Geographical distribution and ecological considerations of the Testudines fauna from Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Resumo -O conhecimento da história natural das espécies brasileiras de cágados e tartarugas ainda é bastante incipiente, visto que a maior parte das informações sobre esses animais se restringe aos poucos registros de ocorrência, que em geral encontram-se esparsos na literatura ou mesmo em museus. Essa escassez de conhecimento dificulta abordagens mais amplas sobre vários aspectos ecológicos e evolutivos primordiais em planos de conservação e manejo para esse grupo. A grande extensão geográfica, complexidade ambiental e degradação dos biomas no Nordeste fazem com que a sistematização dos dados ambientais e biológicos sobre os quelônios da Região, compilados e discutidos neste trabalho, sejam de suma importância para a caracterização do estado de conservação dessas espécies e, por consequência, auxiliem a subsidiar o diagnóstico dos ambientes associados. Palavras-chave adicionais: conservação, Cryptodira, Pleurodira, quelônios, Sauropsidas.Abstract (Geographical distribution and ecological considerations on the Testudines fauna from Northeast Brazil) -The knowledge of natural history of the Brazilian species of turtles is still insipient because most information about these animals are restricted to a few records of occurrence, which in general are sparse in the literature or even in museums. The paucity of knowledge hinders broader approaches on various ecological and evolutionary aspects, which are primordial for conservation planning and management of the group. The large geographical extent, the environmental complexity, and the degradation of biomes in Northeast Brazil make the systematization of environmental and biological data on turtles from this region, which are compiled and discussed in this paper, highly important to contribute to the characterization of the conservation status of these species and therefore to subsidize the diagnosis of the environments associated to them.

First documented record of <em>Kinosternon scorpioides</em> (Chelonia: Kinosternidae) in the state of Piauí, Northeastern Brazil

“…Sento Sé 10º19'00.00" 41º50'00.00" Pereira et al (2007); Barreto et al (2010); Viana et al (2013Viana et al ( , 2014Viana et al ( , 2015; Moura et al (2014).…”

“…Raposa 02º25'31.00" 44º04'04.00" Barreto et al (2009); Moura et al (2014). Reserva Biológica Gurupi 03°58'32.00" 46°46'52.00" Freitas et al (2017).…”

“…Belo Jardim 08°20'11.40" 36°25'24.60" Freitas et al (2019). Betânia 08º18'00.00" 38º11'00.00" Moura et al (2012Moura et al ( , 2014. Cabrobó 08º44'00.00" 39º42'00.00" Moura et al (2012Moura et al ( , 2014.…”

“…Despite its extensive area of occurrence in Brazil in different biomes (Amazon, Caatinga, Cerrado, Pantanal and Coastal Zone) of the Northern, Northeastern and Midwestern regions (Iverson 1992;Cabrera & Colantonio 1997;Costa et al 2010;Silveira et al 2011;Moura et al 2014;Tomas et al 2015), there are still large sample gaps (Silveira et al 2011), including in the Brazilian Northeastern. The Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2014) cites the occurrence of this species in all states of Brazilian Northeastern, however, there is no documented record of localities or vouchers (Silveira et al 2011).…”

“…Documented records of K. scorpioides occurrence in Brazilian Northeastern are found for the states of Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte (e.g. Cabrera & Colantonio 1997;Berry & Iverson 2011;Moura et al 2014), being Pernambuco the state with the largest number of records (Moura et al 2014) indicating a homogeneous distribution throughout the state. In other states the records are punctual or located in relatively small areas.…”