Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Lizards from the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, northeastern Brazil

Lagartos da região do Alto Sertão de Sergipe, nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

We present the first detailed inventory of the lizard fauna of Alto Sertão region, west of Sergipe state, based on three field expeditions carried out by the authors and specimens deposited at the Herpetological Collection of Universidade Federal de Sergipe. The three inventories were carried out between 2010 and 2016, in the municipalities of Canindé de São Francisco, Poço Redondo, Monte Alegre de Sergipe, Nossa Senhora da Glória, and Porto da Folha. In total, we sampled 9,485 lizards of 19 species (10 families) of which 10 are new records for the study area. The most abundant species were Ameivula ocellifera, Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus. Thirteen species were considered as widely distributed in Caatinga, five presented a relictual distribution and one was exotic. We suggest that future research focus mainly on non-sampled areas and should prioritize the municipalities of Gararu, Nossa Senhora da Glória and Nossa Senhora de Lourdes since they are localities with little or no sampling records.

Keywords:
Squamata; Caatinga; Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest; Species list

Resumo

Apresentamos o primeiro inventário detalhado da fauna de lagartos da região do Alto Sertão sergipano, nordeste do Brasil, a partir de três expedições de campo realizadas pelos autores e exemplares depositados na Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade Federal de Sergipe. Os três inventários foram realizados entre 2010 e 2016, nos municípios de Canindé de São Francisco, Poço Redondo, Monte Alegre de Sergipe, Nossa Senhora da Glória e Porto da Folha. No total, foram amostrados 9.487 lagartos de 19 espécies (10 famílias), das quais 10 são novos registros para a área de estudo. As espécies mais abundantes foram Ameivula ocellifera, Tropidurus hispidus e T. semitaeniatus. Treze espécies foram consideradas com ampla distribuição na Caatinga, cinco apresentaram distribuição relictual e uma exótica. Sugerimos que futuras pesquisas se concentrem principalmente em áreas não amostradas e priorizem os municípios de Gararu, Nossa Senhora da Glória e Nossa Senhora de Lourdes por se tratarem de localidades com pouca ou nenhuma amostragem.

Palavras-chave:
Squamata; Caatinga; Floresta Tropical Sazonalmente Seca (FTSS); Lista de espécies

Introduction

The South American dry open diagonal extends from southwest to northeast of the continent, across Chaco, Cerrado and Caatinga vegetations (Ab’Sáber 1974AB’SÁBER, A.N. 1974. O domínio morfoclimático das caatingas brasileiras. Instituto de Geografia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo., 1977AB’SÁBER, A.N. 1977. Os domínios morfoclimáticos na América do Sul: primeira aproximação. Instituto de Geografia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo., Werneck 2011WERNECK, F.P. 2011. The diversification of eastern South American open vegetation biomes: historical biogeography and perspectives. Quaternary Sci Ver 30(13):1630-1648.). The Caatinga is an environment exclusively found in northeastern Brazil, covering 912,529 km² (Prado 2003PRADO, D.E. 2003. As caatingas da América do Sul. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 3-73. , Silva et al. 2017SILVA, J.M.C., BARBOSA, L.C.F., LEAL, I.R. & TABARELLI, M. 2017. The Caatinga: understanding the challenges. In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Switzerland, p. 3-19. ). Its topography varies from a flattened to slightly wavy surface, with residual scattered hills and shallow soils, which are often stony with some areas of exposed solid rock (Ross 2006ROSS, J.L.S. 2006. Ecogeografia do Brasil: subsídios para planejamento ambiental. Oficina de Textos, São Paulo., Rodal et al. 2013RODAL, M.J.N., SAMPAIO, E.V.S.B. & FIGUEIREDO, M.A (orgs.). 2013. Manual sobre métodos de estudo florístico e fitossociológico: ecossistema caatinga. Sociedade Botânica do Brasil - SBB, Brasília.). The Caatinga is characterized by a semi-arid climate, with high temperatures and low annual precipitation (Trovão et al. 2007TROVÃO, D.M.B.M., FERNANDES, P.D., ANDRADE, L.A. & NETO, J.D. 2007. Variações sazonais de aspectos fisiológicos de espécies da Caatinga. Rev Bras Eng Agr Amb 11(3):307-311., Rodal et al. 2013); precipitation is highly seasonal and unpredictable with 50 to 70% of the annual rainfall occurring in three consecutive months (Santos & Andrade 1992SANTOS, A.F. & ANDRADE, J.A. 1992. Caracterização e delimitação do semiárido sergipano. CNPq/UFS, Aracaju., Rodal et al. 2013). The combination of unique geomorphological, pedological, and climatic conditions (Fernandes 2006FERNANDES, A. 2006. Fitogeografia brasileira: províncias florísticas. 3 ed. Realce Editora e Indústria Gráfica, Fortaleza.) results in a xeric formation dominated by small shrubs, cacti, and bromeliads (Cardoso & Queiroz 2007CARDOSO, D.B.O.S. & QUEIROZ, L.P. 2007. Diversidade de Leguminosae nas caatingas de Tucano, Bahia: implicações para a fitogeografia do semi-árido do Nordeste do Brasil. Rodriguésia 58(2):379-391.). However, there are forests with a rich flora and medium to large trees that are able to form a canopy, currently classified as a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (Pennington et al. 2009PENNINGTON, R.T., LAVIN, M. & OLIVEIRA-FILHO, A. 2009. Woody plant diversity, evolution, and ecology in the tropics: perspectives from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 40:437-457., Werneck 2011, Silva et al. 2017).

The Caatinga contains unique biodiversity with high endemism; yet, it is seriously threatened by unrestrained habitat degradation (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. , Mesquita et al. 2017MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C., GARDA, A.A. & DELFIM, F.R. 2017. Species composition, biogeography and conservation of Caatinga lizards In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Cham, p. 151-180. ). Of all the semi-arid regions of the world, it is the most populated, with about 27 million people that are mostly low-income, which makes them dependent on the exploitation of natural resources (Silva et al. 2017SILVA, J.M.C., BARBOSA, L.C.F., LEAL, I.R. & TABARELLI, M. 2017. The Caatinga: understanding the challenges. In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Switzerland, p. 3-19. ). Thereby, 46% of Caatinga’s original composition is already deforested (MMA 2020MMA. 2020. Governo Federal do Brasil. http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga (last access in 10/dec/2020)
http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga...
). This scenario is aggravated by its poor network of protected areas; currently, protected areas cover only 7.5% of the Caatinga, with only 1% composed of restricted use areas (Tabarelli & Vicente 2004TABARELLI, M. & VICENTE, A. 2004. Conhecimento sobre plantas lenhosas da Caatinga: lacunas geográficas e ecológicas. In Biodiversidade da caatinga: áreas e ações prioritárias para a conservação (J.M.C. Silva, M. Tabarelli, M.T. Fonseca & L.V. Lins, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília, p. 101-111. , MMA 2020MMA. 2020. Governo Federal do Brasil. http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga (last access in 10/dec/2020)
http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga...
).

