Diet, Reproduction, and Sexual Dimorphism in the Vine Snake,Chironius fuscus(Serpentes: Colubridae), from Brazilian Amazonia

Abstract

FEEDING BEHAVIOR AND DIET OF SNAKES, GENERA BOIRUNA AND CLELIA (SERPENTES, COLUBRIDAE). Boiruna maculata Boulenger, 1896 and Clelia rustica (Cope, 1878) were observed in captivity feeding snakes and rodents, respectively. Both species have shown a similar procedure in relation to the prey. Major behavior differences among the two species were: rodents killed before being swallowed, and snakes were mostly swallowed alive; both species are able to find the rodents head faster than the snake one; the coils formed during constriction were also used to hold the prey, specially the last coil, while swallowing rodents. Informations on stomach contents was gathered by dissection of preserved specimens of Clelia clelia (Daudin, 1803) and C. plumbea (Wied, 1820) were also included in the dietary study. The majority of preys consisted on snakes and lizards. Other prey items were mammals and birds. Adult snakes prey relatively smaller animals than the juvenile snakes do.

Reptile diversity in the Duas Bocas Biological Reserve, Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil

“…Chironius species are usually diurnal, occurring in terrestrial and/or arboreal environments (Rojas-Runjaic & Rivero, 2006), actively foraging with relative specificity for anurans in their diet, preferably terrestrial and nocturnal species. As C. fuscus is diurnal, it tends to capture their nocturnal prey at the time they are in their daytime shelters (Nascimento et al, 2013). Individuals were found in this study during the day at sites near water bodies, which may be the result of active foraging in search of anurans.…”

“…The genus Chironius is endemic to the neotropical region (Dixon et al, 1993). In the Atlantic Forest, Chironius fuscus occurs in a wide range of habitats, and it is found in the state of Espírito Santo, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo (Nascimento et al, 2013). Chironius species are usually diurnal, occurring in terrestrial and/or arboreal environments (Rojas-Runjaic & Rivero, 2006), actively foraging with relative specificity for anurans in their diet, preferably terrestrial and nocturnal species.…”

DIMORFISMO SEXUAL, REPRODUCCIÓN Y BIOLOGÍA ALIMENTARIA DE Helicops angulatus (LINNAEUS, 1758) (COLUBRIDAE: HYDROPSINI) EN LA AMAZONIA ORIENTAL, BRASIL

“…We observed a higher number of females with eggs during the dry season (11 eggs from July to October), and identified two reproductive peaks: one in early dry season (June and July) and other in late dry season (October). Some studies indicate that continuous reproductive cycle is a common pattern for tropical snakes (Santos-Costa et al, 2006;Siqueira et al, 2012;Nascimento et al, 2013). However, recent studies show that some species may present seasonal reproduction, as Anilius scytale (Linnaeus, 1758) (Maschio, Prudente, Lima and Feitosa, 2007) and Drymarchon corais Boie, 1827 (Prudente et al, 2014) or two annual reproductive cycles, as observed in Imantodes cenchoa Linnaeus, 1758 (Souza, Prudente and Maschio, 2014).…”

“…Some taxa differ in their habits, especially when it comes to breeding and feeding activity (Pizzatto, Jordão and Marques, 2008;Alencar, Gaiarsa and Martins, 2013;Silva, Oliveira, Nascimento, Machado and Prudente, 2017b). This information may be important to understand, for example, how those behaviors vary and how they affect the species distribution (Santos-Costa, Prudente and Di-Bernardo, 2006;Albarelli and Santos-Costa, 2010;Siqueira, Nascimento and Santos-Costa, 2012;Nascimento, Siqueira and Santos-Costa, 2013;Siqueira, Nascimento, Montingelli and Santos-Costa, 2013).…”

Predation of the hylid frog Bokermannohyla alvarengai (Bokermann, 1956) by the colubrid snake Chironius flavolineatus (Jan, 1863) in a montane rocky grassland

“…The diet of C. flavolineatus is similar to that from other congeneric species (Dixon et al, 1993). Hylid frogs are the most common preys of Chironius snakes, for instance, Dendropsophus Fitzinger, 1843 (Nascimento et al, 2013), Itapotihyla Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell & Wheeler, 2005(Marques & Sazima, 2004Bovo & Sueiro, 2012), Hypsiboas (Pombal Jr., 2007;Oliveira, 2008;Pinto et al, 2008;Nascimento et al, 2013), Phyllomedusa Wagler, 1830 (Castanho, 1996;Bernarde & Abe, 2010), Scinax (Pinto et al, 2008;Hartmann et al, 2009;Bernarde & Abe, 2010;Nascimento et al, 2013), and including Bokermannohyla Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell & Wheeler, 2005 species (Rocha et al, 1999). Notwithstanding, the previous case of a Chironius snake preying upon Bokermannohyla (B. circumdata (Cope, 1871)) was…”