660 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
We thank N. Melo and L. Melo for logistic support. This study was financed by research subsidies from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) to BPR (process number 127133/2015-1) and EMXF (process number 309424/2011-9) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) to MFK and MMR, and Sistema de Autorização e Informação em Biodiversidade – SISBIO for the authorization number 52798-1.
Fig. 1. Attempted predation on Salvator merianae by Alligator mississippiensis.
Science Program. We thank J. Sean Doody, Lee A. Fitzgerald, and Mark W. Parry for providing valuable comments on this note. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the United States Government. EMMA B. HANSLOWE (e-mail:
[email protected]), CHARLES V. CALAFIORE (e-mail:
[email protected]), KATHRYN N. SYKES (e-mail:
[email protected]), NOAH VAN EE (e-mail:
[email protected]), and BRYAN G. FALK, U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Beard Center, Everglades National Park, 40001 SR 9336, Homestead, Florida 33034, USA (e-mail:
[email protected]); AMY A. YACKEL ADAMS (e-mail:
[email protected]) and ROBERT N. REED, U.S. Geological Survey, 2150 Centre Ave, Bldg C, Fort Collins, Colorado 80526, USA (e-mail:
[email protected]).
SALVATOR MERIANAE (Argentine Black-and-White Tegu). DIET. Salvator merianae is widespread in Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In Brazil, its distribution covers the entire territory south of the Amazon River, including the Caatinga, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest domains, occurring mainly in open areas and sunny environments (ÁvilaPires 1995. Zool. Verh. 299:1–706; Kiefer and Sazima 2002. Amphibia-Reptilia 23:105–108). Its diet consists of eggs, rodents, anuran amphibians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, fishes, birds, arthropods, molluscs, annelids, fruits, seeds and other plant parts. Occasionally, it eats small rocks, which facilitate digestion through abrasion (Mercolli and Yanosky 1994. Herpetol. J. 4:15–19; Ávila-Pires 1995, op. cit.; Kiefer and Sazima 2002, op. cit.). Here we report a field observation of predation on a leptotyphlopid snake by a juvenile S. merianae in the Brazilian Caatinga. At 1158 h on 25 September 2014, during a herpetological survey in a privately owned reserve in the municipality of Lagoa Nova, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (6.07°S, 36.33°W, WGS84; 710 m elev.), we found a juvenile S. merianae (SVL = 183.56 mm) in shrub-tree vegetation on sandy soil. During the lizard capture, using a 4.5-mm air rifle (Urko®), a specimen of the blind snake Epictia borapeliotes (SVL = 130.68 mm) was expelled from the lizard’s mouth. This is the first report of E. borapeliotes as prey of S. merianae. Predation of snakes by S. merianae was also observed in studies in the Argentinean Chaco and others locations (Mercolli and Yanosky 1994, op. cit.; Kasperoviczus et al. 2015. Herpetol. Notes. 8:21–23). The S. merianae and the E. borapeliotes were both deposited at the Herpetological Collection at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal (UFRN), Brazil (UFRN 4734 and 4735, respectively).
BRUNO DE PAIVA RÊGO, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil (e-mail:
[email protected]); MIGUEL FERNANDES KOLODIUK, MATHEUS MEIRA-RIBEIRO, and ELIZA MARIA XAVIER FREIRE, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Botânica e Zoologia, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário Lagoa Nova, CEP 59078-970, Natal, RN, Brazil.
SALVATOR MERIANAE (Teiú, Black-and-White Tegu). POACHING. The hunting of wildlife is an ordinary practice in Brazil, despite issues of legality. All orders of reptiles occurring in Brazil (Crocodylia, Squamata, and Testudinata) are affected by poaching (Alves et al. 2012. Environ. Monit Assess. 184:6877–6901) and most studies concerning illegal hunting in Brazil have been conducted in the Amazon. One such study reported the poaching of up to one million reptile specimens/year (Peres 2000. Conserv. Biol. 14:240–253), demonstrating the potential for populationlevel effects of hunting on reptiles. One of the poached species in Brazil is Salvator merianae (formerly Tupinambis merianae; Sauria: Teiidae), a widespread tegu lizard in Brazil, occurring from southern Amazonia to northeast, central, and south Brazil. The present communication reports the poaching of S. merianae in one of the most important Atlantic Forest remnants in southeastern Brazil. The Linhares-Sooretama Block (18.9057°S, 40.2125°W and 19.2393°S, 39.9454°W; WGS 84), a ca. 50,000-ha area of the Central Atlantic Forest corridor, represents an important remnant of Tabuleiro forest (forest located on flat terrain) in Brazil. Our poaching records were obtained from January 2000 to December 2014 and were gathered from institutions responsible for the monitoring of and combating environmental crimes in the area (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Instituto Ambiental Vale and Batalhão de Polícia Militar Ambiental do Espírito Santo). A total of 14 events of poaching of S. merianae were gathered, with 24 individuals slaughtered for meat consumption (mean = 1.7 individuals per event; Fig. 1). In one event in February 2014, nine slaughtered individuals were seized. In addition to the records of S. merianae, four events of poaching (one individual in each) were reported for Caiman latirostris (Broad-snouted Caiman; Alligatoridae), and one event for Chelonoidis sp. (tortoise; Testudinidae). It is noteworthy that the records obtained by the protection institutions represent only a small portion of the total number of poaching events and specimens that are slaughtered in the Linhares-Sooretama Block, so the impact of poaching is undoubtedly underestimated by our records. In addition to the potential impact of hunting on local populations of reptiles, we also emphasize the risk of transmission of microorganisms from contact and consumption of the meat of these animals by humans. Salmonella sp. and Escherichia coli, among other gram-negative bacteria, are examples of pathogens with zoonotic potential commonly found in reptiles (Magnino et al. 2009. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 134:163– 175). When ingested, these microorganisms can cause infections
Herpetological Review 48(3), 2017
