Adriano Lima Silveira

First synanthropic record of Loxosceles laeta (Nicolet, 1849) (Araneae, Sicariidae) in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro

Loxosceles laeta is the species of brown spider of greatest medical importance. It causes accidents of great severity and presents synanthropic habits. In this paper, the first synanthropic record of Loxosceles laeta in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, is presented. This came from occasional encounters and sampling of specimens between August 2005 and June 2009. The species was recorded in a building of the Museu Nacional/UFRJ, located in the Quinta da Boa Vista park, in the urban area of the northern zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The focus was considered to be localized and restricted. Loxosceles laeta is adaptable to the climatic conditions of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, which makes possible for new foci of the species to become established, with occurrences of loxoscelism in the region.

Reptilia, Squamata, Teiidae, Tupinambis quadrilineatus : distribution extension and geographic distribution map

Tupinambis quadrilineatus Manzani and Abe, 1997 (Squamata, Teiidae) is an endemic species of Cerrado biome in Brazil. The lizard was described in 1997, based on four specimens from different localities in the Brazilian states of Goias, Mato Grosso and Tocantins (Manzani and Abe 1997). In the following year, the description of Tupinambis cerradensis Colli, Peres Jr. and Cunha, 1998 was published, on basis of 18 specimens from six localities in Mato Grosso and Goias (Colli at al. 1998). In the same article, the authors recognized T. cerradensis as a junior synonym of T. quadrilineatus, explaining that their paper had already been submitted when the description of T. quadrilineatus was published. Later on T. quadrilineatus was recorded in the Jalapao region, state of Tocantins (Vitt at al. 2005; Mesquita et al. 2006); the upper Rio Tocantins valley in northern Goias (region of Minacu; Silva Jr. et al. 2005); Gama city, municipality of Brasilia, Distrito Federal (Guimaraes et al. 2007); and the municipality of Chapada Gaucha in the north of Minas Gerais state (Recoder and Nogueira 2007).

Amphibia, Anura, Bufonidae, Rhinella pygmaea : distribution extension and geographic distribution map

Rhinella pygmaea (Myers and Carvalho, 1952) is a small Bufonidae in comparison with other congener species. On the original description, type locality was designated as Sao Joao da Barra, at the mouth of Paraiba do Sul river (right bank), northern coast of state of Rio de Janeiro. Its occurrence was also reported from Restinga de Marambaia, southern coast of the state (Myers and Carvalho 1952). In other studies, R. pygmaea was considered an endemic species to the restinga, and registered from the localities of Jurubatiba, Grussai, Marambaia, Marica, and Arraial do Cabo to Sao Joao da Barra, all along the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro (Carvalho-e-Silva and Carvalho-eSilva 1994; Carvalho-e-Silva et al. 2000; Isecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva 2001; Rocha et al. 2003; Rocha et al. 2005; Rocha et al. 2008). However, recently this species was registered from municipality of Mimoso do Sul, state of Espirito Santo, in the Atlantic Forest biome (Silva et al. 2007).

A New Species of Leposternon (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from Brazilian Cerrado with a Key to Pored Species

Abstract A new species of Leposternon is described from the Brazilian Cerrado, with records from the municipalities of Buritizeiro and João Pinheiro, state of Minas Gerais, central Brasil. The new species has precloacal pores and pectorals scales mostly diamond shaped, and these characteristics distinguish it from all congeners except Leposternon cerradensis, Leposternon kisteumacheri, Leposternon maximus, and Leposternon polystegum. It differs from the pored Leposternon species by a combination of external morphology and dental features. The morphology of the new species is similar to other species of the genus Leposternon with precloacal pores. Resumo Uma nova espécie de Leposternon é descrita do Cerrado brasileiro, com registros em Buritizeiro e João Pinheiro, Minas Gerais, Brasil. A nova espécie pode ser distinguida dos demais congêneres, exceto de Leposternon cerradensis, Leposternon kisteumacheri, Leposternon maximus e Leposternon polystegum, por ter poros pré-cloacais e a maioria das escamas peitorais com formato de diamante. A espécie nova difere das espécies do gênero Leposternon com poros pré-cloacais por uma combinação de atributos da morfologia externa e características dentárias. A morfologia da nova espécie é similar à de outras espécies do gênero Leposternon com poros pré-cloacais.

First records of the snake Siphlophis leucocephalus (Günther, 1863) in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and a review of the geographic distribution of S. longicaudatus (Andersson, 1901) (Squamata: Dipsadidae)

We report Siphlophis leucocephalus in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. This species is now known to occur in ombrophilous and semidecidual forests in the state of Bahia, and Cerrado gallery forests in Tocantins and Minas Gerais. We also review the distribution of S. longicaudatus , a species inhabiting dense ombrophilous forests, ecotones with mixed ombrophilous forests or semidecidual forests, and Cerrado rocky outcrops ( campos rupestres ). This species is recorded from the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

First record of Amphisbaena mertensi Strauch, 1881 (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) in Minas Gerais state, Brazil

We present here the first record of Amphisbaena mertensi in Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil. Through analysis of scientific collections, we found specimens of A. mertensi from municipalities of Patos de Minas, Uberaba, Indianopolis, Uberlândia and Araguari, in Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaiba regions. These localities are inserted in the Cerrado biome, with Atlantic Forest enclaves, and represent an expansion of the previously known geographic distribution for the species.

Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae, Siagonodon brasiliensis (Laurent, 1949): distribution extension and geographic distribution map

The known geographic distribution of Siagonodon brasiliensis is restricted to three locations in the Brazilian Cerrado, in Piaui, Bahia and Minas Gerais states. I present here a new record for this species in Minas Gerais. One specimen of S. brasiliensis was collected at Fazenda Sant’Ana, municipality of Joao Pinheiro, northwest Minas Gerais, on a plateau area with sandy soil covered with Cerrado stricto sensu. The available information suggests that this species may be specialized in that kind of habitat. Pholidosis, morphometric and color characters of the collected specimen are presented.