Tantilla boipiranga is a rare vulnerable snake found in the Atlantic Forest, distributed in the phytophysiognomy of rocky grasslands (campos rupestres), in southeastern Brazil. Here, we update the known geographic range of the species to eight new localities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, extending its distribution approximately 400 km northwards to the municipality of Almenara, from the previous northernmost record, and 703 km from the type locality

França, Arthur Toledo Ramos Costa

Mol, Rafael Magalhães

Tunes, Pedro Henrique

English

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Oecologia Australis24(4):943-948, 2020https://doi.org/10.4257/oeco.2020.2404.17DISTRIBUTION EXTENSION OF THE BLACK-HEADED SNAKE Tantilla boipiranga SAWAYA & SAZIMA, 2003 IN THE STATE OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZILPedro Henrique Tunes1, Arthur Toledo Ramos Costa França1& Rafael Magalhães Mol1,2*1 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Zoologia, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Pampulha, 6627, CEP 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 2 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Zoologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Pampulha, 6627, CEP 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. E-mails: pedrotunes00@gmail.com, arthurtrcfranca@gmail.com, molrafael2@gmail.com (*corresponding author).Abstract: Tantilla boipiranga is a rare vulnerable snake found in the Atlantic Forest, distributed in the phytophysiognomy of rocky grasslands (campos rupestres), in southeastern Brazil. Here, we update the known geographic range of the species to eight new localities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, extending its distribution approximately 400 km northwards to the municipality of Almenara, from the previous northernmost record, and 703 km from the type locality.Keywords: Serra do Espinhaço, snake, Squamata, Colubridae.The black-headed snake Tantilla boipiranga Sawaya & Sazima 2003 (Squamata, Colubridae) (Figure 1) is a Vulnerable species of colubrid (Morato 2010, IUCN 2020), belonging to the Tantilla melanocephala group that occurs at high elevations (648–1300 m) in the rupestrian grasslands of the Cerrado biome and in the Atlantic Forest domain (Sawaya & Sazima 2003, Silveira et al. 2009). This species is characterized by its reddish-orange body-color, high number of ventral (147 - 167) and subcaudals (58 - 70) scales and by the single and columnar hemipenis morphology (Sawaya & Sazima 2003, Silveira et al. 2009).According to Sawaya & Sazima (2003), T. boipiranga was considered endemic to the region of the Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brazil. After that, the species’ distribution included three new localities: the municipalities of Ouro Preto, and Alvorada de Minas (Silveira et al. 2009) and to the municipality of Caratinga (Nogueira et al. 2020), all of them in the state of Minas Gerais.In this paper, we compiled all data found in the literature related to the old known localities and, from the examination of 12 specimens, we present eight new localities for T. boipiranga. The new localities presented extends to the known species´ geographic distribution northwards in the Espinhaço Mountain Range, as proposed by Silveira et al. (2009), to the Quadrilátero Ferrífero and to the Rio Doce basin (Figure 2). The new records of T. boipiranga came from different localities in the state of Minas Gerais, and are housed in three herpetological collections: Coleção de Répteis do Centro de Coleções Taxonômicas do ICB/UFMG (UFMG), Coleção de Serpentes da Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED), and Coleção de Répteis do Museu de Ciências Naturais da Pontifícia Universidade Católica Oecol. Aust. 24(4): 943–948, 2020 944 | New records of Tantilla boipiranga in BrazilFigure 1. Live specimen of Tantilla boipiranga from the municipality of Morro do Pilar, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Photo by Pedro H. Martinsde Minas Gerais (MCNR). Specimens were morphologically analyzed by the characters proposed by Sawaya & Sazima (2003), and Silveira et al. (2009) (Table 1). Measurements of the body were taken with a measuring ruler (1 mm precision) for total length, and a digital caliper (0.02 mm precision) for head length, head width, interocular distance, and internasal distance. The specimen mentioned by Nogueira et al. (2020) for the locality of Caratinga - MG (UFMG 1402), was also examined and we update its voucher number to UFMG 121. In addition to the analyzed specimens, we compared them with two paratypes of the species housed at the UFMG collection, which were formally cited by Sawaya & Sazima (2003) as UFMG 1034 and 1048. However, due to a reformulation in the collection, these specimens had theirs vouchers changed to UFMG 123 and 124 respectively (Table 1). Silveira et al. (2009) revealed a variation in the number of ventrals and subcaudals scales proposing a new diagnosis for T. boipiranga, complementing the description of Sawaya & Sazima (2003). In our morphological review, we also found variation in these morphological traits: 149-175 ventral scales, and 68 subcaudal scales in one female specimen (Table 1), which corroborates the first hypothesis of Silveira et al. (2009) that the species presents populations with varied states of characters in each, as we can see in the specimens from Brumadinho and Congonhas that borders with the municipality of Ouro Preto. Moreover, we also found similar number of ventral scales between males and females (Table 1).The municipalities of Almenara and Berilo are located northeastern Minas Gerais, in the Espinhaço Mountain Range, and represent the northernmost distribution in the state of Minas Gerais (703 and 471 km from the type locality, respectively). The municipality of Almenara is influenced by deciduous and semi-deciduous physiognomies