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western France.- Herpetological Journal, London; 19: 135-142. RAHmAN, S. C. & RASHid, S. m. A. & dAS, K. & JENKiNS, C. & LuiSELLi, L. (2013): monsoon does matter: annual activity patterns in a snake assemblage from Bangladesh.- Herpetological Journal, London; 23: 203-208. ROSEN, P. C. & LOWE, C. H. (1994): Highway mortality of snakes in the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona.- Biological Conservation, Oxford; 68: 143-148. ROW, J. R. & BLOuiN-dEmERS, G. & WEATHERHEAd, P. J. (2007): demographic effects of road mortality in black ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta).Biological Conservation, Oxford; 137: 117-124. RuGiERO, L. & miLANA, G. & PETROZZi, F. & CAPuLA, m. & LuiSELLi, L. (2013): Climate-change-related shifts in annual phenology of a temperate snake during the last 20 years. - Acta Oecologica, Paris; 51: 42-48. SHEPARd, d. B. & dRESLiK, m. J. & JELLEN, B. C. & PHiLLiPS, C. A. (2008): Reptile road mortality around an oasis in the illinois Corn desert with emphasis on the endangered eastern massasauga.- Copeia, Ann Arbor; 2008: 350-359. KEY WORdS: Reptilia: Squamata: Serpentes: Colubridae; Zamenis longissimus; roadkill; long-term study; rainfall; temperature; habitat; ecology; Tolfa mountains, Province of Latium, italy SuBmiTTEd: February 21, 2017 AuTHORS: Lorenzo RuGiERO 1); massimo CAPuLA 2); dario CAPiZZi 3); Giovanni AmORi 4); Giuliano miLANA 4); manuela LAi 5) & Luca LuiSELLi (Corresponding author <
[email protected] >) 5) 1) Via domenico Cimarosa 15, 00198 Roma, italy 2) museo Civico di Zoologia, Via Aldrovandi 18, 00197 Roma, italy 3) ARP – Agenzia Regionale Parchi - Regione Lazio, via del Pescaccio 96, 00166 Roma, italy 4) CNR – National Research Council of italy iSE - institute for Ecosystem Studies, via dell’università 32, 00181 Roma, italy 5) institute for development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, via G. Tomasi di Lampedusa 33, 00144 Roma, italy; and department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State university of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
defensive behavior of a juvenile Crotalus durissus LiNNAEuS, 1758 On 16 February 2017, at 20:35 h, the first author observed a particular defensive behavior displayed by a juvenile Cascabel Rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus LiNNAEuS, 1758, in a Cerrado area in the Estação Ecológica de itirapina (22.2304°S, 47.8190°W, WGS84; 783 m a.s.l.), northeastern State of São Paulo, Brazil. The rattlesnake (snoutvent-length: 640 mm; tail length: 60 mm) was found crossing a trail located at the
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edge of a forest fragment. With the approach of the observer the species exhibited the behavior of dorso-ventral flattening or rather lateral spreading of the body (Fig. 1). This behavior, which is displayed to appear larger, is related to the snakes’ morphological characteristics, visually oriented predators, habitat use (GREENE 1979) and phylogeny (mARTiNS et al. 2008). Recently, a number of variations in the behavior of C. durissus were recorded, ranging from arboreal habitat use (BENíCiO 2016) to swimming (FERRANTE et al. 2015). Body flattening is a common defensive behavior observed in various snake species of several families such as dipsadidae (TOZETTi et al. 2009), Elapidae (mARquES 2002) and Viperidae (ARAúJO & mARTiNS 2006). However, as to Brazil, there is only one record of C. durissus exhibiting this behavior of dorso-ventral flattening, and it refers to a snake which was manipulated (SAWAYA et al. 2008). Thus, this is the first record of C. durissus displaying this type of behavior without being handled, instead upon the approach of an observer in nature. ACKNOWLEdGmENTS: The authors thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, Proc. 2015/11821-0 & 2015/21259-8) for financial support. REFERENCES: ARAúJO, m. S. & mARTiNS, m. (2006): defensive behaviour in pit vipers of the genus Bothrops (Serpentes, Viperidae).