Alves, Rômulo Romeu da Nóbrega

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COMMERCIALIZATION OF URANOSCODON SUPERCILIOSUS LINNAEUS, 1758 (TROPIDURIDAE) FOR MAGICAL-RELIGIOUS PURPOSES IN NORTH AND NORTHEASTERN OF BRAZILRÔMULO ROMEU DA NÓBREGA ALVESDepartamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Av. das Baraúnas, 351/Campus Universitário, Bodocongó,58109-753, Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brasil (romulo_nobrega@yahoo.com.br)INTRODUCTIONReptiles are one of the fundamentalethnozoological entities, and we interpret our relationshipwith reptiles differently depending upon culture,environment, and personal experience. Besides the use ofthem as food, reptiles have been used for various purposes,for example, traded as pets, used in traditional medicine andas magical-religious objects. Reptiles are among the animalspecies most frequently used in traditional folk practices indifferent socio-cultural contexts throughout the world(ALVES et al., 2008). Despite the intensive use of reptiles forpurposes other than alimentary, there is a general lack ofdetailed information concerning the magnitude of thisharvesting and its impact on the species.Although Brazilian legislation forbids commercialuse of wild fauna (Article 1 Law 5.197 January 3rd, 1967 andArticle 29 of Law 9,605 February 12th, 1998), products andderivatives made from animals are commonly illegally tradedin traditional markets, representing important sale points ofthe native exotic fauna of the Amazonian region (ALVES &SANTANA 2008). The diving lizard (Uranoscodonsuperciliosus Linnaeus, 1758) is among the species mostfrequently used and traded for magical-religious purposes.Nevertheless, there are no records of commercial use ofthis species.This lizard occurs in northern South America eastof the Andes (AVILA-PIRES, 1995). It is an arboreal lizard,living in vegetation along streams, rivers, and marshes andfeeding largely on insects and other invertebrates washedup on shores or deposited in rift piles just above the waterline (HOWLAND et al., 1990). It is the sister taxon to all othertropidurids (FROST, 1992).MATERIAL AND METHODSAs part of broader study of magical-religious faunain Brazil, this paper reports aspects of the use andcommercialization of U. superciliosus for magical-religiouspurposes in cities of São Luís (Maranhão) and Belém (Pará)Northeastern and Northern Brazil respectively. The studywas carried out from January 2004 to November 2005. Visitswere done in outdoor markets and religious articles stores,where products derived of the animals are commonly traded.Information on the use and trade of U. superciliosus formagical-religious purposes was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires applied to 30 traders (15 in Belémand 15 in São Luís).Belém is the capital and also the biggest city of thestate of Pará (01°27’21'’ S -48°30’16'’ W). With a populationof over 1.3 million, it is the 10th biggest city of Brazil. Itsmetropolitan area has approximately 2.01 million inhabitants.It is the entrance gate and, together with Manaus, the mostimportant city in the Brazilian Amazonian region.  The cityof São Luís (02°31’47'’S - 44°18’10'’ W) is the capital ofMaranhão State and is located in São Luís Island at thebanks of São Marcos and São José bays, Northeastern ofBrazil. The metropolitan area totals 1.227,659 (ranked 16 inBrazil) (ALVES & PEREIRA-FILHO, 2007).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONU. superciliosus is known as “tamaquaré” bylocals. All interviewees mentioned traded products derivedfrom tamaquaré. Dead animals are usually sold whole or inparts. Nevertheless, live animals stored in plastic bottlescould be observed during the fieldwork. In addition to wholeanimals or their parts, other products derived fromtamaquaré are offered for sale, principally “águas” (waters)or perfumes and “pó” (dust). The águas (Fig. 1) or perfumesare products that contain U. superciliosus suspended iningredients such as alcohol, rose water, or solutionscontaining other plant materials. The pó (dust) is producedfrom the animal, which is dried (Fig. 2) in the sun and thenground to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.According to the shop owners, the productsproduced from U. superciliosus (dust and water) are usedSITIENTIBUS SÉRIE CIÊNCIAS BIOLOGICAS 8 (2): 257-258 [VOL. 8257Fig. 1. “Água (water) de tamaquaré” (U. superciliosus)commercialized in religious articles stores in São Luís, MaranhãoState, Brazil.to “amansar” (to calm down an aggressive person or easethe anger of someone betrayed by their wife or husband).There is an association between the biologicalcharacteristics of lizard and the effects its use is expectedto generate. Animals that move slowly (“lerdos”) are usedto calm people down (“lerdar”).   This observation is similarto that of RADBILL (1976) who pointed out that inhomeopathic or imitative magic, it is assumed that certainqualities attributed to animals can be transferred to humans,and that this transfer can occur by inhalation, ingestion orapplication of the body parts of those animals.The águas are also used in washing clothes (theproduct is diluted into the water used to wash the clothesof the person to be affected) or as a perfume that can begiven to the person in question as a present. The pó (dust)serves the same purpose as the águas made with tamaquaré,but it is employed by placing the dust in food served to theperson who is to be cast under its spell.Fig. 2. Dried diving lizard (U. superciliosus) for sale in Ver-o-Peso Market, Belem, Pará State, Brazil.Despite the existence of intensive use and trade ofU. superciliosus in the Amazon region, there is a great lackof information about it, what makes difficult for an evaluationof the real size of this activity and its impact on nature.Beyond of the tamaquaré, others reptiles have been tradedfor magical-religious purposes in Brazil (ALVES & PEREIRAFILHO, 2007).  Understanding the socio-economic andcultural aspects of use and trade of animals is also importantfor the development of any successful management plan.Given that this is the first report on this subject, furtherinvestigations of this topic may bring important additionalinformation for the conservation of reptiles. As noted byALVES et al. (2008), the manner in which natural resourcesare used by human populations and cultural normsassociated with that use are extremely relevant to thedefinition of possible conservation strategies.REFERENCESALVES RRN & GA PEREIRA-FILHO. 2007. Commercialization and use ofsnakes on North and Northeastern Brazil: implicationsfor conservation and management. Biodivers Conserv.16(4): 969-985.ALVES RRN & GG SANTANA. 2008. Use and commercialization ofPodocnemis expansa (Schweiger 1812) (Testudines:Podocnemididae) for medicinal purposes in twocommunities in North of Brazil. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed4: 1-19.ALVES RRN, WLS VIEIRA & GG SANTANA. 2008. Reptiles used intraditional folk medicine: conservation implications.Biodivers Conserv, in press. DOI 10.1007/s10531-007-9305-0AVILA-PIRES TCS. 1995. Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia:Squamata). Leiden: Zoologische Verhandelingen.FROST DR. 1992. Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomy of theTropidurus group of lizards (Iguania: Tropiduridae). Am.Mus. Novit. 3033: 1-68.HOWLAND JM, LJ VITT & PT LOPEZ. 1990. Life on the edge: theecology and life history of the tropidurine iguanid lizardUranoscodon superciliosum. Can J Zool 68: 1366-1373.RADBILL SX. 1976. Child hygiene among the Indians. Texas Reportson Biology and Medicine 3 (4): 419-512.ABRIL - JUNHO 2008] 258ALVES - TRADE OF URANOSCODON SUPERCILIOSUS

Commercialization of Uranoscodon superciliosus Linnaeus, 1758 (Tropiduridae) for magical-religious purposes in North and Northeastern of Brazil

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Commercialization of Uranoscodon superciliosus Linnaeus, 1758 (Tropiduridae) for magical-religious purposes in North and Northeastern of Brazil

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