Reptiles of the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais state, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract:The Atlantic Forest of the state of Minas Gerais, as well as the remnants of this domain in the rest of Brazil, suffers a marked reduction in size and anthropogenic alteration. This habitat degradation is directly reflected in the decrease of species richness within these natural environments. In this sense, the inventory of extant species is necessary to understand the species composition of regions under threat. Despite the great richness of existing reptile species in Minas Gerais, the level of knowledge about the fauna in this state is considered unsatisfactory and very fragmented. The aim of this study was to record the composition of the reptile fauna of the municipality of Juiz de Fora through the revision of specimens housed at the Herpetological Collection of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (CHUFJF-Reptiles) and published papers. Better documentation of the reptilian fauna for the region not only expands the knowledge of the herpetofauna of Minas Gerais, but also contributes to regional conservation planning, such as "Biota Minas" program in the states of the Minas Gerais, Brazil. A total of 41 reptile species (two freshwater turtles, two amphisbaenians, 13 lizards and 24 snakes) belonging to 12 families were recorded. We highlight the record of the freshwater turtle Hydromedusa maximiliani, which is considered a species sensitive to anthropogenic impact and currently is seen only in protected areas in Juiz de Fora, as well as Ecpleopus gaudichaudii, Enyalius brasiliensis, Heterodactylus imbricatus, Placosoma glabellum and Micrurus corallinus, that are dependent on well-preserved forest areas. The reptile composition is more similar to Viçosa and other surrounding regions, despite the presence of many species that are not shared between these locations. This fact demonstrates the importance of the collection in terms of representativeness of the local and regional fauna as well as providing a valuable source of information for future studies of Brazilian herpetofauna in general.

Lizard fauna (Squamata, Sauria) from Serra do Ouro Branco, southern Espinhaço Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…UPGMA cluster method and Jaccard's dissimilarity index. 1-Serra do Ouro Branco (this study), 2-EPDA Peti(Bertoluci et al 2009), 3-Viçosa(Costa et al 2009), 4-Serra do Brigadeiro(Moura et al 2012), 5-Juiz de Fora(Sousa et al 2012), 6-Ritápolis (Sousa et al 2010), 7-Parque Nacional Grande Sertão Veredas (Recorder and Nogueira 2007), 8-Reserva Ecológica Unilavras-Boqueirão (Novelli et al 2012), 9-Lagoa Santa (Reinhardt and Lutken 1861), 10-Nordeste de Minas Gerais (Feio and Caramaschi 2002), 11-Instituto Inhotim (Linares and Eterovick 2013).…”

Erratum to: Reptile surveys reveal high species richness in areas recovering from mining activity in the Brazilian Cerrado

“…Many reptile species found in this study are frequently associated with anthropogenic habitats, such as the exotic gekkonid Hemidactylus mabouia and the native lizards Ameiva ameiva, Cercosaura ocellata, Iguana iguana, Tropidurus oreadicus, as well as the snakes Boa constrictor, Epicrates crassus, Chironius flavolineatus, Sibynomorphus mikanii, and Oxyrhopus trigeminus (Carvalho & Nogueira 1998;Sousa et al 2012;França & Braz 2013). Nevertheless, some species depend on remnants of pristine habitats, such as the fossorial reptiles Amphisbaena anaemariae, Anilius scytale, and Trilepida fuliginosa, reinforcing the importance of the recovering areas in the maintenance of local reptile diversity.…”

Lizards and Amphisbaenians of Cataguases, Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil

“…The lizard and amphisbaenian species richness of Cataguases represents 16% of the known diversity of these groups in the state of Minas Gerais (H. C. Costa, unpublished data). Most species have wide geographical ranges and are commonly found in habitats with human interference like forests patches in urban areas (e.g., Costa et al 2009, Moura et al 2012, Sousa et al 2012, Cruz et al 2014. Only three species (Ecpleopus gaudichaudii, Enyalius boulengeri, and Gymnodactylus darwinii, 20% of observed richness) are considered endemic to the Atlantic Forest.…”

“…Herpetological assessments are recent in the 'Zona da Mata' (e.g., Costa et al 2009, Moura et al 2012, Sousa et al 2012, and have revealed high species richness and even new taxa (e.g., Lacerda et al 2012, Santana et al 2012, Assis et al 2013, Guimarães et al 2017. Besides increasing the knowledge of biodiversity, inventories are fundamental for conservation plans (Haddad 1998) and provide a set of valuable information for ecology (Droege et al 1998) and macroecology (Moura et al 2016).…”