Caracterização Morfológica e Biologia Reprodutiva e Alimentar de Dendrophidion dendrophis (FITZINGER, 1843) (Serpentes, Colubridae) da Amazônia Oriental, Pará

Abstract

DendroPhidion dendrophis is a species with a slightly compressed body, a head distinct from the body, large eyes, round pupils, and a long tail. It has a diurnal and semi-arboreal habit. It is considered oviparous and feeds on small amphibians. It is commonly distributed in the eastern portion of the Amazon, where it can be found in primary and secondary forests, and in the capoeira. Morphological data on feeding and reproduction of the species are scarce. Thus, this work provided data on the external and internal morphology, reproductive and feeding biology of this species. We analyzed 89 specimens (55 males and 39 females) deposited in the Herpetological Collection of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil. Data on provenance, scapellation, cephalic and body measurements, description of the hemipennis and skull, presence of contents in the digestive tract, length and thickness of the testicles, condition of the ductus deferens (males) and vitellogenic follicles (females), and number of eggs found were collected. D. dendrophis differs from the other species of the genus by having: dorsal17 -17 -15; 140- 172 ventral; 140-192 subcaudal; brown-brown body, with sets of yellow bands extending from neck to tail. No sexual dimorphism was observed in the scutellar or cranial and body morphometry data. The hemipenis is short, unilobed, subcylindrical, unicaliculate and unicapitate, with a deep and centrilinear spermatic furrow, whose chapter occupies approximately 30% of the organ on both sides, and is ornamented by four rows of papillary and spiny calyces; while the body of the hemipenis is covered with spines of different sizes and shapes. Males with rostro-c1oacal lengths above 456 mm were considered mature, while females reach sexual maturity above 492 mm. The largest mature male showed CRC equal to 668 mm and the largest mature female equal to 693 mm. Three females with vitellogenic follicles were captured in April, July and August, and two with eggs in July and October. All food items analyzed belong to the family Leptodactylidae (Anura), with the highest frequency of the genus Adenomera (47.9%), followed by Physalaemus.