For a long time, lizard fauna of Caatinga was considered to be undersampled, comprising a large proportion of widely distributed species and studies restricted to a few sampling sites (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. ). However, several studies have been published in the past 15 years and have contributed substantially to increasing our knowledge of the species richness and distribution in this region (Mesquita et al. 2017MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C., GARDA, A.A. & DELFIM, F.R. 2017. Species composition, biogeography and conservation of Caatinga lizards In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Cham, p. 151-180. ). Mesquita et al. (2017) reported 79 lizards species, similar to that recorded for the adjacent Cerrado (76 species; Brites et al. 2009BRITES, V.L.C., FARIA, R.G., MESQUITA, D.O. & COLLI, G.R. 2009. The herpetofauna of the neotropical savannas. In Tropical biology and conservation management. Vol X: Savanna Ecosystems. (K. Del Claro, P.S. Oliveira & V. Roco-Gray , eds.). Eolss. Publishers, Oxford, p. 200-286.; Nogueira et al. 2011NOGUEIRA, C., RIBEIRO, S., COSTA, G.C. & COLLI, G.R. 2011. Vicariance and endemism in a Neotropical savanna hotspot: distribution patterns of Cerrado squamate reptiles. J Biogeogr 38(10):1907-1922.). Recent studies also have shown moderate to high levels of endemism (Rodrigues 2000RODRIGUES, M.T. 2000. A new species of Mabuya (Squamata: Scincidae) from the semiarid caatingas of northeastern Brazil. Pap Avulsos Zool 41(21):313-328., Magalhães et al. 2014MAGALHÃES, F.M., LOEBMANN, D., KOKUBUM, M.N.C., HADDAD, C.F.B. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. A new species of Pseudopaludicola (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Leiuperinae) from northeastern Brazil. Herpetologica 70(1):77-88., Mesquita et al. 2017). In Sergipe state, little is known about the diversity of lizard fauna. The published studies are limited to some records and deal mainly with the expansion of the geographical distribution of specific species and some small reports of natural history (Delfim et al. 2006DELFIM, F.R., GONÇALVES, E.M. & SILVA, S.T. 2006. Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Psilophthalmus paeminosus: Distribution extension, new state record. Check List 2(3):89-92., Gouveia et al. 2010GOUVEIA, S.F., GOMES, F.F.A., SILVA, B.D. & FARIA, R.G. 2010. Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Spix’s Whiptail). Use of scorpions as prey in an ustable environment. Herpetol Rev 41:74-75., De-Carvalho et al. 2012, Amora et al. 2014AMORA, T.D., OLIVEIRA SILVA, A., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., HIRAKURI, V.L., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2014. Predation of Phyllopezus pollicaris by the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus in the Caatinga scrub of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:547-549., Ferreira et al. 2014FERREIRA, A.S., SILVA, A.O., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., CARDOSO, D.S. & SANTOS, P. 2014. Predation on Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) by Acanthoscurria natalensis (Aranea: Theraphosidae) in the semiarid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:501-503., Moura et al. 2015MOURA, L.O.G., MACHADO, C.M.S., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., SILVA, A.O., SANTANA, A.F. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Predation of Ameivulla ocellifera (Teiidae) by (Scholopendridae: Scolopendra sp.) in the vegetation of the Caatinga biome, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 8:389-391., Caldas et al. 2016aCALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., BOCCHIGLIERI, A. & MESQUITA, D.O. 2016a. Diploglossus lessonae Peracca, 1890 (Squamata: Anguidae): new records from northeast Brazil and notes on distribution. Check List 12(5):1982., Mikalauskas et al. 2017MIKALAUSKAS, J.S., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2017. Lizard predation Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata, Tropiduridae) by false coral snake Oxyrhopus trigeminus (Squamata, Dipsadidae) in the Caatinga, in northeastern Brazil. Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza 1(1):60-67.). More detailed ecological studies were conducted only in semiarid caatinga of the Monumento Natural Grota do Angico, municipality of Poço Redondo. The first two deal with the population dynamics and behavior of two Tropidurus species (Santana et al. 2011SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., RIBEIRO, A.D.S., OLIVEIRA, A.C.F., SOUZA, B.B., OLIVEIRA, D.G., SANTOS, E.D.S., SOARES, F.A.M., GONÇALVES, F.B., CALASANS, H.C.M., VIEIRA, H.S., CAVALCANTE, J.G., MARTEIS, L.S., ASCHOFF, L.S., RODRIGUES, L.C., XAVIER, M.C.T., SANTANA, M.M., SOARES, N.M., FIGUEIREDO, P.M.F.G., BARRETO, S.S.B., FRANCO, S.C. & ROCHA, S.M. 2011. Utilização do microhábitat e comportamento de duas espécies de lagartos do gênero Tropidurus numa área de Caatinga no Monumento Natural Grota do Angico. Scientia Plena 7(4):1-9., Gomes et al. 2015GOMES, F.F.A., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTOS, R.A., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O., ROCHA, S.M., FERREIRA, A.S. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Patterns of space, time and trophic resource use by Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus in an area of Caatinga, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol J 25(1):27-39.) and the last relies on diet composition of six lizard species (Ferreira et al. 2017). To date, no species list has been published in Caatinga areas from Sergipe state. Studies that characterize the diversity of the local herpetofauna, as well as long-term studies of community dynamics, are essential to subsidize conservation planning and management for the sustainable use of natural resources (Silveira et al. 2010SILVEIRA, L.F., BEISIEGEL, B.M., CURCIO, F.F., VALDUJO, P.H., DIXO, M., VERDADE, V.K., MATTOX, G.M.T. & CUNNINGHAM, P.T.M. 2010. Para que servem os inventários de fauna? Estud Av 24(68):173-207.). Herein, we present a detailed inventory of lizard species that occur in the Caatinga from the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, based on field expeditions carried out by the authors and specimens deposited at scientific collections.

Material and Methods

Study area

The Alto Sertão region of Sergipe is part of the Caatinga ecoregion called “Depressão Sertaneja Meridional” (Ab’Sáber 1974AB’SÁBER, A.N. 1974. O domínio morfoclimático das caatingas brasileiras. Instituto de Geografia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo., Velloso et al. 2002VELLOSO, A.L., SAMPAIO, E.V.S.B. & PAREYN, F.G.C. 2002. Ecorregiões propostas para o Bioma Caatinga. Associação Plantas do Nordeste/ Instituto de Conservação Ambiental, Recife., Silva et al. 2017SILVA, J.M.C., BARBOSA, L.C.F., LEAL, I.R. & TABARELLI, M. 2017. The Caatinga: understanding the challenges. In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Switzerland, p. 3-19. ), and encompasses seven municipalities: Canindé de São Francisco, Gararu, Monte Alegre de Sergipe, Nossa Senhora da Glória, Nossa Senhora de Lourdes, Poço Redondo, and Porto da Folha (Figure 1). The topography is predominantly smooth and wavy, cut by narrow valleys with dissected slopes (Sá et al. 2004SÁ, I.B., RICHÉ, G.R. & FOTIUS, G.A. 2004. As paisagens e o processo de degradação do semi-árido nordestino. In Biodiversidade da caatinga: áreas e ações prioritárias para a conservação (J.M.C. Silva, M. Tabarelli, M.T. Fonseca & L.V. Lins, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brasília, p. 17-36. ). The vegetation is mainly composed of trees and shrubs, where Poincianella, Aspidosperma, and Jatropha predominate (Andrade-Lima 1981ANDRADE-LIMA, D. 1981. The caatingas dominium. Rev Bras Bot 4:149-153.; Figure 2). According to the Köppen classification, the local climate is BSh, a mixture of arid and semi-arid regions (Alvares et al. 2013ALVARES, C.A., STAPE, J.L., SENTELHAS, P.C., MORAES, G., LEONARDO, J. & SPAROVEK, G. 2013. Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorol Z 22(6):711-728.). Temperatures are generally high, ranging from 26 to 28 oC and the average precipitation is approximately 500 mm per year (Nimer 1972NIMER, E. 1972. Climatologia da região Nordeste do Brasil. Introdução à Climatologia Dinâmica. Rev Bras Geogr 34(2):03-51.). Rainfall is seasonal, occurring from April to August (autumn-winter), and the dry season occurs during spring-summer (Nimer 1972, Santos & Andrade 1992SANTOS, A.F. & ANDRADE, J.A. 1992. Caracterização e delimitação do semiárido sergipano. CNPq/UFS, Aracaju.).

Figure 1
Map of South America showing the location of the study site. The outlined map on the right shows the municipalities of Sergipe state, with the Alto Sertão region shaded in blue and the eleven sampling sites in pink, orange and yellow. Sites 1-4 (pink squares) refer to the first inventory: 1) Canindé de São Francisco; 2) Poço Redondo; 3) Monte Alegre de Sergipe; 4) Nossa Senhora da Glória. Point 5 (orange triangle) refers to the second inventory carried out at the Monumento Natural Grota do Angico and points 6-11 (yellow circles) refer to the third inventory: 6) Fazenda Jerimum; 7) Fazenda do Senhor João; 8) Fazenda Angico; 9) Monumento Natural Grota do Angico; 10) Arboreal Caatinga in Comunidade Mocambo; 11) Recently abandoned pastures in Comunidade Mocambo.

Data collection

We conducted three inventories between 2010 and 2016. The first one had two stages, which lasted 20 days each. They were performed between 18 to 26 September 2010 and 5 to 15 April 2011, in dry and rainy seasons, respectively. The sampling sites were at the municipalities of Canindé do São Francisco (09°38’31”S, 37°47’16”W), Poço Redondo (09°48’21”S, 37°41’06”W), Monte Alegre de Sergipe (10°01’37”S, 37°33’43”W) and Nossa Senhora da Glória (10°13’06”S, 37°25’13”W; Figure 1). We used pitfall traps with drift fences and active search to capture lizards. In each locality, 25 traps were installed linearly, where each trap had four 20 L buckets buried at ground level. They were arranged in a Y-shape and interconnected by five meters long plastic fences, fixed on wooden stakes. The traps were approximately 20 m apart from each other and were checked daily. We also performed active searches during the day and night on random tracks.

In the second inventory, monthly expeditions of five consecutive days each were conducted between January 2010 and December 2011 at Monumento Natural Grota do Angico (09°39’S, 37°40’W; Figure 1), municipality of Poço Redondo. The sampling methods were the same as above, but 32 pitfall traps were installed and divided into three transects with a minimum distance of 1 km between them. Active searches were performed whenever possible.

