Biota colombiana ISSN: 0124-5376 ISSN: 2539-200X Instituto Alexander von Humboldt Pinto-Erazo, María Alejandra; Calderón Espinosa, Martha Lucía; Medina Rangel, Guido Fabian; Méndez Galeano, Miguel Ángel Herpetofauna from two municipalities of southwestern Colombia Biota colombiana, vol. 21, no. 1, 2020, January-June, pp. 41-57 Instituto Alexander von Humboldt DOI: https://doi.org/10.21068/c2020.v21n01a04 Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=49163257004 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System Redalyc More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Journal's webpage in redalyc.org Portugal Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative DOI: 10.21068/c2020.v21n01a04 Herpetofauna from two municipalities of southwestern Colombia Herpetofauna de dos municipios del suroeste de Colombia María Alejandra Pinto-Erazo , Martha Lucía Calderón Espinosa , Guido Fabian Medina Rangel Miguel Ángel Méndez Galeano Abstract We present a preliminary list of the herpetofauna of Tumaco and Francisco Pizarro municipalities, department of Nariño, Colombia, located in the south of the Chocó biogeographic region, based on field data and on museum collection databases and literature. We recorded 25 species of amphibians and 55 reptiles. The most species-rich families were Hylidae and Craugastoridae for amphibians, and Colubridae and Dactyloidae for reptiles, a pattern similar to that observed on a global scale. Two new species records for Colombia are presented -Pristimantis walkeri and Scinax tsachila, as well as range extensions for Allobates talamancae, Anolis auratus, Dendropsophus ebraccatus, Gonatodes albogularis and Scinax sugillatus. Species accumulation curves and sampling coverage reveal that more field studies are needed for complementing this list, especially studies using methodologies focused on aquatic and fossorial species, and that there could be an effect of deforestation on the diversity of the herpetofauna, which concurs with the lack of canopy amphibians and the exclusive presence of species associated with leaf litter or forest interior in the locations with best plant coverage. Keywords. Amphibians. Checklist. Chocó biogeographic region. Reptiles. Species richness. Resumen Se presenta un listado preliminar de la herpetofauna de los municipios de Tumaco y Francisco Pizarro, departamento de Nariño, Colombia, ubicados al sur del Chocó biogeográfico, basado en datos de campo y búsquedas en base de datos y literatura. Registramos 25 especies de anfibios y 55 de reptiles, siendo las familias Hylidae y Craugastoridae (anfibios) y las familias Colubridae y Dactyloidae (reptiles) las de mayor riqueza, patrón similar al observado a escala global. Se reportan dos nuevos registros de especies para Colombia (Pristimantis walkeri y Scinax tsachila), así como extensiones de distribución geográfica (Allobates talamancae, Anolis auratus, Dendropsophus ebraccatus, Gonatodes albogularis y Scinax sugillatus). Las curvas de acumulación de especies y la cobertura de muestreo revelan que se necesitan más estudios de campo para complementar esta lista, especialmente los estudios que utilizan metodologías enfocadas en especies acuáticas y fosoriales, y que podría haber un efecto de la deforestación en la diversidad de la herpetofauna, lo cual concuerda con la falta de anfibios de dosel y la presencia exclusiva de especies asociadas a la hojarasca o al interior del bosque en las localidades con mejor cobertura vegetal. Palabras clave. Anfibios. Chocó biogeográfico. Listado de especies. Reptiles. Riqueza y representatividad. BIOTA COLOMBIANA 21 (1) - 2020 | 41 DOI: 10.21068/c2020.v21n01a04 Pinto-Erazo et al. Introduction Materials and methods Nearly 8007 species of amphibians and about 10 793 species of reptiles are recognized worldwide, and of Study area. these, 828 amphibians and 618 reptiles are distributed in Colombia (Acosta-Galvis, 2019; AmphibiaWeb, 2019; Fieldwork was carried out in the municipalities of Tumaco Frost, 2019; Uetz et al., 2019). In 2004, 139 species of and Francisco Pizarro, Nariño, Colombia (Figure 1). amphibians and 188 species of reptiles were known to Four localities were sampled in Tumaco (numbers 1-4 occur in the Choco biogeographic region of Colombia in Table 1) and five localities in Francisco Pizarro (num- (Castaño-Mora et al., 2004; Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga, bers 5-9 in Table 1). 