Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga II: Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil

Abstract

We provide a list of amphibians, lizards, chelonians, and snakes collected during a 30-day expedition to the Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí State, Brazil. Thirty-seven pitfall trap arrays composed of 4 buckets each, along with glue traps, funnel traps, and haphazard searches, were used to sample the herpetofaunal diversity. We recorded 17 species of lizards, 1 caecilian, 1 chelonian, 7 frogs, and 11 snakes. Rarefaction curves suggest that local biodiversity is still underestimated. An atypical drought during the period of study may have contributed to lower captures of certain groups, especially amphibians and snakes. The presence of water-dependent and forest-dependent species within local canyons (“Boqueirões”) suggests that these areas harbor faunas associated with relictual rainforest fragments and need to be better studied and managed accordingly.

Anurans from the Middle Jaguaribe River Region, Ceará State, Northeastern Brazil

“…None of the recorded species is listed in the Brazilian list of endangered species or in IUCN red list (Brasil, 2014, 101 IUCN, 2014. In fact, most of them show wide geographic distributions and occur in two or more biomes (Ribeiro et al 2012, Teixeira-Jr. et al 2012, Magalhães et al 2013, Magalhã es et al 2014, Cavalcanti et al 2014.…”

The herpetofauna of Parque Nacional da Serra das Confusões, state of Piauí, Brazil, with a regional species list from an ecotonal area of Cerrado and Caatinga

“…Initially, we performed faunistic comparisons with herpetofaunal lists available for intensively sampled (long-term sampling) conservation ), Estação Ecológica de Uruçuí-Una (EEUU) (Dal Vechio et al 2013), and Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara (PNSCa) (Cavalcanti et al 2014). An additional motivation in using these listings is the similar latitude in which these areas are located, forming a Cerrado-Caatinga transect.…”

“…Leptodactylus aff. syphax has recently been recognized as an undescribed new species (Loebmann & Haddad 2010;Andrade et al 2011;Ribeiro et al 2012;Cavalcanti et al 2014). Ameivula sp.…”

Field record of aestivation with formation of cocoon in the frog Leptodactylus fuscus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) in a semiarid region of northeastern Brazil

“…Because amphibians have permeable skin, they are sensitive to water loss, and their larvae usually are dependent on access to bodies of water (Wygoda 1984). Given these biotic and abiotic conditions, many anurans are endemic to the Caatinga (Napoli et al 2011, Cavalcanti et al 2014. It follows that most anurans occurring in the seemingly unfavorable conditions of the Caatinga have mechanisms to protect themselves from desiccation in the surface soil (Prado 2003, Navas et al 2004.…”