Composição, ecologia e história natural das serpentes de uma região de transição Amazônia - Cerrado, Mato grosso, Brasil

Abstract

This study aimed to document the composition and natural history of a community of snakes recorded at Tanguro Farm, Querência municipality, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, an area which represents a transition between two major neotropical biomes, Amazonia and Cerrado. Six expeditions to the study site were carried out, resulting in the record of 203 specimens (194 captures), distributed in 34 species, 26 genera and 8 families. An estimate based in the incidence of rare species (Jackknife 1) indicated a total richness of 38 species in the study site, which demonstrate that the inventory was relatively exhaustive. The most abundant species were Caudisona durissa (N=50), Philodryas olfersii (N=15), Philodryas nattereri (N=13), Xenodon rabdocephalus (N=12), Lachesis muta (N=10) e Liophis almadensis (N=10). A Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCO) demonstrated that the taxocenosis are superimposed, revealing a trend to formation of three distinct groups: Amazonia’s, Cerrado´s and Mata Atlantica´s taxocenosis. The species composition at Tanguro Farm was intermediary between the groups formed by Amazonian and Cerrado species, occurring species with wide distribution ranges as well as species restrict to either Amazonia or Cerrado. The pattern of habitat use of the studied taxocenosis is terrestrial, followed by semi-arboreous and fossorial. With regards to the feeding strategies, there are a predominance of generalist snake species. An analysis of ecological groupings showed four functional groups, suggesting that the taxocenosis complexity could be explained by ecological and historical factors.