2004). However, since 2005, the number of amphibians and reptiles recorded has increased substantially for Sampling methods. We visited the municipality of this region to 157 amphibians and 215 reptiles (Ayerbe- Tumaco four times: 5-14 March, and 6-14 September, González & López-López, 2005; Heyer, 2005; Passos et 2015; 29 February-9 March, and 5-12 September, 2016; al., 2009; Poe et al., 2009; Rengifo & Rentería-Moreno, and the municipality of Francisco Pizarro during 15-16 2011; Cadle, 2012; Grant & Myers, 2013; Palacios-Rodrí- September, 2015; 1-9 March, and 3-4 September, 2016. guez et al., 2013a, 2013b; Jaramillo-Martínez et al., 2015; We captured amphibians and reptiles through active Ospina-Sarria et al., 2015; Sánchez-Pacheco et al., 2016; searching in both Franciso Pizarro and Tumaco, and Márquez et al., 2017; Angarita-Sierra & Lynch, 2017; only in Tumaco did we use pitfall traps with drift fences, Grant et al., 2017; Rada et al., 2017; Medina-Rangel et which were installed in a “Y” array with four buckets al., 2018a, 2018b; Pinto-Erazo & Medina-Rangel, 2018, at the end of fences and were checked every other day Grisales-Martínez & Rendón-Valencia, 2019) represen- (Crosswhite, 1999). Active searching was carried out ting ca. 19 % and 35 % of the richness of Colombian during the day (09:00-12:00 h) and during the night amphibians and reptiles, respectively. (18:00-21:00 h) using the VES (Visual Encounter Sur- vey) methodology, for a total sampling effort of 1604 According to Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga (2004), the hours.person-1. northern Chocó of Colombia harbors the greatest rich- ness of amphibians in this biogeographic region, and Collected specimens were euthanized with 2 % xylo- the reduced richness in southern Chocó (in Cauca and caine, fixed in 10 % formaldehyde and preserved in 70 Nariño departments) is perhaps a consequence of % ethanol (Pisani, 1973). Photographs and description the few available records in museum collections, of the coloration patterns were recorded for every in- and inventory publications. Particularly for Nariño, dividual. Additionally, the specimens were identified there are two published species list of amphibians and using Ayala & Castro (unpublished document), Peters reptiles from the lowlands (Salaman, 1994; Mueses- & Orejas-Miranda (1970), Lynch (1976), Pérez-Santos Cisneros & Moreno-Quintero, 2012). Likewise, the species & Moreno (1988), Campbell & Lamar (2004), Passos descriptions and range extensions are fewer for this et al. (2009), MECN (2010), Harvey et al. (2012) and department (ca. 15 publications) in comparison with Arteaga et al. (2016). the northern portion of the colombian Choco biogeo- graphic region (>30 publications) (Acosta-Galvis, 2019; We followed Frost (2019) and Uetz et al. (2019) as Amphibiaweb, 2019; Frost, 2019; Uetz et al., 2019). classification systems for amphibian and reptiles, respectively. All specimens were deposited in the amphi- Here we present a preliminary list and a diversity study bian and reptile collections of the Instituto de Ciencias of the amphibian and reptile fauna of the municipalities Naturales (ICN), Universidad Nacional de Colombia of Tumaco and Francisco Pizarro, department of Nariño, (Appendix 1). Colombia, based on field work, museum records and biodiversity databases, for characterizing and docu- Database searching. To complement the species list we menting the amphibians and reptiles from southwes- consulted the databases of GBIF (Global Biodiversity tern Colombia. Information Facility), SIB (Biodiversity Information 42 | BIOTA COLOMBIANA 21 (1) - 2020 Pinto-Erazo et al. Herpetofauna from two municipalities of southwestern Colombia Figure 1. Sampling sites for herpetofauna in Tumaco (1-4) and Francisco Pizarro (5-9), Nariño, Colombia. Table 1. Localities sampled for herpetofauna in Tumaco (1-4) and Francisco Pizarro (5-9), Nariño, Colombia. # Site Sites of sampling Latitude Longitude 1 Dirección General Marítima station (DIMAR) 1°49´25.82´´N 78°43´35.90´´W 2 Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (CORPOICA) 1°32´39´´N 78°41´53´´W 3 Mar Agrícola station 1°40´42.89´´N 78°45´17.96´´W 4 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Tumaco 1°36´22.10´´N 78°43´48.16´´W 5 Empresa embotelladora de Agua and El Palmichal 2°01´54.94´´N 78°39´03.83´´W 6 La Primavera farm 2°02´27.48´´N 78°39´13.04´´W 7 Neighborhood of the sanitary landfill 2°02´46.16´´N 78°38´55.27´´W 8 Isla del Gallo 1°58´30.09´´N 78°39´54.66´´W 9 Bosque del Acueducto 2°02´13.21´´N 78°38´24.59´´W BIOTA COLOMBIANA 21 (1) - 2020 | 43 DOI: 10.21068/c2020.v21n01a04 Pinto-Erazo et al. System of Colombia) and the biological collections lowest diversity, each representing 4 % of diversity, of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales. Additional with one species. For reptiles, the families with the information was obtained from Castaño-Mora et al. highest diversity were Colubridae (17 spp., 34 %) and (2004) and Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga (2004). Dactyloidae (10 spp., 20 %) within the order Squamata, and Geoemydidae (2 spp., 50 %) within the order Data analysis. By means of a rarefaction