The third inventory was carried out between 2015 and 2016. Two expeditions were performed in each locality, lizards were caught during the rainy season, between September 2015 and February 2016, and during the dry season, between April and August 2016. The sampled sites were: Fazenda Jerimum in Canindé de São Francisco (9°38’58.44”S, 37°44’5.50”W); Fazenda do Senhor João (9°41’10.56”S, 37°40’59.82”W), Fazenda Angico (9°40’15.72”S, 37°42’23.04”W) and Monumento Natural Grota do Angico (9°39’54.42”S, 37°40’44.10”W), in Poço Redondo; and Comunidade Mocambo in Porto da Folha. The latter was separated in two different locations (Figure 1), one composed by arboreal Caatinga (9°46’59.46”S, 37°26’0.36”W) and the other comprised of recently abandoned pastures (9°48’36.70”S, 37°25’59.50”W). Lizards were sampled with pitfall traps with drift fences, arranged as in the second inventory, and active searches were made throughout the day and night. All animals were captured or recorded.

Studies were performed with permits from IBAMA (189/2010-CGFAP), Secretaria do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos (SEMARH) of the state of Sergipe (2010.04.1008/00104-002 and 032.000.01920/2011-1) and SISBIO-ICMBio (48122-2). Lizards collected in all inventories were deposited in the Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade Federal de Sergipe (CHUFS) or Coleção Herpetológica da Universidade Federal da Paraíba (CHUFPB), and a list of the vouchers is presented in Appendix Supplementary Material The following online material is available for this article: Appendix . The number of specimens collected in each inventory followed the limit imposed by our respective license. However, the other animals captured and released were also computed, since they were identified and marked. Recapture data is not considered in our analysis. Finally, records from CHUFS were also used as complementary data.

Statistical analyses

To evaluate the sampling effort, we built an individual-based rarefaction curve (Gotelli & Colwell 2001GOTELLI, N.J. & COLWELL, R.K. 2001. Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4(4):379-391.) coupled with the non-parametric richness estimator Chao2P, using EstimateS v. 9.10 and Microsoft Excel (Colwell 2006COLWELL, R.K. 2006. EstimateS: statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples, version 9.1.0. http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/ (last access in 10/dec/2020)
http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/...
, Lopez et al. 2012LOPEZ, L.C.S., FRACASSO, M.P.A., MESQUITA, D.O., PALMA, A.R.T. & RIUL, P. 2012. The relationship between percentage of singletons and sampling effort: a new approach to reduce the bias of richness estimates. Ecol Indic 14(1):164-169.). The curve was built using 100 randomizations of the original data without replacement. The Chao2P is a factor correction based in Chao2 estimator able to reduce the bias under sampling conditions.

Results

We performed a detailed inventory of Caatinga lizards from Caatinga from the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe and obtained data from 9,485 individuals, representing 19 species and 10 families (Table 1; Figures 3-5). Teiidae and Gekkonidae were the most represented families, with three species each (Table 1). Moreover, Ameivula ocellifera (47.95%), Tropidurus hispidus, (19.00%) and T. semitaeniatus (13.85%) were the most abundant species (Figure 6). The shape of the rarefaction curve and the estimated value of Chao2P indicated our sampling was adequate and had a low probability of new species being collected with additional samples (Figure 7). Finally, considering the Caatinga distribution patterns proposed by Rodrigues (2003)RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. , we observed that 73.68% of the sampled species were widely distributed (14 species, one being invasive) and 26.32% had a relictual distribution (five species; Table 1).

Table 1
Lizard species from Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil. Municipalities = CSF - Canindé de São Francisco; MA - Monte Alegre de Sergipe; NSG - Nossa Senhora da Glória; PF - Porto da Folha; PR - Poço Redondo. Distribution Pattern (DP) = WD - widely distributed; WD(I) - widely distributed (invasive species); RD - relictual distribution; SFR - related with paleoquaternary sandy dunes from São Francisco River. = CHUFS - Herpetological Collection of the Universidade Federal de Sergipe; PS - Present study; 1 - De-Carvalho et al. 2012DE-CARVALHO, C.B., SANTOS, R.A., ROCHA, S.M., CALDAS, F.L.S., FREITAS, E.B., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O. & FARIA, R.G. 2012. Gymnodactylus geckoides (Naked-toed Gecko): Predation. (Natural History Notes). Herpetol Bull 121:41-43.; 2 - Santana et al. 2011SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., RIBEIRO, A.D.S., OLIVEIRA, A.C.F., SOUZA, B.B., OLIVEIRA, D.G., SANTOS, E.D.S., SOARES, F.A.M., GONÇALVES, F.B., CALASANS, H.C.M., VIEIRA, H.S., CAVALCANTE, J.G., MARTEIS, L.S., ASCHOFF, L.S., RODRIGUES, L.C., XAVIER, M.C.T., SANTANA, M.M., SOARES, N.M., FIGUEIREDO, P.M.F.G., BARRETO, S.S.B., FRANCO, S.C. & ROCHA, S.M. 2011. Utilização do microhábitat e comportamento de duas espécies de lagartos do gênero Tropidurus numa área de Caatinga no Monumento Natural Grota do Angico. Scientia Plena 7(4):1-9.; 3 - Amora et al. 2014AMORA, T.D., OLIVEIRA SILVA, A., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., HIRAKURI, V.L., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2014. Predation of Phyllopezus pollicaris by the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus in the Caatinga scrub of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:547-549.; 4 - Ferreira et al. 2014FERREIRA, A.S., SILVA, A.O., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., CARDOSO, D.S. & SANTOS, P. 2014. Predation on Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) by Acanthoscurria natalensis (Aranea: Theraphosidae) in the semiarid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:501-503.; 5 - Gomes et al. 2015GOMES, F.F.A., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTOS, R.A., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O., ROCHA, S.M., FERREIRA, A.S. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Patterns of space, time and trophic resource use by Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus in an area of Caatinga, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol J 25(1):27-39.; 6 - Moura et al. 2015MOURA, L.O.G., MACHADO, C.M.S., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., SILVA, A.O., SANTANA, A.F. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Predation of Ameivulla ocellifera (Teiidae) by (Scholopendridae: Scolopendra sp.) in the vegetation of the Caatinga biome, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 8:389-391.; 7 - Caldas et al. 2016aCALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., BOCCHIGLIERI, A. & MESQUITA, D.O. 2016a. Diploglossus lessonae Peracca, 1890 (Squamata: Anguidae): new records from northeast Brazil and notes on distribution. Check List 12(5):1982.; 8 - Ferreira et al. 2017FERREIRA, A.S., SILVA, A.O., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M. & FARIA, R.G. 2017. The diet of six species of lizards in an area of Caatinga, Brazil. Herpetol J 26(2017):151-160.; 9 - Mikalauskas et al. 2017MIKALAUSKAS, J.S., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2017. Lizard predation Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata, Tropiduridae) by false coral snake Oxyrhopus trigeminus (Squamata, Dipsadidae) in the Caatinga, in northeastern Brazil. Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza 1(1):60-67.. * = visual record; ** = not collected.

Figure 2
Habitats sampled during the lizards survey at the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil. A, B) Typical arboreal and arbustive Caatinga vegetation in rainy and dry seasons, respectively. C, D) Pitfall trap in open habitat during the rain and dry seasons, respectively. E) The bedrocks of dry streams. F) Rocky outcrops.

Figure 3
Lizards from Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil: A) Diploglossus lessonae; B) Hemidactylus brasilianus; C) Hemidactylus mabouia; D) Lygodactylus klugei; E) Acratosaura mentalis; F) Vanzosaura multiscutata; G) Iguana iguana; H) Brasiliscincus heathi. A, C, F, G - specimens were recorded in municipality of Monte Alegre; B, D, E, H - specimens were recorded in municipality of Poço Redondo. Photos by Daniel Mesquita, Daniel Santana and Renato Faria.

Figure 4
Lizards from Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil: A) Psychosaura agmosticha; B) Psychosaura macrorhyncha; C) Gymnodactylus geckoides; D) Phyllopezus pollicaris; E) Polychrus acutirostris; F) Coleodactylus meridionalis; G) Ameiva ameiva; H) Ameivula ocellifera. A, D, E, G, H - specimens recorded in municipality of Poço Redondo; B, C, F - specimens recorded in municipality of Monte Alegre. Photos by Daniel Mesquita, Daniel Santana and Renato Faria.

Figure 5
Lizards from Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil: A) Salvator merianae, adult; B) Salvator merianae, juvenile; C) Tropidurus semitaeniatus; D) Tropidurus hispidus. Specimens recorded in municipality of Poço Redondo. Photos by Renato Faria and Stéphanie Rocha.

Figure 6
Relative and absolute abundances of the lizard species of the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil (N = 9,485). The numbers next to the black bars refer to the absolute abundances of each species.

Figure 7
Individual-based rarefaction curve (line) and Chao2P species estimator (circles) for lizard species recorded in Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state, Brazil.

