Composition and natural history of the snakes from the Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio, southern Minas Gerais, Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil
Author
enezes, Frederico de Alcantara
Author
Abegg, Arthur Diesel
Author
Silva, Bruno Rocha da
Author
ranco, Francisco Luis
Author
Feio, Renato Neves
text
ZooKeys
2018
797
117
160
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.797.24549
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.797.24549
1313-2970-797-117
26CC9F8421C346CAA4DD00915D394FFD
Spilotes pullatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Natural history notes.
A large species (n = 1), with semi-arboreal habits, and diurnal activity (
Marques et al. 2001
,
Marques and Sazima 2004
). Both of our records were made in the same place, during the day (12:00 and 12:10 h), in September and October, respectively, indicating that it may be the same individual. On both occasions, the individuals were on the ground, in a forest area. The diet is mainly composed of mammals (
Marques et al. 2014
), but
S. pullatus
also feeds on lizards, birds and their eggs, and anurans (
Martins and Oliveira 1998
,
Marques and Sazima 2004
, Bernarde and Abe 2006). This species lays five to twelve eggs (
Amaral 1930
,
Marques et al. 2014
). No defensive behavior was observed for this species.
Altitudinal variation.
In Brazil, range spans at minimum of sea level from the coast of Santa Catarina to Bahia to a maximum of 1100 m a.s.l.,
Brasilia
, Federal District (
Bernils
2009
). The maximum altitudinal record of this species for Brazil is expanded here by our observations at 1630 m a.s.l.. From the toponyms surveyed,
Bernils
(2009)
recorded only 8% in areas higher than 800 m a.s.l. and 57% between the range of sea level and 400 m a.s.l.
Distribution and habitat.
This species can be found in all Brazilian states, and in Argentina and Paraguay (
Wallach et al. 2014
). It lives in open formations associated with riparian, dense and seasonal ombrophilous forests (
Bernils
2009
).