Offcial journal website: Amphibian & Reptile Conservation amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 13(2) [General Section]: 160–171 (e200). Checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the Lely Mountains, eastern Suriname Rawien Jairam National Zoological Collection of Suriname, Anton de Kom University, Paramaribo, SURINAME Abstract.—The Lely Mountains in Suriname have been surveyed only a few times by various herpetologists since 1973, and most recently in June 2016 by three people during six days. The total number of species recorded from the Lely Mountains is 102, including 46 species of amphibians and 41 species of reptiles in the 2016 surveys, with 15 additional species from the previous survey. Pluviometric conditions were not favorable during the survey, so more species of amphibians likely remained undetected. The use of only active searches probably only allowed detection of a portion of the reptile fauna of the massif. Unfavorable weather and the relatively small area sampled indicate that the diversity of the herpetofauna of the Lely Mountains is probably far from being completely documented. The presence of roads established for illegal gold mining and other human structures, such as a communication tower, have caused signifcant forest degradation. Keywords. Anura, conservation, herpetofauna, Lacertilia, laterite landscape, new records, Serpentes, South America, Testudines Citation: Jairam R. 2019. Checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of the Lely Mountains, eastern Suriname. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2) [General Section]: 160–171 (e200). Copyright: © 2019 Jairam. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [Attribution 4.0 In- ternational (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The offcial and authorized publication credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows: offcial journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; offcial journal website: amphibian-reptile-conservation.org. Received: 18 October 2018; Accepted: 15 May 2019; Published: 14 November 2019 Introduction Mountains together with the Brownsberg and the Nassau Mountains comprise a bauxite concession of the Suriname Presently the herpetofauna of Suriname consists of Aluminum company (Suralco), which formerly operated approximately 303 species (Ouboter 2017). Although in Suriname (Mol et al. 2007). Although Suralco explored over 90% of Suriname is still covered by natural the Lely Mountains for bauxite deposits, the company vegetation, only a few studies have assessed the did not proceed with the mining exploitation. The Lely herpetofaunal diversity of Suriname throughout the Mountains consist of several plateaus with a maximum entire territory (Hoogmoed 1973; Ouboter and Jairam height of approximately 700 m (Alonso and Mol 2007). 2012) leaving many areas still unexplored. Herpetofaunal Due to the absence of established roads for cars, the Lely surveys in specifc areas have been conducted by several Mountains are mainly accessible only by air. A trail that researchers (Ouboter et al. 2007, 2011; Nielsen et al. is used by gold miners going up the Lely Mountains by 2013; Fouquet et al. 2015a,b). New country records are means of all-terrain vehicles is long and tedious, and still being documented, e.g., Amapasaurus tetradactylus seldom without dangers. These circumstances have (Jairam and Jairam-Doerga 2015), and range extensions led to relatively few surveys (Hoogmoed 1974, 1975, continue to be reported, e.g., Ptychoglossus brevifrontalis unpub.; Watling and Ngadino 2007) at this location when (Jairam and Jairam-Doerga 2016). compared to other nearby bauxite mountains, such as the The Lely Mountains are located in the eastern part Brownsberg Mountain. The remoteness of this location of Suriname (4°25’–4°45’N, 54°39’–54°55’W) and may also favor the occurrence of microendemics and/or together with the Brownsberg, Nassau, Winti Wai, Hok- rare species such those as in Anomaloglossus (Vacher et a-Hin, Stonbroekoe, and Majordam Mountains they al. 2017). However, information about the herpetofauna form a system of laterite-bauxite plateaus in northeastern of the Lely Mountains is still scant. This report documents Suriname. These small plateaus form a unique type of new fndings from the herpetofauna surveyed in the Lely landscape (H. ter Steege, pers. comm.) with different Mountains in June 2016, and presents an overview of the vegetation types, including high forest, savannah forest, herpetofaunal diversity observed and an updated list for and rocky creek beds (Alonso and Mol 2007). The Lely this location. Correspondence. [email protected] Amphib. Reptile Conserv. 