Discussion

We here present ten new records of lizards for the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe. The species are Hemidactylus brasilianus, H. mabouia (Gekkonidae), Acratosaura mentalis, Vanzosaura multiscutata (Gymnophthalmidae), Iguana iguana (Iguanidae), Psychosaura agmosticha, P. macrorhyncha (Mabuyidae), Polychrus acutirostris (Polychrotidae), Coleodactylus meridionalis (Sphaerodactylidae), Ameiva ameiva and Salvator merianae (Teiidae). These species already have their occurrence registered for the Caatinga region, but has no previous records for Caatinga from Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state.

The species richness observed in the Alto Sertão region (n = 19) was higher or equal than that from eight studies conducted in the Caatinga (Rodrigues 1986RODRIGUES, M.T. 1986. Uma nova espécie do gênero Phyllopezus de Cabaceiras: Paraíba: Brasil; com comentários sobre a fauna de lagartos da área (Sauria, Gekkonidae). Pap Avulsos Zool 36(20):237-250., Vitt 1995VITT, L.J. 1995. The ecology of tropical lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman., Borges-Nojosa & Cascon 2005BORGES-NOJOSA, D.M. & CASCON, P. 2005. Herpetofauna da área da Reserva da Serra das Almas, Ceará. In Análise das variações da biodiversidade do bioma Caatinga: suporte a estratégias regionais de conservação (F.S. Araújo, M.J.N. Rodal & M.R.V. Barbosa, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília, p. 244-258. , Freire et al. 2009FREIRE, E.M.X., SUGLIANO, G.O.S., KOLODIUK, M.F., RIBEIRO, L.B., MAGGI, B.D.S., RODRIGUES, L.S., VIEIRA, W.L.S. & FALCÃO, A.C.G.P. 2009. Répteis squamata das caatingas do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte e do Cariri da Paraíba: síntese do conhecimento atual e perspectivas. In Recursos naturais das caatingas: uma visão multidisciplinar (E.M.X. Freire, ed.). EDUFRN, Natal, p. 51-84. , Garda et al. 2013GARDA, A.A., COSTA, T.B., SANTOS-SILVA, C.R., MESQUITA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., SILVA, I.R.S., FERREIRA, A.S., ROCHA, S.M., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., RODRIGUES, R., FERRARI, S.F. & TORQUATO, S. 2013. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga I: Raso da Catarina Ecological Station (Bahia, Brazil). Check List 9(2):405-414., Cavalcanti et al. 2014CAVALCANTI, L.B.Q., COSTA, T.B., COLLI, G.R., COSTA, G.C., FRANÇA, F.G.R., MESQUITA, D.O., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., PELEGRIN, N., SOARES, A.H.B., TUCKER, D.B. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga II: Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil. Check List 10(1):18-27., Magalhães et al. 2015MAGALHÃES, F.M., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., COSTA, T.B., JUNCÁ, F.A., MESQUITA, D.O., RÖHR, D.L., SILVA, W.P., VIEIRA, G.H.C. & GARDA, A.A. 2015. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga IV: Chapada Diamantina National Park, Bahia, Brazil. Herpetol Notes 261(8):243-261., Caldas et al. 2016bCALDAS, F.L.S., COSTA, T.B., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., MESQUITA, D.O. & GARDA, A.A. 2016b. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga V: Seridó Ecological Station (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). Check List 12(4):1929.), which averaged 17 ± 1.30 lizard species. We highlight PARNA Chapada Diamantina (n = 15; Magalhães et al. 2015) and Estação Ecológica Raso da Catarina (n = 19; Garda et al. 2013) as they are the closest to the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe State. However, the richness found in the present study is lower than that recorded for the sand dunes of the São Francisco river (n = 30 species; Rodrigues 1996RODRIGUES, M.T. 1996. Lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians from the quaternary sand dunes of the middle Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil. J Herpetol 30(4):513-523.), PARNA Catimbau (n = 25; Pedrosa et al. 2014PEDROSA, I.M.M.C., COSTA, T.B., FARIA, R.G., FRANÇA, F.G.R., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., OLIVEIRA, T.C.S.P., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., TORQUATO, S., MOTT, T., VIEIRA, G.H.C. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga III: The Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco, Brazil. Biota Neotrop 14(4):e20140046. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-06032014004614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-060320140...
), and Araripe bioregion (n = 27; Ribeiro et al. 2012RIBEIRO, S.C., ROBERTO, I.J., SALES, D.L., ÁVILA, R.W. & ALMEIDA, W.O. 2012. Amphibians and reptiles from the Araripe bioregion, northeastern Brazil. Salamandra 48(3):133-146.). This variation in species richness may be result of different sampling efforts, differences in sample sizes or simply intrinsic differences of the locations.

Although our sampling effort seemed adequate, other species could be registered with the addition of new sampling points (Cornell & Lawton 1992CORNELL, H.V. & LAWTON, J.H. 1992. Species interactions, local and regional processes, and limits to the richness of ecological communities: a theoretical perspective. J Anim Ecol 61:1-12.). For example, Psilops paeminosus was previously recorded in Canindé de São Francisco (Delfim et al. 2006DELFIM, F.R., GONÇALVES, E.M. & SILVA, S.T. 2006. Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Psilophthalmus paeminosus: Distribution extension, new state record. Check List 2(3):89-92.), but we did not record this species. Other species have also been observed in nearby locations and were not found in this study, such as Tropidurus cocorobensis, which occurs in sandy areas between Bahia and Pernambuco (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. ), and Micrablepharus maximiliani, whose type locality is the state of Sergipe and has a wide distribution in Caatinga (Rodrigues 1996RODRIGUES, M.T. 1996. Lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians from the quaternary sand dunes of the middle Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil. J Herpetol 30(4):513-523., Moura et al. 2010MOURA, M.R., DAYRELL, J.S. & SÃO-PEDRO, V.A. 2010. Reptilia, Gymnophthalmidae, Micrablepharus maximiliani (Reinhardt and Lutken, 1861): Distribution extension, new state record and geographic distribution map. Check List 6(3):419-426.). Thus, we suggest that new samplings be carried out in unsampled areas of the municipalities in the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe state. New efforts should prioritize the municipalities of Gararu, Nossa Senhora da Glória and Nossa Senhora de Lourdes since they are localities with little or no sampling records.

The lizards Ameivulla ocellifera, Tropidurus hispidus, and T. semitaeniatus were predominant in the study area. These species are widely distributed throughout Caatinga, and A. ocellifera may also occur in coastal Restingas, being more common in open areas, occupying sandy soils and high insolation (Vitt 1995VITT, L.J. 1995. The ecology of tropical lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman., Werneck et al. 2009WERNECK, F.P., COLLI, G.R. & VITT, L.J. 2009. Determinants of assemblage structure in Neotropical Dry Forest lizards. Austral Ecol 34(1):97-115., Oliveira et al. 2015OLIVEIRA, E.F., GEHARA, M., SÃO‐PEDRO, V.A., CHEN, X., MYERS, E.A., BURBRINK, F.T., MESQUITA, D.O., GARDA, A.A., COLLI, G.R. & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2015. Speciation with gene flow in whiptail lizards from a Neotropical xeric biome. Mol Ecol 24(23):5957-5975.). Tropidurus hispidus is widely distributed throughout Caatinga, Cerrado, and Restingas (Rodrigues 1987RODRIGUES, M.T. 1987. Sistemática, ecologia e zoogeografia dos Tropidurus do grupo torquatus ao sul do Rio Amazonas (Sauria, Iguanidae). Arq Zool 31(3):105-230.). It is considered a habitat-generalist and can be found on rock surfaces, forest edges, tree trunks, fences, and walls, among other substrates (Rodrigues 1987RODRIGUES, M.T. 1987. Sistemática, ecologia e zoogeografia dos Tropidurus do grupo torquatus ao sul do Rio Amazonas (Sauria, Iguanidae). Arq Zool 31(3):105-230., Vitt et al. 1997VITT, L.J., CALDWELL, J.P., ZANI, P.A. & TITUS, T.A. 1997. The role of habitat shift in the evolution of lizard morphology: evidence from tropical Tropidurus. P Natl Acad Sci USA 94(8):3828-3832., Van-Sluys et al. 2004VAN-SLUYS, M., ROCHA, C.F.D., VRCIBRADIC, D., GALDINO, C.A.B. & FONTES, A.F. 2004. Diet, activity and microhabitat use of two syntopic Tropidurus species (Lacertilia: Tropiduridae) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. J Herpetol 38(4):606-611., Carvalho et al. 2005CARVALHO, C.M., VILAR, J.C. & OLIVEIRA, F.F. 2005. Répteis e anfíbios. In Parque Nacional Serra de Itabaiana - levantamento da biota. (C.M. Carvalho & J.C. Vilar, coords.). Aracaju: IBAMA, São Cristovão: UFS, p. 9-14. ). Although, T. semitaeniatus is widespread in Caatinga, it has high fidelity to rocky microhabitats (Freitas & Silva 2007FREITAS, M.A. & SILVA, T.F.S. 2007. A herpetofauna das caatingas e áreas de altitudes do nordeste brasileiro. USEB, Pelotas., Gomes et al. 2015GOMES, F.F.A., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTOS, R.A., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O., ROCHA, S.M., FERREIRA, A.S. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Patterns of space, time and trophic resource use by Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus in an area of Caatinga, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol J 25(1):27-39.). Niche differences in microhabitat use, added to trophic and temporal differences, can be the main reason for the high abundance of these species, since smaller overlays can decrease the effect of competition between them (Pianka 1973PIANKA, E.R. 1973. The structure of lizard communities. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4(1):53-74., Giacomini 2007GIACOMINI, H.C. 2007. Os mecanismos de coexistência de espécies como vistos pela teoria ecológica. Oecol Bras 11(4):521-543.).

