Herpetofauna of the Bilsa Biological Station, province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador

Abstract

The Bilsa Biological Station is located on the Mache-Chindul mountains and protects some of the last rainforest remnants in the province of Esmeraldas, northwestern Ecuador. Since 2004, we have been inventorying the amphibians and reptiles of Bilsa. We found 109 species of herpetofauna (37 amphibians and 72 reptiles), representing 8 % and 18 % of the known species from Ecuador, respectively. We report distribution extensions for Sachatamia albomaculata, Hyalinobatrachium valerioi, Pristimantis muricatus, and P. rosadoi, and report the presence of several putatively undescribed species. We propose the Mache–Chindul mountains as a Key Biodiversity Area within the West Ecuadorian Endemic Area.

Molecular phylogeny of Atractus (Serpentes, Dipsadidae), with emphasis on Ecuadorian species and the description of three new taxa

“…Based on this new information and re-examination of museum material, we report on 9 additional specimens (Table 1) that expand the current known distribution of this species. Cisneros-Heredia and Romero (2015) suggest that a photographic record of Atractus cf. melas from the Bilsa Biological Station, province of Esmeraldas, northwestern Ecuador (Ortega-Andrade et al 2010) corresponds to Atractus multicinctus . The specimen differs from other material assigned to Atractus multicinctus in having whitish rings as opposed to red rings throughout the body (Fig.…”

Tamaño poblacional, uso del hábitat y relaciones interespecíficas de agalychnis spurrelli (anura: hylidae) en un bosque húmedo tropical remanente del noroccidente de Ecuador

“…A lo largo del rango de distribución de A. spurrelli, agrupaciones de individuos son comúnmente encontradas en pequeños humedales naturales o artificiales y riachuelos poco torrentosos rodeados por vegetación arbórea, asociada a los estratos altos del bosque de donde desciende para reproducirse (Duellman, 2001b). También ha sido registrada en bosques primarios, secundarios y áreas alteradas con árboles remanentes, comúnmente asociados a charcas permanentes o temporales (Gray, 1997;Ortega-Andrade et al, 2010). Vargas et al (2000) atribuyeron un comportamiento territorial para esta especie, reportando una distancia promedio de separación entre machos de 40-50 cm o más, fieles a los sitios de vocalización y con evidencia de combates por invasión de espacio.…”

“…spurrelli es una especie que puede ser considerada para manejo, debido a la facilidad de adaptarse a ambientes no forestales, como pastizales y zonas agrí-colas, siempre que estas tengan charcas, lagunas permanentes, temporales, artificiales o riachuelos poco torrentosos con árboles y vegetación circundante, o se localicen dentro de bosques (Gray, 1997;Vargas et al, 2000;Ortega-Andrade et al, 2010). La vegetación arbórea puede proveer de sitios de refugio, mientras que la vegetación media y baja es adecuada como área de reproducción.…”

Association of Anthropogenic Disturbances and Intestinal Parasitism in Ecuadorian Mantled Howler Monkeys, Alouatta palliata aequatorialis

“…The reserve spans 3,300 ha and is surrounded on 3 sides by the Mache Chindul Ecological Reserve which is adjacent to 2 local communities. This field site is ideal for our study because varying levels of forest disturbance are present, including 20% secondary forest, 2 nearby communities of less than 200 people in total, and a single road that splits the reserve into 2 similarly sized areas [Ortega-Andrade et al, 2010;Helenbrook, 2014]. The reserve is also devoid of recent hunting pressures, which means that wildlife -particularly monkeys -are often found living in close proximity to people.…”

“…These secondary forests may actually provide an ideal heterogeneous habitat for howlers [Ortega-Andrade et al, 2010], thus explaining why those groups near people were larger. The fact that degraded habitats might not necessarily mean poor-quality food sources might explain why changes in forest structure were not as strongly related to parasite species richness as expected.…”