em de Janeiro State, Brazil. The snakes were located in a Zoologia, Av. Gen. Rodrigo Otávio Jordão Ramos 6200, 69080-900 Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. puddle on a dirt road at the edge of a flooded area, while ³ Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato disputing and trying to swallow the prey from opposite Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária, 79002-970 Campo ends (Fig. 1). The dispute generated lacerations in Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. the caecilian which exposed eggs in its final third of * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] the body, allowing to determine the individual as a © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. female. We observed the event for five minutes, until 946 Letícia Leitão-Martins et al. Figure 1. Predation attempt of two Erythrolamprus miliaris individuals (arrows) on a single Chthonerpeton aff. braestrupi in the RPPN Fazenda Caruara, São João da Barra, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Photo by Carlos Henrique de Oliveira Nogueira. the moment when one of the snakes halted its predation al., 1998; Marques and Sazima 2004), our record is not attempt. Both snakes were collected, with the caecilian surprising. However, we highlight the dispute between still in the mouth of one of the snakes, which eventually two individuals of the same species and of different sexes was released in the collection bag. All individuals were over a poorly studied species. Intraspecific competition deposited in the herpetological collection of the Núcleo events might be difficult to observe in fieldwork, de Estudos e Pesquisas em Animais Selvagens (NEPAS) but it has been registered for some snakes (Himes of the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense 2003; Flores et al., 2010; Escalona, 2012), and might Darcy Ribeiro (UENF) under the vouchers: HNF 850: indicate a shortage of resources in the region (Begon E. miliaris, male, snout-vent length (SVL) = 59.8 cm; et al., 2007). Such competition can drive ecological HNF 851: E. miliaris, female, SVL = 66.3 cm; HNF variations, forcing them to seek new resources, acquire 849: C. aff. braestrupi, female, SVL = 32.4 cm. After greater sexual dimorphism, or even provoke speciation sexing both snakes, we found that it was the male that (Bolnick 2004; Svanback and Bolnick, 2006). first released the caecilian. The caecilian was identified This record expands our knowledge on natural history by the Gymnophiona specialist Adriano Maciel based and trophic relationships of Erythtrolamprus miliaris on the number of primary annuli and the position of the and Chthonerpeton aff. braestrupi; on the other hand, tentacles. it highlights the scarcity of basic ecological data for Predation records of Chthonerpeton aff. braestrupi neotropical caecilians. are rare. The species is preyed upon by the coral snake Acknowledgement. We thank the project “Herpetofauna do Micrurus corallinus (Merrem, 1820) (Gonzales et al., Norte Fluminense” (ICMBio/SISBIO capture permit # 72011-1) 2018). Since Erythrolamprus miliaris has a generalist for allowing the fieldwork. We are grateful to Adriano Maciel for diet and is known to prey Chthonerpeton viviparum helping us with the identification of the caecilian and suggestions Parker & Wettstein, 1929, (Albolea, 1998; Chicarino et for the improvement of the manuscript. 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