Ten other species recorded in this study are also considered widely distributed in Caatinga. Ameiva ameiva, Iguana iguana, Polychrus acutirostris, Salvator merianae and Phyllopezus pollicaris are distributed throughout the dry diagonal in South America, including the Caatinga, Cerrado, and Chaco (Vanzolini et al. 1980VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro., Werneck & Colli 2006WERNECK, F.P. & COLLI, G.R. 2006. The lizard assemblage from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest enclaves in the Cerrado biome, Brazil, and its association with the Pleistocenic Arc. J Biogeogr 33(11):1983-1992., Delfim & Freire 2007DELFIM, F.R. & FREIRE, E.M.X. 2007. Os lagartos Gimnoftalmídeos (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) do Cariri Paraibano e do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte, Nordeste do Brasil: considerações acerca da distribuição geográfica e ecologia. Oecologia Aust 11(3):365-382., Garda et al. 2012GARDA, A.A., COSTA, G.C., FRANÇA, F.G.R., GIUGLIANO, L.G., LEITE, G.S., MESQUITA, D.O., NOGUEIRA, C., TAVARES-BASTOS, L., VASCONCELLOS, M.M. & VIEIRA, G.H.C. 2012. Reproduction, body size, and diet of Polychrus acutirostris (Squamata: Polychrotidae) in two contrasting environments in Brazil. J Herpetol 46(1):02-08.). The teiids A. ameiva and S. merianae occur in different vegetation types, but these lizards seem prefer open vegetation (forest ecotones or disturbed areas) and forest borders, which receive more direct sunlight (natural or not; Vitt & Colli, 1994VITT, L.J. & COLLI, G.C. 1994. Geographical ecology of a neotropical lizard: Ameiva ameiva (Teiidae) in Brazil. Can J Zool 72:1986-2008., Werneck et al. 2009, Sales et al. 2011SALES, R.F.D., RIBEIRO, L.B., JORGE, J. S. & FREIRE, E.M.X. 2011. Habitat use, daily activity periods and thermal ecology of Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) in a caatinga area of northeastern Brazil. Phyllomedusa 10(2):165-176.). Iguana iguana often use vegetation microhabitats close to bodies of water (Lara-López & González-Romero, 2002LARA-LÓPEZ, M.S. & GONZÁLEZ-ROMERO, A.G. 2002. Alimentación de La iguana verde Iguana iguana (Squamata:Iguanidae) en La Mancha, Vera Cruz, México. Acta Zool Mex 2:139-152.). Polychrus acutirostris prefers a heterogeneous arboreal environment, but predominantly lower tree branches and twigs and are often found near human habitations (Vanzolini 1974VANZOLINI, P.E. 1974. Ecological and geographical distribution of lizards in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Pap Avulsos Zool 25(4):61-90.; Renous et al. 2010RENOUS, S., HÖFLING, E. & DA ROCHA, P.L.B. 2010. Effect of substrate on the locomotion behaviour of the South American iguanian lizard Polychrus acutirostris. Ital J Zool 77(2):216-226.). Phyllopezus pollicaris has been frequently associated with rocky outcrops, but can be found within a wide range of microhabitats, like trees trunks, fallen logs and human edifications (Vanzolini et al. 1980VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das Caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro., Vitt 1995VITT, L.J. 1995. The ecology of tropical lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman., Recoder et al. 2012RECODER, R., TEIXEIRA JUNIOR, M., CAMACHO, A., & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2012. Natural history of the tropical gecko Phyllopezus pollicaris (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) from a sandstone outcrop in Central Brazil. Herpetol Notes 5:49-58.). This species has also been recorded in the Atlantic Forest, a humid forest located in Brazilian coast (Feio & Caramaschi, 2002FEIO, R.N. & CARAMASCHI, U. 2002. Contribuição ao conhecimento da herpetofauna do nordeste do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Phyllomedusa 1(2):105-111.).

Brasiliscincus heathi, Hemidactylus brasilianus and Gymnodactylus geckoides, in addition to the Caatinga, also permeate neighbor environments, such as the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest (Mesquita et al. 2006MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C. & COLLI, G.R. 2006. Ecology of an amazonian savanna lizard assemblage in Monte Alegre, Pará State, Brazil. S Am J Herpetol 1(1):61-71., Freitas & Silva 2007FREITAS, M.A. & SILVA, T.F.S. 2007. A herpetofauna das caatingas e áreas de altitudes do nordeste brasileiro. USEB, Pelotas., Freitas 2014FREITAS, M.A. 2014. Squamate reptiles of the Atlantic Forest of northern Bahia, Brazil. Check List 10(5):1020-1030., Travassos et al. 2015TRAVASSOS, M.L., TINOCO, M.S., MARQUES, R. & DELABIE, J.H. 2015. Lizard prey predilections and resource use in restinga habitats on the north coast of Bahia. Salamandra 51(2):171-181.), while B. heathi preferentially inhabits areas with bromeliads (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. ). Hemidactylus brasilianus can be found both in trees and in the soil and G. geckoides are most commonly seen under logs fallen or rocks and moving in litter (Vanzolini et al. 1980VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro., Vitt 1995VITT, L.J. 1995. The ecology of tropical lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman., Souza et al. 2013SOUZA, K., COELHO, R.D.F., SOBRINHO, C.P., NASCIMENTO, J.P.B., GOGLIATH, M. & RIBEIRO, L.B. 2013. Fauna de lagartos de hábitats de Caatinga do Campus Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal Do Vale Do São Francisco, Petrolina-Pe, Brasil. Rev Bras Zoociênc 15(1,2,3):253-265., Mesquita et al. 2017MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C., GARDA, A.A. & DELFIM, F.R. 2017. Species composition, biogeography and conservation of Caatinga lizards In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Cham, p. 151-180. ). Finally, despite occurring almost exclusively in Caatinga, Lydogactylus klugei also inhabit trees in SDTF enclaves of the Cerrado and V. multiscutata has a single isolated population in a dry forest habitat in the eastern Cerrado (Recoder et al. 2014RECODER, R.S., WERNECK, F.P., TEIXEIRA JR., M., COLLI, G.R., SITES JR, J.W. & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2014. Geographic variation and systematic review of the lizard genus Vanzosaura (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae), with the description of a new species. Zool J Linn Soc-Lond 171(1):206-225.). In Caatinga, V. multiscutata occur in litter and in other areas with little vegetation cover, but in areas with high cacti abundance, since they seem to prefer clumps in this type of plants (Delfim & Freire 2007DELFIM, F.R. & FREIRE, E.M.X. 2007. Os lagartos Gimnoftalmídeos (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) do Cariri Paraibano e do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte, Nordeste do Brasil: considerações acerca da distribuição geográfica e ecologia. Oecologia Aust 11(3):365-382.).

