Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil
Author
Guedes, Thaís B.
Author
Nogueira, Cristiano
Author
Marques, Otavio A. V.
text
Zootaxa
2014
3863
1
1
93
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3863.1.1
994b97ae-8a03-4726-86f7-ce51e39578a4
1175-5326
287111
A683CABE-4305-47A4-A063-03FDF93182C0
Leptophis ahaetulla
(Linnaeus, 1758)
“Cobra-de-jericoá, Cipó-verde”
(Figs. 12.2 and 25.1)
Recorded in all portions of the Caatinga, except in Rio Grande do Norte State and the sandy dunes of São Francisco River, probably due to sampling gaps. It is recorded mostly on lowlands (up to
500 m
elevation), but there are a few records in isolated highlands of the Ibiapaba-Araripe Plateau (
900 m
elevation) and
Diamantina Plateau
(at least
740 m
elevation). It is also recorded in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Pantanal regions (
Marques
et al.
2001
,
2005
;
Nogueira
et al
. 2010
). In Caatinga this snake occurs in all phytophisiognomies, but mostly in bushy and arboreal caatinga vegetation. It has arboreal habits, is diurnal, and feeds on vertebrates (
Marques
et al.
2001
,
2005
).