Data on reptile fauna in the state of Minas Gerais are punctual and show the need of information about this group, mainly in transition regions between the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado. The study area is located in Ritápolis municipality (21° 01' 37.07" S and 44° 19' 11.84" W), micro-region Campo das Vertentes, State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. The aim of this study was to study the composition of the local reptile fauna. The observations, captures and collections were performed every two weeks, during two consecutive days, from August 2005 to July 2006. The captures were made using pitfall traps with drift fences, divided in eight sites: four in the gallery forest area and four in open areas, totalizing 6.912 hours-bucket of sampling effort. We also performed active captures, used photographs to register occasional encounters and in some cases we also obtained snake specimens that were delivered by local people when found dead. We recorded a total of 31 reptile species, two turtle species; nine lizards; two amphisbaenians and 18 snakes. Only the lizards Cercosaura ocellata, Enyalius bilineatus and Tupinambis merianae and the snakes Leptodeira annulata and Apostolepis assimilis were captured by pitfall traps. The most common lizards were Ameiva ameiva and Mabuya frenata and the most abundant snakes were Oxyrhophus guibei and Sibynomorphus mikanii. Lizards are very well represented in the area, with species typical of the forest, as Enyalius bilineatus, and from Cerrado open areas, as Ameiva ameiva and Mabuya frenata. The snake assemblage contains species typical of Cerrado open areas (e. g. O. guibei and Micrurus frontalis), and of forests, as Liophis poecilogyrus and Philodryas olfersii. The diversity of reptile species and the previous record of Amphisbaena dubia and Hydromedusa tectifera in the state of Minas Gerais indicate the great potential of the Campo das Vertentes to reveal the occurrence of new species or to extend the distribution of other species.

De junho de 1998 a dezembro de 1999, cinco eventos reprodutivos do falcão-de-coleira Falco femoralis foram registrados e monitorados no município de Juiz de Fora, Estado de Minas Gerais, sudeste brasileiro. Dois ninhos encontrados em 1998 foram monitorados por duas estações reprodutivas (1998/99), enquanto um terceiro, encontrado em 1999, foi monitorado apenas em uma estação reprodutiva. Todos os ninhos estavam situados em árvores isoladas, localizadas em áreas de pastagens, e a altura em relação ao solo, variou entre 5,1 a 7,2 m. A estação reprodutiva ocorreu, nos dois anos, no final da estação seca e no início da estação chuvosa (posturas efetuadas em agosto e setembro).Dos 15 ovos colocados, três foram predados e outros três foram abandonados pelo casal, possivelmente por perturbação antrópica. A média de postura foi de três ovos por ninho e a taxa de eclosão dos filhotes foi de 1,6 ( 1,5. Oito filhotes eclodiram do total dos ovos colocados. A média de filhotes por ninho que alcançaram o primeiro vôo foi de 1,4 ( 1,5, representada por sete filhotes (seis no primeiro ano e um no segundo ano do estudo). Com exceção de um casal que abandonou o sítio reprodutivo em 1999, todos os indivíduos permaneceram durante todo o monitoramento, em seus territórios. Foi constatada a utilização de um ninho abandonado e o maior ninho possuía 77 cm de diâmetro, 32 cm de altura e 25 cm de profundidade da cuba interna. A biologia reprodutiva do falcão-de-coleira nesse estudo foi similar ao registrado em outras regiões, sendo que variações de latitude e condições climáticas parecem não afetar o padrão reprodutivo da espécie.

Reproductive biology and geographic variation of Zachaenus carvalhoi (Anura: Cycloramphidae), a Brazilian Atlantic Forest frog. Information is presented on the reproductive biology, habitat, behavior, morphology, and variation in advertisement call in Zachaenus carvalhoi, a rare frog for which basic natural history data are lacking. The species inhabits forest leaf litter in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil. Reproductive individuals were found from October to December; females are slightly larger than males. The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently lists Zachaenus carvalhoi Threatened category based on the IUCN criteria A2 because of the decline of the size and quality of its severely fragmented habitat.

The objective of the present study was to learn which species of Squamata reptiles occur in Protected Area São José, in Tiradentes, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Between November 2009 and December 2010 reptiles were captured. In total 157 specimens were recorded of 29 species, 16 snakes, 12 lizards and one amphisbaena. Among the snakes, Dipsadidae showed the greatest richness, with a total of nine species. The group of snakes had the highest number of species present in the community, but 79% of sampled specimens were lizards, Enyalius bilineatus being the most abundant species, with 21% of occurrence. The area with the highest richness was the Cerradão. The lower abundance was found in the Gallery Forest area (n=14), but it was the vegetation type with the highest equitability. Areas of Cerradão and Cerrado sensu strictu showed the most similarity. In these areas five species were recorded in common, Bothrops neuwiedi (n=3) being the only species of snake, and the two species of lizards most abundant in both environments were Enyalius bilineatus (n=32) and Ameivula ocellifera (n=19). Ophiodes striatus and Xenodon merremii were common to Cerradão and Dirty Field areas. There was no species recorded that were common to the environments of Cerrado and Dirty Field but two species not sympatric were found of the same genus, Tropidurus torquatus, which was found only in the Cerrado sensu strictu and Tropidurus itambere exclusively in Dirty Field. Since none of the rarefaction curves reached full asymptote, this highlights the need for further study due to the high probability of new species being recorded for the studied area.