Five species present relictual distribution in Caatinga. Psychosaura agmosticha and P. macrorhyncha are more associated with bromeliads, especially Bromelia laciniosa (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. ). These species are also distributed in Restinga, an ecosystem associated with the Atlantic Forest, occurring all along the Brazilian coast (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. , Dias & Rocha 2014DIAS, E.J. & ROCHA, C.F. 2014. Habitat structural effect on Squamata fauna of the restinga ecosystem in Northeastern Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86(1):359-371.). Ultimately, Acratosaura mentalis, Coleodactylus meridionalis and Diploglossus lessonae are closely associated with forest environments, be can found in leaf litter (Rodrigues et al. 2005RODRIGUES, M.T., FREIRE, E.M.X., PELLEGRINO, K.C.M. & SITES, J.W. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of a new genus and species of microteiid lizard from the Atlantic forest of north-eastern Brazil (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). Zool J Linn Soc-Lond 144(4):543-557., Mesquita et al. 2017MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C., GARDA, A.A. & DELFIM, F.R. 2017. Species composition, biogeography and conservation of Caatinga lizards In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Cham, p. 151-180. ). This type of distribution may be related to the theory of Pleistocene refuges, which postulates that the decline of forests and expansion of xeric environments during the Quaternary promoted the isolation of these species locked into the relictual vegetation where they occurred previously (Haffer 1969HAFFER, J. 1969. Speciation in Amazonian forest birds. Science 165(3889):131-137., Vanzolini & Williams 1970VANZOLINI, P.E. & WILLIAMS, E.E. 1970. South American anoles: the geographic differentiation and evolution of the Anolis chrysolepis species group (Sauria, Iguanidae). Arq Zool 19(1-2):1-176., Vanzolini & Williams 1981VANZOLINI, P.E. & WILLIAMS, E.E. 1981. The vanishing refuge: a mechanism for ecogeographic speciation. Pap Avulsos Zool 34(23):251-255.). Acratosaura mentalis occurs in mesic habitats and relictual forests in the Caatinga, in semidecidual forests in the Cerrado and in the agreste, a transition zone between the Atlantic Forest and the semi-arid Caatinga, in which species from both biomes coexist (Queiroz & Lema 1996QUEIROZ, A.N. & LEMA, T. 1996. Novo registro de Colobosaura mentalis Amaral, 1933, (Sauria; Teiidae) para o nordeste do Brasil. Biociências 4(1):87-90., Rodrigues et al. 2009RODRIGUES, M.T., CASSIMIRO, J., FREITAS, M.A. & SILVA, T.F.S. 2009. A new microteiid lizard of the genus Acratosaura (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Serra do Sincorá, State of Bahia, Brazil. Zootaxa 2013(1):17-29., De-Carvalho et al. 2010DE-CARVALHO, C.B., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., NORONHA, M.V., FREITASS, E.B., FARIA, R.G. & SANTOS, R.A. 2010. Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Acratosaura mentalis (Amaral 1933): distribution extension and geographic distribution map. Check list 6(3):434-436.); C. meridionalis is a typical Atlantic Forest species (Vanzolini et al. 1980VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das Caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro.); and D. lessonae occurs in all of northeastern Brazil, both in the Atlantic Forest, in the agreste and in the caatingas (Vanzolini et al. 1980, Caldas et al. 2016aCALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., BOCCHIGLIERI, A. & MESQUITA, D.O. 2016a. Diploglossus lessonae Peracca, 1890 (Squamata: Anguidae): new records from northeast Brazil and notes on distribution. Check List 12(5):1982.).

The only introduced species recorded in this work is Hemidactylus mabouia. It is dispersed from Africa and is widely distributed in the Caribbean, South America, and Florida (Vanzolini 1978VANZOLINI, P.E. 1978. On South American Hemidactylus (Sauria, Gekkonidae). Pap Avulsos Zool 31:307-343. , Gamble et al. 2011GAMBLE, T., BAUER, A.M., COLLI, G.R., GREENBAUM, E., JACKMAN, T.R., VITT, L.J. & SIMONS, A.M. 2011. Coming to America: multiple origins of New World geckos. J Evolution Biol 24(2):231-244.). It is generally found in urban environments but can also be found in several Brazilian environments (Rödder et al. 2008RÖDDER, D., SOLÉ, M. & BÖHME, W. 2008. Predicting the potential distributions of two alien invasive Housegeckos (Gekkonidae: Hemidactylus frenatus, Hemidactylus mabouia). North-West J Zool 4(2):236-246.).

Finally, lizard fauna of the Caatinga in Sergipe is still poorly known when compared to other states that are also located in this environment (Rodrigues 2003RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236. ). Although recent studies have been made about ecology and geographical distribution of lizards, much work should be carried out for achieving more knowledge on Caatinga’s saurofauna. Therefore, we suggest that future research focus mainly on non-sampled areas, due to this prior knowledge of species distribution, so that more complex studies can be developed.

Supplementary Material

The following online material is available for this article: Appendix

Acknowledgements

We thank the Universidade Federal de Sergipe and the Universidade Federal da Paraíba for granting support and logistics for this work. We are also grateful to Department of Environment and Water Resources - SEMARH/SE and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources - IBAMA for conceding the collection licenses.