160 November 2019 | Volume 13 | Number 2 | e200 Rawien Jairam Fig. 1. Map of the Lely Mountains plateau showing the area surveyed in the red square. The inset image shows the location of the Lely Mountains in Suriname, as indicated by the red arrow. In the right upper side of the fgure the Nassau Mountains are visible. Materials and Methods bauxite company also established roads that extend from the plateau to the northern part of the Lely Mountains. Habitat description. The vegetation and water The aforementioned roads were usually dominated by drainages in the Lely Mountains are presently heavily large water flled potholes bordered by small shrubs and disturbed locally by illegal small-scale gold miners. bushes. Also sampled was a small creek on the plateau, Some of the areas sampled were the airstrip, which was which was heavily disturbed by artisanal gold mining. covered with grass, and small ditches located on one side for water drainage. The area around the airstrip was Survey methods. Three people opportunistically surrounded by patches of pristine forest interspersed surveyed the forest of the Lely Mountains using available with disturbed forests. The vegetation in the disturbed roads and trails for six days. Trails and roads were surveyed areas included mostly trees that were approximately radiating in different directions from the airstrip (Fig. 1). two m high. The cause of this disturbance could have The surveyors also walked through the forest away from been the establishment of the airstrip by Suralco. The trails to increase the chance of fnding amphibians and Amphib. Reptile Conserv. 161 November 2019 | Volume 13 | Number 2 | e200 Herpetofauna of the Lely Mountains, Suriname reptiles. Night surveys started at dusk, at approximately Results 19.00 h, and usually lasted up until 24.00 h into the night. Amphibians and reptiles were actively searched for and A total of 28 species of amphibians, representing were collected by hand when encountered. Call records seven families, and 18 species of reptiles in 11 were made for calling amphibians using a Marantz families, were collected (Figs. 3–8). All specimens recorder with an external microphone. All recorded were unambiguously identifed to the species level. calls were analyzed using the software Audacity (http:// Previously, 19 anuran species were recorded for the audacityteam.org) and compared against currently known Lely Mountains (Watling and Ngadino 2007). The two anuran call databases. Pools on the road and in other lists combined yield a total of 29 species, eight of which potential locations were checked for tadpoles. Searches were never before documented for the Lely Mountains. for amphibians and reptiles were conducted during For the Lely Mountains, the RAP (Rapid Assessment the day. All collected specimens were photographed, Program) reported a total of 18 reptile species (Watling and afterwards were sedated and sacrifced in the feld and Ngadino 2007); the present survey also collected using Lidocaine®. Specimens were preserved in 10% a total of 18 species, seven of which were new records formalin (one part full-strength formaldehyde and nine for this location. Database searches of Naturalis (http:// parts water) and after a few days they were transferred bioportal.naturalis.nl) and GBIF (https://www.gbif.org/ to 70% ethanol for storage at the National Zoological species/search) provided a total of 34 anuran species, 17 Collection of Suriname (NZCS). The identities of some of which were not documented during either the RAP or of the amphibian specimens collected were verifed by the survey held in June 2016. For reptiles, Naturalis and molecular analyses, as indicated in Table 1. Additionally, GBIF yielded a total of 25 species, 13 of which were not some data are provided below on the habitats where the documented in the surveys. Taking into account all of species were collected, and whether they are documented the surveys and database reports for the Lely Mountains here for the frst time for the Lely Mountains. yields a total of 46 anurans and 41 reptiles identifed to the species level (Table 1). Historical survey data. To complete the present list of species known from the Lely Mountains searches were Some noteworthy observations were made for some of performed in the online databases from Naturalis (http:// the amphibian and reptile species collected in June 2016. bioportal.naturalis.nl) and GBIF (https://www.gbif.org/ species/search) to check for species from this location that • Anomaloglossus stepheni was collected for the frst were not formally mentioned in the published literature. time in the Lely Mountains. Specimens were collect- Figure 2 gives an overview of the total number of species