Rodrigo de Oliveira Lula Salles

Reptiles, Squamata, Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara, municipality of Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil

Herein we report a list of the reptiles from Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara, municipality of Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil, an area situated in the Atlantic Rainforest Domain. The study was carried out from September 2006 to October 2008. We recorded 31 species of Squamate reptiles: one species of the family Amphisbaenidae; eight species of lizards of the families Anguidae (n = 1), Gekkonidae (1), Phyllodactylidae (1), Polychrotidae (1), Scincidae (1), Teiidae (2), and Tropiduridae (1); and 22 species of snakes of the families Boidae (2), Colubridae (6), Dipsadidae (11), Elapidae (1), and Viperidae (2). Our study indicates that the PNMT is an important area for the conservation of the Squamate reptile assemblages that inhabit lowlands of Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil.

Continental,insular and coastal marine reptiles from the municipality of Vitória, state of Espirito Santo,southeastern Brazil

We present a list of the reptiles of the municipality of Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil, compiled through primary data (specimens gathered by the authors) and secondary data (specimens housed at museums and records available in literature). We record 51 reptile species distributed by the orders Crocodylia (one species), Testudines (nine species), and Squamata (forty-one species), subdivided in amphisbaenians (three species), lizards (eleven species), and snakes (twenty-seven species). We recorded six species that are listed as threatened in the Brazilian List of Endangered Species, as the terrestrial lizard Cnemidophorus nativo and the marine turtles Lepidochelys olivacea and Dermochelys coriacea .

Amphibia, Anura, Bufonidae, Melanophryniscus moreirae : distribution extension

Melanophryniscus moreirae (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920) belongs to the M. moreirae group, which is composed by M. moreirae and M. sanmartini (Cruz and Caramaschi 2003). This species is known only from areas of high altitude (from 1800 to 2400 m a.s.l.) near temporary swamps in the Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, Serra da Mantiqueira, on the border of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, municipality of Itamonte, state of Minas Gerais (Bokermann 1967; Guix et al. 1998; IUCN 2006), and in the state of Sao Paulo (Marques et al. 2006). According to the GAA (Global Amphibian Assesment) and IUCN (2006), M. moreirae is a very common species within small range, but it appears to have declined recently (Eterovick et al. 2005). Furthermore, it is listed in the NT (Near Threatened) category.

DNA barcoding reveals species level divergence between populations of the microhylid frog genus Arcovomer (Anura: Microhylidae) in the Atlantic Rainforest of southeastern Brazil

Abstract The microhylid frogs belonging to the genus Arcovomer have been reported from lowland Atlantic Rainforest in the Brazilian states of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Here, we use DNA barcoding to assess levels of genetic divergence between apparently isolated populations in Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. Our mtDNA data consisting of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) nucleotide sequences reveals 13.2% uncorrected and 30.4% TIM2 + I + Γ corrected genetic divergences between these two populations. This level of divergence exceeds the suggested 10% uncorrected divergence threshold for elevating amphibian populations to candidate species using this marker, which implies that the Espírito Santo population is a species distinct from Arcovomer passarellii. Calibration of our model-corrected sequence divergence estimates suggests that the time of population divergence falls between 12 and 29 million years ago.

Amphibia, Anura, Cycloramphidae, Zachaenus carvalhoi Izecksohn, 1983: distribution extension

The Zachaenus carvalhoi Izecksohn, 1983 is distributed in the Atlantic Forest from Espirito Santo to Minas Gerais states. Recently, we examined the specimens deposited in the amphibian collection of Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, expanding its distribution substantially, with a new record for Minas Gerais state.

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).