References

  • AB’SÁBER, A.N. 1974. O domínio morfoclimático das caatingas brasileiras. Instituto de Geografia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
  • AB’SÁBER, A.N. 1977. Os domínios morfoclimáticos na América do Sul: primeira aproximação. Instituto de Geografia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
  • ALVARES, C.A., STAPE, J.L., SENTELHAS, P.C., MORAES, G., LEONARDO, J. & SPAROVEK, G. 2013. Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorol Z 22(6):711-728.
  • AMORA, T.D., OLIVEIRA SILVA, A., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., HIRAKURI, V.L., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2014. Predation of Phyllopezus pollicaris by the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus in the Caatinga scrub of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:547-549.
  • ANDRADE-LIMA, D. 1981. The caatingas dominium. Rev Bras Bot 4:149-153.
  • BORGES-NOJOSA, D.M. & CASCON, P. 2005. Herpetofauna da área da Reserva da Serra das Almas, Ceará. In Análise das variações da biodiversidade do bioma Caatinga: suporte a estratégias regionais de conservação (F.S. Araújo, M.J.N. Rodal & M.R.V. Barbosa, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília, p. 244-258.
  • BRITES, V.L.C., FARIA, R.G., MESQUITA, D.O. & COLLI, G.R. 2009. The herpetofauna of the neotropical savannas. In Tropical biology and conservation management. Vol X: Savanna Ecosystems. (K. Del Claro, P.S. Oliveira & V. Roco-Gray , eds.). Eolss. Publishers, Oxford, p. 200-286.
  • CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., BOCCHIGLIERI, A. & MESQUITA, D.O. 2016a. Diploglossus lessonae Peracca, 1890 (Squamata: Anguidae): new records from northeast Brazil and notes on distribution. Check List 12(5):1982.
  • CALDAS, F.L.S., COSTA, T.B., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., MESQUITA, D.O. & GARDA, A.A. 2016b. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga V: Seridó Ecological Station (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). Check List 12(4):1929.
  • CARDOSO, D.B.O.S. & QUEIROZ, L.P. 2007. Diversidade de Leguminosae nas caatingas de Tucano, Bahia: implicações para a fitogeografia do semi-árido do Nordeste do Brasil. Rodriguésia 58(2):379-391.
  • CARVALHO, C.M., VILAR, J.C. & OLIVEIRA, F.F. 2005. Répteis e anfíbios. In Parque Nacional Serra de Itabaiana - levantamento da biota. (C.M. Carvalho & J.C. Vilar, coords.). Aracaju: IBAMA, São Cristovão: UFS, p. 9-14.
  • CAVALCANTI, L.B.Q., COSTA, T.B., COLLI, G.R., COSTA, G.C., FRANÇA, F.G.R., MESQUITA, D.O., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., PELEGRIN, N., SOARES, A.H.B., TUCKER, D.B. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga II: Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil. Check List 10(1):18-27.
  • COLWELL, R.K. 2006. EstimateS: statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples, version 9.1.0. http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/ (last access in 10/dec/2020)
    » http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/
  • CORNELL, H.V. & LAWTON, J.H. 1992. Species interactions, local and regional processes, and limits to the richness of ecological communities: a theoretical perspective. J Anim Ecol 61:1-12.
  • DE-CARVALHO, C.B., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTANA, D.O., NORONHA, M.V., FREITASS, E.B., FARIA, R.G. & SANTOS, R.A. 2010. Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Acratosaura mentalis (Amaral 1933): distribution extension and geographic distribution map. Check list 6(3):434-436.
  • DE-CARVALHO, C.B., SANTOS, R.A., ROCHA, S.M., CALDAS, F.L.S., FREITAS, E.B., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O. & FARIA, R.G. 2012. Gymnodactylus geckoides (Naked-toed Gecko): Predation. (Natural History Notes). Herpetol Bull 121:41-43.
  • DELFIM, F.R. & FREIRE, E.M.X. 2007. Os lagartos Gimnoftalmídeos (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) do Cariri Paraibano e do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte, Nordeste do Brasil: considerações acerca da distribuição geográfica e ecologia. Oecologia Aust 11(3):365-382.
  • DELFIM, F.R., GONÇALVES, E.M. & SILVA, S.T. 2006. Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Psilophthalmus paeminosus: Distribution extension, new state record. Check List 2(3):89-92.
  • DIAS, E.J. & ROCHA, C.F. 2014. Habitat structural effect on Squamata fauna of the restinga ecosystem in Northeastern Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86(1):359-371.
  • FEIO, R.N. & CARAMASCHI, U. 2002. Contribuição ao conhecimento da herpetofauna do nordeste do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Phyllomedusa 1(2):105-111.
  • FERNANDES, A. 2006. Fitogeografia brasileira: províncias florísticas. 3 ed. Realce Editora e Indústria Gráfica, Fortaleza.
  • FERREIRA, A.S., SILVA, A.O., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., CARDOSO, D.S. & SANTOS, P. 2014. Predation on Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) by Acanthoscurria natalensis (Aranea: Theraphosidae) in the semiarid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 7:501-503.
  • FERREIRA, A.S., SILVA, A.O., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M. & FARIA, R.G. 2017. The diet of six species of lizards in an area of Caatinga, Brazil. Herpetol J 26(2017):151-160.
  • FREIRE, E.M.X., SUGLIANO, G.O.S., KOLODIUK, M.F., RIBEIRO, L.B., MAGGI, B.D.S., RODRIGUES, L.S., VIEIRA, W.L.S. & FALCÃO, A.C.G.P. 2009. Répteis squamata das caatingas do Seridó do Rio Grande do Norte e do Cariri da Paraíba: síntese do conhecimento atual e perspectivas. In Recursos naturais das caatingas: uma visão multidisciplinar (E.M.X. Freire, ed.). EDUFRN, Natal, p. 51-84.
  • FREITAS, M.A. 2014. Squamate reptiles of the Atlantic Forest of northern Bahia, Brazil. Check List 10(5):1020-1030.
  • FREITAS, M.A. & SILVA, T.F.S. 2007. A herpetofauna das caatingas e áreas de altitudes do nordeste brasileiro. USEB, Pelotas.
  • GAMBLE, T., BAUER, A.M., COLLI, G.R., GREENBAUM, E., JACKMAN, T.R., VITT, L.J. & SIMONS, A.M. 2011. Coming to America: multiple origins of New World geckos. J Evolution Biol 24(2):231-244.
  • GARDA, A.A., COSTA, G.C., FRANÇA, F.G.R., GIUGLIANO, L.G., LEITE, G.S., MESQUITA, D.O., NOGUEIRA, C., TAVARES-BASTOS, L., VASCONCELLOS, M.M. & VIEIRA, G.H.C. 2012. Reproduction, body size, and diet of Polychrus acutirostris (Squamata: Polychrotidae) in two contrasting environments in Brazil. J Herpetol 46(1):02-08.
  • GARDA, A.A., COSTA, T.B., SANTOS-SILVA, C.R., MESQUITA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., SILVA, I.R.S., FERREIRA, A.S., ROCHA, S.M., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., RODRIGUES, R., FERRARI, S.F. & TORQUATO, S. 2013. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga I: Raso da Catarina Ecological Station (Bahia, Brazil). Check List 9(2):405-414.
  • GIACOMINI, H.C. 2007. Os mecanismos de coexistência de espécies como vistos pela teoria ecológica. Oecol Bras 11(4):521-543.
  • GOMES, F.F.A., CALDAS, F.L.S., SANTOS, R.A., SILVA, B.D., SANTANA, D.O., ROCHA, S.M., FERREIRA, A.S. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Patterns of space, time and trophic resource use by Tropidurus hispidus and T. semitaeniatus in an area of Caatinga, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol J 25(1):27-39.
  • GOUVEIA, S.F., GOMES, F.F.A., SILVA, B.D. & FARIA, R.G. 2010. Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Spix’s Whiptail). Use of scorpions as prey in an ustable environment. Herpetol Rev 41:74-75.
  • GOTELLI, N.J. & COLWELL, R.K. 2001. Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4(4):379-391.
  • HAFFER, J. 1969. Speciation in Amazonian forest birds. Science 165(3889):131-137.
  • LARA-LÓPEZ, M.S. & GONZÁLEZ-ROMERO, A.G. 2002. Alimentación de La iguana verde Iguana iguana (Squamata:Iguanidae) en La Mancha, Vera Cruz, México. Acta Zool Mex 2:139-152.
  • LOPEZ, L.C.S., FRACASSO, M.P.A., MESQUITA, D.O., PALMA, A.R.T. & RIUL, P. 2012. The relationship between percentage of singletons and sampling effort: a new approach to reduce the bias of richness estimates. Ecol Indic 14(1):164-169.
  • MAGALHÃES, F.M., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., COSTA, T.B., JUNCÁ, F.A., MESQUITA, D.O., RÖHR, D.L., SILVA, W.P., VIEIRA, G.H.C. & GARDA, A.A. 2015. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga IV: Chapada Diamantina National Park, Bahia, Brazil. Herpetol Notes 261(8):243-261.
  • MAGALHÃES, F.M., LOEBMANN, D., KOKUBUM, M.N.C., HADDAD, C.F.B. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. A new species of Pseudopaludicola (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Leiuperinae) from northeastern Brazil. Herpetologica 70(1):77-88.
  • MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C. & COLLI, G.R. 2006. Ecology of an amazonian savanna lizard assemblage in Monte Alegre, Pará State, Brazil. S Am J Herpetol 1(1):61-71.
  • MESQUITA, D.O., COSTA, G.C., GARDA, A.A. & DELFIM, F.R. 2017. Species composition, biogeography and conservation of Caatinga lizards In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Cham, p. 151-180.
  • MIKALAUSKAS, J.S., SANTANA, D.O. & FERRARI, S.F. 2017. Lizard predation Tropidurus hispidus (Squamata, Tropiduridae) by false coral snake Oxyrhopus trigeminus (Squamata, Dipsadidae) in the Caatinga, in northeastern Brazil. Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza 1(1):60-67.
  • MMA. 2020. Governo Federal do Brasil. http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga (last access in 10/dec/2020)
    » http://www.mma.gov.br/biomas/caatinga
  • MOURA, L.O.G., MACHADO, C.M.S., CONCEIÇÃO, B.M., SILVA, A.O., SANTANA, A.F. & FARIA, R.G. 2015. Predation of Ameivulla ocellifera (Teiidae) by (Scholopendridae: Scolopendra sp.) in the vegetation of the Caatinga biome, northeastern Brazil. Herpetol Notes 8:389-391.
  • MOURA, M.R., DAYRELL, J.S. & SÃO-PEDRO, V.A. 2010. Reptilia, Gymnophthalmidae, Micrablepharus maximiliani (Reinhardt and Lutken, 1861): Distribution extension, new state record and geographic distribution map. Check List 6(3):419-426.
  • NIMER, E. 1972. Climatologia da região Nordeste do Brasil. Introdução à Climatologia Dinâmica. Rev Bras Geogr 34(2):03-51.
