NOVEDAD ZOOGEOGRÁFICA

Tropidurus cocorobensis Rodrigues, 1987 (Squamata, Tropiduridae): new record and geographic distribution map in northeastern Brazil

 

Leonardo Barros Ribeiro^1,2, Michelle de Souza Brito¹, Luirick Felix Silva Barbosa¹, Luiz Cezar Machado Pereira^1,2, Patrícia Avello Nicola^1,2

¹ Centro de Conservação e Manejo de Fauna da Caatinga (CEMAFAUNA-CAATINGA). CEP 56300-990. Petrolina, PE, Brazil.
² Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Campus Ciências Agrárias, Colegiado de Ciências Biológicas. Rodovia BR 407, km 12, Lote 543, s/nº - C1. CEP 56300-990. Petrolina, PE, Brazil.

Recibida: 02/12/11
Revisada: 24/02/12
Aceptada: 01/03/12

 

Locality.- Tropidurus cocorobensis Rodrigues, 1987. Brazil, state of Pernambuco, municipality of Floresta (08°36'04" S; 38°34'07" W; 316 m). Collectors: Members of the Wildlife Rescue Team from the Project of Integration of São Francisco river (PISF) with the basins of septentrional northeastern. From July 2009 to February 2010, 55 specimens were collected in areas of Caatinga characterized by shrub vegetation with sandy soil, and deposited in the Scientific Collection of the Centro de Conservação e Manejo de Fauna da Caatinga - CEMAFAUNA-CAATINGA/UNIVASF, Petrolina, Brazil. Axis East Transposition of the São Franscisco river - Petrolândia (Leste Petrolândia: LPE) (LPE 998).

Comments.- Tropiduridae is a reptilian family with a large number of known species among the neotropical lizards (Torres-Carvajal, 2004). The genus Tropidurus occurs from southern Venezuela east through the Guianas to northeastern Brazil, from there west south of the Amazon region to eastern Bolivia, extreme northern Uruguay, and central Argentina (Frost et al., 2001). In Brazil, there are 36 species of tropidurids, 18 of which belong to the genus Tropidurus (Bérnils and Costa, 2011). Currently, this genus is subdivided into four species groups: T. spinulosus, T. torquatus, T. bogerti, and T. semitaeniatus (Frost et al., 2001). The Tropidurus torquatus group was revised by Rodrigues (1987), whose complex of species was well-defined through the geographical distribution and morphology based on the mite pockets and skin folds in the three major areas of the body (neck, axillary, and inguinal regions). Among the Tropidurus of the torquatus group, T. cocorobensis Rodrigues, 1987 (Fig. 1) is a psammophilous lizard, endemic from the Brazilian Caatinga. It was described from the municipality of Cocorobó, now Canudos, in the Raso da Catarina region, state of Bahia (Rodrigues, 1987). Currently its distribution is also recognized for the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco (Rodrigues, 2003).

Figure 1. Tropidurus cocorobensis (LPE 1949), municipality of Floresta, state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Photo by CEMAFAUNACaatinga.

In the states aforementioned there are seven known localities of occurrence of this species: Caetité, Morro do Chapéu, Xique-Xique, Canudos, Rodelas (Bahia) (Rodrigues, 2003; Freitas and Silva, 2007), Xingó (Alagoas) (Rodrigues, 2003), and Buíque (Pernambuco) (Rodrigues, 2003; Muniz and Santos, 2009). Herein, we expand the geographic distribution of T. cocorobensis with an additional record in the state of Pernambuco, municipality of Floresta (Itaparica microregion) (Fig. 2), on the left bank of the São Francisco river.

Figure 2. Records of Tropidurus cocorobensis. Bahia (BA): 1. Caetité (Freitas and Silva, 2007), 2. Morro do Chapéu (Freitas and Silva, 2007), 3. Xique-Xique (Freitas and Silva, 2007), 4. Canudos (Type-Locality, Rodrigues, 1987), 5. Rodelas (Rodrigues, 2003); Alagoas (AL): 6. Xingó (Rodrigues, 2003); Pernambuco (PE): 7. Buíque (Parque Nacional do Catimbau, Rodrigues, 2003; Muniz and Santos, 2009), 8. Floresta (new record).

The finding reported here extends the known geographical distribution of T. cocorobensis about 70 km northeastern from the municipality of Rodelas (08°51'3" S, 38°45'21" W; Paulo Afonso microregion, on the right bank of the São Francisco river, state of Bahia), and about 120 km west from the nearest record in the state of Pernambuco, in the municipality of Buíque (microregion of Vale do Ipanema; 08°37'24" S, 37°09'23" W; 798 m) (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Partial map of northeastern Brazil, showing the previous known records for Tropidurus cocorobensis in Bahia (A: Rodelas municipality, on the right bank of the São Francisco river) and Pernambuco (B: Buíque municipality). Both are the nearest locations of the species capture points (red dots) here documented for the municipality of Floresta (C), on the left bank of the São Francisco river, Pernambuco.

According to Rodrigues (2003), T. cocorobensis is a species with psammophile adaptations and disjunct distribution, whose phylogeny based on biochemical, molecular and chromosomal techniques quite probably will show the need for taxonomic refinements to better reflect their evolutionary history. This argument is based on the fact that there is no genetic contact among their populations that show great fidelity to the sandy soils. Because of this it is possible that some of them may be considered distinct species. Finally, the record of T. cocorobensis for the municipality of Foresta represents a reinforcement to the evidence that this species, in the past, lived in the Caatinga sandy soils, still much larger than today's observable sandy soils.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the Ministério da Integração Nacional for financial support to the Project of Integration of São Francisco river (PISF) and two anonymous referees for critically reviewing the manuscript. Collecting permits (# 042/2007 and 125.r/2010 Process n° 02001.003112/2007-12) were granted by Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA).

LITERATURE CITED

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