- The Herpetological Journal, London; 16 (3): 297-303. BENíCiO, R. A. (2016): Crotalus durissus (South American Rattlesnake) arboreal habitat use.- Herpetological Review, New York; 47 (3): 477. FERRANTE, L. & mENEGuCCi, R. C. & mACHAdO, i. F. (2015): Crotalus durissus (South American Rattlesnake). Swimming behavior to cross geographical barrier.- Herpetological Review, New York; 46 (4): 640. GREENE, H. W. (1979): Behavioral convergence in the defensive display of snakes.- Experientia, Basel; 35: 747-748. mARquES, O. A. V. (2002): Natural history of the coral snake Micrurus decoratus (Elapidae) from the Atlantic Forest in southeast Brazil, with comments on possible mimicry.- Amphibia-Reptilia, Leiden; 23 (2): 228-232. mARTiNS, m. & mARquES, O. A. V. & SAZimA, i. (2008): How to be arboreal and diurnal and still stay alive: microhabitat use, time of activity, and defense in Neotropical forest snakes.- South American Journal of Herpetology, São Paulo; 3 (1): 58-67. SAWAYA, R. J. & mARquES, O. A. V. & mARTiNS, m. (2008): Composition and natural history of a Cerrado snake assemblage at itirapina, São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil.- Biota Neotropica, Campinas; 8 (2): 127-149. TOZETTi, A. m. & OLiVEiRA, R. B. & PONTES, m. F. (2009): defensive repertoire of Xenodon dorbignyi (Serpentes, dipsadidae).- Biota Neotropica, Campinas; 9 (3): 157-163.
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Fig. 1: A juvenile Crotalus durissus LiNNAEuS, 1758, displaying dorso-ventral flattening of the body as observed at Estação Ecológica de itirapina, State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil.
KEY WORdS: Reptilia: Squamata: Serpentes Viperidae; Crotalus durissus; defensive behavior, aposematic behavior, antipredator behavior, dorso-ventral flattening, lateral spreading of the body, Brazil SuBmiTTEd: June 29, 2017 AuTHORS: Ronildo A. BENíCiO (Corresponding author, <
[email protected] >) 1) & marcio mARTiNS 2) 1) Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil. 2) departamento de Ecologia, instituto de Biociências, universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; <
[email protected] >.
Northwesternmost locality record of Montivipera xanthina (GRAY, 1849) in Turkey The Ottoman Viper, Montivipera xanthina (GRAY, 1849) is distributed in Turkey and eastern Greece. its Turkish distribution includes a large area in the mediterranean, Aegean, marmara and Central Anatolia regions (BOdENHEimER 1944; BARAN 1976; BAşOğLu & BARAN 1980; NiLSON et al. 1988; BARAN et al. 2013). The species is generally treated as monotypic (but see NiLSON & ANdRéN 1986; CATTANEO 2014; STümPEL et al. 2016). The iuCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies this viper at
the LC (Least Concern) category since 2006 (BöHmE et al. 2016). GRAY (1849) originally described M. xanthina as Daboia xanthina from the ruins of Xanthos (Kınık) in muğla, southwestern Turkey. many studies were carried out on the taxonomy and distribution of the species (BOdENHEimER 1944; mERTENS 1952; BARAN 1976; BAşOğLu & BARAN 1980; NiLSON & ANdRéN 1985, 1986; SCHäTTi et al. 1991; BETTEX 1993; muLdER 1995; NiLSON et al. 1999; SiNdACO et al. 2000), which is mostly distributed in the west Anatolian part of Turkey. The present note reports a new record of M. xanthina, which constitutes the species’ northwesternmost known Turkish locality. A subadult female roadkill specimen (Fig. 1; sex identified by the absence of palpable hemipenes pockets) was found at Enez (Province of Edirne) on the Enezİpsala highway at night time on June 22, 2016 (40°44’757”, 26°08’589”, 5 m a.s.l.). The new locality is shown in Fig. 2 along with the known species’ distribution. After taking tissue samples for genetic analyses, the specimen was preserved in a mixture of 99 parts of 70 % ethanol and one part of 10 % formaldehyde solution and deposited in the Zoology Laboratory of the department of Biology at the Faculty of Science, Karadeniz Technical university (Trabzon, TR) under KZL-234/2016, 1♀, Enez, Edirne,