  • NOGUEIRA, C., RIBEIRO, S., COSTA, G.C. & COLLI, G.R. 2011. Vicariance and endemism in a Neotropical savanna hotspot: distribution patterns of Cerrado squamate reptiles. J Biogeogr 38(10):1907-1922.
  • OLIVEIRA, E.F., GEHARA, M., SÃO‐PEDRO, V.A., CHEN, X., MYERS, E.A., BURBRINK, F.T., MESQUITA, D.O., GARDA, A.A., COLLI, G.R. & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2015. Speciation with gene flow in whiptail lizards from a Neotropical xeric biome. Mol Ecol 24(23):5957-5975.
  • PEDROSA, I.M.M.C., COSTA, T.B., FARIA, R.G., FRANÇA, F.G.R., LARANJEIRAS, D.O., OLIVEIRA, T.C.S.P., PALMEIRA, C.N.S., TORQUATO, S., MOTT, T., VIEIRA, G.H.C. & GARDA, A.A. 2014. Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga III: The Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco, Brazil. Biota Neotrop 14(4):e20140046. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-06032014004614
    » http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-06032014004614
  • PENNINGTON, R.T., LAVIN, M. & OLIVEIRA-FILHO, A. 2009. Woody plant diversity, evolution, and ecology in the tropics: perspectives from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 40:437-457.
  • PIANKA, E.R. 1973. The structure of lizard communities. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4(1):53-74.
  • PRADO, D.E. 2003. As caatingas da América do Sul. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 3-73.
  • QUEIROZ, A.N. & LEMA, T. 1996. Novo registro de Colobosaura mentalis Amaral, 1933, (Sauria; Teiidae) para o nordeste do Brasil. Biociências 4(1):87-90.
  • RECODER, R., TEIXEIRA JUNIOR, M., CAMACHO, A., & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2012. Natural history of the tropical gecko Phyllopezus pollicaris (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) from a sandstone outcrop in Central Brazil. Herpetol Notes 5:49-58.
  • RECODER, R.S., WERNECK, F.P., TEIXEIRA JR., M., COLLI, G.R., SITES JR, J.W. & RODRIGUES, M.T. 2014. Geographic variation and systematic review of the lizard genus Vanzosaura (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae), with the description of a new species. Zool J Linn Soc-Lond 171(1):206-225.
  • RENOUS, S., HÖFLING, E. & DA ROCHA, P.L.B. 2010. Effect of substrate on the locomotion behaviour of the South American iguanian lizard Polychrus acutirostris Ital J Zool 77(2):216-226.
  • RIBEIRO, S.C., ROBERTO, I.J., SALES, D.L., ÁVILA, R.W. & ALMEIDA, W.O. 2012. Amphibians and reptiles from the Araripe bioregion, northeastern Brazil. Salamandra 48(3):133-146.
  • RODAL, M.J.N., SAMPAIO, E.V.S.B. & FIGUEIREDO, M.A (orgs.). 2013. Manual sobre métodos de estudo florístico e fitossociológico: ecossistema caatinga. Sociedade Botânica do Brasil - SBB, Brasília.
  • RÖDDER, D., SOLÉ, M. & BÖHME, W. 2008. Predicting the potential distributions of two alien invasive Housegeckos (Gekkonidae: Hemidactylus frenatus, Hemidactylus mabouia). North-West J Zool 4(2):236-246.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T. 1986. Uma nova espécie do gênero Phyllopezus de Cabaceiras: Paraíba: Brasil; com comentários sobre a fauna de lagartos da área (Sauria, Gekkonidae). Pap Avulsos Zool 36(20):237-250.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T. 1987. Sistemática, ecologia e zoogeografia dos Tropidurus do grupo torquatus ao sul do Rio Amazonas (Sauria, Iguanidae). Arq Zool 31(3):105-230.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T. 1996. Lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians from the quaternary sand dunes of the middle Rio São Francisco, Bahia, Brazil. J Herpetol 30(4):513-523.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T. 2000. A new species of Mabuya (Squamata: Scincidae) from the semiarid caatingas of northeastern Brazil. Pap Avulsos Zool 41(21):313-328.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga (I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva , eds.). Editora Universitária da UFPE, Recife, p. 181-236.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T., FREIRE, E.M.X., PELLEGRINO, K.C.M. & SITES, J.W. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of a new genus and species of microteiid lizard from the Atlantic forest of north-eastern Brazil (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). Zool J Linn Soc-Lond 144(4):543-557.
  • RODRIGUES, M.T., CASSIMIRO, J., FREITAS, M.A. & SILVA, T.F.S. 2009. A new microteiid lizard of the genus Acratosaura (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Serra do Sincorá, State of Bahia, Brazil. Zootaxa 2013(1):17-29.
  • ROSS, J.L.S. 2006. Ecogeografia do Brasil: subsídios para planejamento ambiental. Oficina de Textos, São Paulo.
  • SÁ, I.B., RICHÉ, G.R. & FOTIUS, G.A. 2004. As paisagens e o processo de degradação do semi-árido nordestino. In Biodiversidade da caatinga: áreas e ações prioritárias para a conservação (J.M.C. Silva, M. Tabarelli, M.T. Fonseca & L.V. Lins, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Brasília, p. 17-36.
  • SALES, R.F.D., RIBEIRO, L.B., JORGE, J. S. & FREIRE, E.M.X. 2011. Habitat use, daily activity periods and thermal ecology of Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) in a caatinga area of northeastern Brazil. Phyllomedusa 10(2):165-176.
  • SANTANA, D.O., FARIA, R.G., RIBEIRO, A.D.S., OLIVEIRA, A.C.F., SOUZA, B.B., OLIVEIRA, D.G., SANTOS, E.D.S., SOARES, F.A.M., GONÇALVES, F.B., CALASANS, H.C.M., VIEIRA, H.S., CAVALCANTE, J.G., MARTEIS, L.S., ASCHOFF, L.S., RODRIGUES, L.C., XAVIER, M.C.T., SANTANA, M.M., SOARES, N.M., FIGUEIREDO, P.M.F.G., BARRETO, S.S.B., FRANCO, S.C. & ROCHA, S.M. 2011. Utilização do microhábitat e comportamento de duas espécies de lagartos do gênero Tropidurus numa área de Caatinga no Monumento Natural Grota do Angico. Scientia Plena 7(4):1-9.
  • SANTOS, A.F. & ANDRADE, J.A. 1992. Caracterização e delimitação do semiárido sergipano. CNPq/UFS, Aracaju.
  • SOUZA, K., COELHO, R.D.F., SOBRINHO, C.P., NASCIMENTO, J.P.B., GOGLIATH, M. & RIBEIRO, L.B. 2013. Fauna de lagartos de hábitats de Caatinga do Campus Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal Do Vale Do São Francisco, Petrolina-Pe, Brasil. Rev Bras Zoociênc 15(1,2,3):253-265.
  • SILVA, J.M.C., BARBOSA, L.C.F., LEAL, I.R. & TABARELLI, M. 2017. The Caatinga: understanding the challenges. In Caatinga: the Largest Tropical Dry Forest Region in South America (J.M.C. Silva, I.R. Leal & M. Tabarelli , eds.). Springer, Switzerland, p. 3-19.
  • SILVEIRA, L.F., BEISIEGEL, B.M., CURCIO, F.F., VALDUJO, P.H., DIXO, M., VERDADE, V.K., MATTOX, G.M.T. & CUNNINGHAM, P.T.M. 2010. Para que servem os inventários de fauna? Estud Av 24(68):173-207.
  • TABARELLI, M. & VICENTE, A. 2004. Conhecimento sobre plantas lenhosas da Caatinga: lacunas geográficas e ecológicas. In Biodiversidade da caatinga: áreas e ações prioritárias para a conservação (J.M.C. Silva, M. Tabarelli, M.T. Fonseca & L.V. Lins, orgs.). Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília, p. 101-111.
  • TRAVASSOS, M.L., TINOCO, M.S., MARQUES, R. & DELABIE, J.H. 2015. Lizard prey predilections and resource use in restinga habitats on the north coast of Bahia. Salamandra 51(2):171-181.
  • TROVÃO, D.M.B.M., FERNANDES, P.D., ANDRADE, L.A. & NETO, J.D. 2007. Variações sazonais de aspectos fisiológicos de espécies da Caatinga. Rev Bras Eng Agr Amb 11(3):307-311.
  • VAN-SLUYS, M., ROCHA, C.F.D., VRCIBRADIC, D., GALDINO, C.A.B. & FONTES, A.F. 2004. Diet, activity and microhabitat use of two syntopic Tropidurus species (Lacertilia: Tropiduridae) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. J Herpetol 38(4):606-611.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E. 1974. Ecological and geographical distribution of lizards in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. Pap Avulsos Zool 25(4):61-90.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E. 1978. On South American Hemidactylus (Sauria, Gekkonidae). Pap Avulsos Zool 31:307-343.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das Caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E. & WILLIAMS, E.E. 1970. South American anoles: the geographic differentiation and evolution of the Anolis chrysolepis species group (Sauria, Iguanidae). Arq Zool 19(1-2):1-176.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E. & WILLIAMS, E.E. 1981. The vanishing refuge: a mechanism for ecogeographic speciation. Pap Avulsos Zool 34(23):251-255.
  • VANZOLINI, P.E., RAMOS-COSTA, A.M.M. & VITT, L.J. 1980. Répteis das caatingas. Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro.
  • VELLOSO, A.L., SAMPAIO, E.V.S.B. & PAREYN, F.G.C. 2002. Ecorregiões propostas para o Bioma Caatinga. Associação Plantas do Nordeste/ Instituto de Conservação Ambiental, Recife.
  • VITT, L.J. 1995. The ecology of tropical lizards in the Caatinga of Northeast Brazil. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
  • VITT, L.J. & COLLI, G.C. 1994. Geographical ecology of a neotropical lizard: Ameiva ameiva (Teiidae) in Brazil. Can J Zool 72:1986-2008.
  • VITT, L.J., CALDWELL, J.P., ZANI, P.A. & TITUS, T.A. 1997. The role of habitat shift in the evolution of lizard morphology: evidence from tropical Tropidurus P Natl Acad Sci USA 94(8):3828-3832.
  • WERNECK, F.P. 2011. The diversification of eastern South American open vegetation biomes: historical biogeography and perspectives. Quaternary Sci Ver 30(13):1630-1648.
  • WERNECK, F.P. & COLLI, G.R. 2006. The lizard assemblage from Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest enclaves in the Cerrado biome, Brazil, and its association with the Pleistocenic Arc. J Biogeogr 33(11):1983-1992.
  • WERNECK, F.P., COLLI, G.R. & VITT, L.J. 2009. Determinants of assemblage structure in Neotropical Dry Forest lizards. Austral Ecol 34(1):97-115.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    12 Apr 2021
  • Date of issue
    2021

History

  • Received
    21 Sept 2020
  • Reviewed
    29 Jan 2021
  • Accepted
    21 Feb 2021
Instituto Virtual da Biodiversidade | BIOTA - FAPESP Departamento de Biologia Vegetal - Instituto de Biologia, UNICAMP CP 6109, 13083-970 - Campinas/SP, Tel.: (+55 19) 3521-6166, Fax: (+55 19) 3521-6168 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: contato@biotaneotropica.org.br