Herpetofauna, municipality of Porto Murtinho, Chaco region, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

Among the physiographic regions included in the central South American diagonal of open formations, the Chaco, with some endemic species, represents the southernmost dry area. In Brazil, the Chaco is found in southwestern corner of Mato Grosso do Sul state, mostly in the municipality of Porto Murtinho along the Paraguay and Apa rivers. From February 2008 to December 2009, we carried out an inventory of amphibians and reptiles in Porto Murtinho, using pitfall traps, time-limited searches, and occasional encounters. A total of 34 amphibian and 39 reptile species were registered. Although some typical Chacoan species were found, most of the species are open area dwellers that also occur in other open biomes, such as the Cerrado and Caatinga.

Lepidobatrachus asper Budgett,1899 (Amphibia: Anura: Ceratophryidae): new country record, distribution map and natural history notes

“…The natural vegetation of the Chaco, including the Brazilian part, has been suffering severe degradation, resulting from logging, agriculture and livestock (Bucher and Huszar 1999;Silva et al 2008; CI, ECOA, Fundación AVINA, Instituto SOS Pantanal and WWF-Brasil 2009). Some recent records (Souza et al 2010;Amaral et al 2012;present study) have shown that the Brazilian Chaco is still poorly surveyed, and the rapid environmental degradation can lead to local extinctions of certain species before they are recorded. There are no conservation units in the Brazilian Chaco, which would be a way to protect its unique biodiversity.…”

“…Aquino et al (1996) species at three localities in Paraguay ( Figure 3A, triangles): one in Puerto Casado, Alto Paraguay Departament, one at Estancia Juan de Salazar, Presidente Hayes Departament, and one in Asunción, Central Departament. The southwestern region of Mato Grosso do Sul State harbors a flora and fauna typical of the Chaco domains, in addition to the influence of the adjacent Cerrado and Pantanal (Prado et al 1992;Prado 1993a,b;Straube et al2006;Souza et al 2010;Amaral et al 2012). This area is the only under the influence of the Chaco domain in Brazil, which is isolated from the remaining Chaco by the Paraguay and Apa rivers.…”

“…This area is the only under the influence of the Chaco domain in Brazil, which is isolated from the remaining Chaco by the Paraguay and Apa rivers. Some typical Chacoan species were recently registered in this area (Souza et al 2010), including the first record for the toad Melanophryniscus klappenbachi (Amaral et al 2012). In fact, the fauna of the region has been poorly studied and the occurrence of species frequently recorded in Chacoan areas is expected (Strüssmann et al 2011).…”

Diversidade de anfíbios do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil

“…No Brasil, a representatividade da região chaquenha está restrita a uma pequena faixa, limitada pelas margens dos rios Paraguai e Apa, no município de Porto Murtinho, sul do estado de Mato Grosso do Sul. As primeiras informações detalhadas da herpetofauna do Chaco brasileiro, caracterizado como "Chaco úmido" (Hueck 1972a,b;Prado et al, 1992;Prado, 1993), foram disponibilizadas por Souza et al (2010). Essa região é a localidade do primeiro registro no Brasil de Melanophryniscus klappenbachi (Amaral et al, 2012) e Lepidobatrachus asper (Sugai et al, 2013), conforme previsto por Strüssmann et al (2011), o que reforça a importância dessa fitofisionomia para a biodiversidade brasileira.…”

“…Apesar dessa riqueza, informações básicas como padrões de distribuição geográfica, de endemismo e dinâmica populacional ainda são escassas para muitas espécies, o mesmo sendo válido para estudos dessa natureza em diferentes hábitats ou fitofisionomias. Os registros de espécies de anfíbios para o estado de Mato Grosso do Sul são extremamente pontuais (ver Gordo & Campos, 2003Ávila & Ferreira, 2004;Strüssmann et al, 2007, para histórico de registros para o estado) e, em alguns casos, abrangem as áreas da planície de inundação e seus arredores, onde está inserida a grande região do Pantanal (PCBAP, 1997;Strüssmann et al, 2000;Gordo & Campos, 2003;Wang et al, 2005;Uetanabaro et al, 2007Uetanabaro et al, , 2008Souza et al, 2010).…”