of the Atlantic Forest domain, which was indicated as a priority area for conservation (Drummond et al. 2005, Melo 2005, MMA 2018). Berilo is dominated by rocky grasslands (campos rupestres), a physiognomy of Cerrado (Lara & Fernandes 1996).The municipalities of Santa Luzia, Morro do Tunes et al. | 945 Oecol. Aust. 24(4): 943–948, 2020Table 1. Morphological characters of the analyzed specimens of T. boipiranga in this study. (*) paratypes (Sawaya & Sazima 2003) of the species housed at UFMG used only for comparison and were mentioned in Sawaya & Sazima (2003) as UFMG 1034 and UFMG 1048 respectively. (**) specimen with a partial tail. In dark vertebral line: (a) absent; (p) present, (v) vestigial; and in dark temporal blotch: (a) absent; (c) continuous with dorsal black cephalic staining; (i) isolated; (v) vestigial. SpecimensFUNED 1921FUNED 1953FUNED 2103FUNED 3391FUNED 3405MCNR 6316UFMG 121UFMG 123*UFMG 124*UFMG 1175UFMG 1936UFMG 2539UFMG 3230UFMG 3251GenderFFFFFFFMMFFFFFMunicipality/StateSee textSanta Luzia - MGBerilo - MGSão Sebastião do Rio Preto - MGIpatinga - MGDom Joaquim - MGCaratinga - MGSantana do Riacho - MGSantana do Riacho - MGCongonhas - MGAlmenara - MGBrumadinho - MGMorro do Pilar - MGBrumadinho - MGCoordinates49.8783 -6.49694-43.8514 -19.7697-42.4656 -16.9517-43.2976 -19.3372-42.5367 -19.4683-42.1392 -19.7897-41.8167 -19.7333-43.6050 -19.3383-43.5310 -19.2596-43.8500    -20.4055-40.6944       -16.1836-44.0018         -20.0520-43.5289        -19.2631-43.9857        -20.1003Dorsal scales15:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:1515:15:15Gular scales33333344344344Pre-ventral scales22222222222222Ventral scales167165149149172173153156155159170162175152Subcaudals 6260606335**586364646856525262Infralabial6/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/66/6Supralabial7/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/77/7Anterior temporal scales1/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/1Posterior temporal scales1/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/1Preocular scales1/11/11/11/11/11/11/11/12/21/11/12/21/11/1Postocular scales2/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/22/2Dark vertebral lineaaaaaaapvappaaDark temporal blotchvpvaviiaaaicaiDark nuchal band extension1-51-51-41-51-41-51-41-51-51 - 5.51- 4.51-51 - 5.51-4Total length (cm)3549403759,55737.9546.519.538412246.527Tail length (cm)7.28.09.58.5611.59.59.54.59.58.64.511.56.5Head length (mm)8.015.09.326.19.3012.779.316.836.479.7411.113.8611.336.80Head width (mm)6.234.05.324.06.17.525.753.674.45.746.961.396.924.11Interocular distance (mm)2.33.13.13.04.44.753.552.642.863.654.042.434.042.89Internasal distance (mm)1.612.02.02.02.21.731.482.281.592.312.051.612.651.91Oecol. Aust. 24(4): 943–948, 2020 946 | New records of Tantilla boipiranga in BrazilFigure 2. Geographic distribution of Tantilla boipiranga. Previous records (circles - Silveira et al. 2009; square - Nogueira et al. 2020) - and new localities (triangles) The type locality is represented by the red star.deposits and intensive extraction of iron, beyond agricultural activities (Marent et al. 2011). This region became, unfortunately, internationally relevant due to a tragic rupture of the tailings dam in January of 2019, which killed 260 people.We also found another specimen (UFMG 2715) in the municipality of Braúnas, 166 km from the type locality, housed in Coleção de Répteis do Centro de Coleções Taxonômicas do ICB/UFMG, which we did not include in Table 1 because of the poor conservation condition of the specimen. Furthermore, among the new records of T. boipiranga, we found one specimen (FUNED 1921) outside the state of Minas Gerais, which is recorded for the municipality of Canaã dos Carajás, state of Pará, at the Serra dos Carajás ferruginous highlands. We strongly believe that this discrepancy in distance from the nearest record (the municipality of Almenara - MG) is that the specimen in question may have been collected at another locality nearest to the other records in the state of Minas Gerais. However, its data got switched with another animal leading to a false Pilar, Conceição do Mato Dentro and Serro are the closest to Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó (distant 83, 56, 71 and 131 km, respectively) and are infl uenced by the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest domains, and by the Rio das Velhas basin, one of the most important basins in the state of Minas Gerais (Alves & Pompeu 2005). In the east portion of the state is located the municipality of Ipatinga, 252 km from the type locality of T. boipiranga, it is infl uenced by the Rio Doce basin, which is another important basin in Minas Gerais. Furthermore, Nogueira et al. (2020) pointed to a voucher of the species on its distribution map in the municipality of Caratinga, but did not mention this municipality is approximately 340 km from the type locality of T. boipiranga. Moreover, these municipalities are inserted in the Atlantic Forest domain (Lombardi & Gonçalves 2000, Gonçalves & Lombardi 2004). Finally, the municipality of Brumadinho is inserted in an ecotone between Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, located 150 km southwards of the type locality. The municipality belongs to the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, a region with important Tunes et al. | 947 Oecol. Aust. 24(4): 943–948, 2020geographic discrepancy between the populations of the species. Moreover, we decided to include this specimen in our morphological review only for comparison purposes, and we do not encourage our peers to use this location as part of the range distribution of the species. As previously mentioned in this paper, T. boipiranga is considered Vulnerable (VU) according to the IUCN and the Brazilian Red List of snakes due to the severe population fragmentation and lack of information available (Morato 2010). These new records for T. boipiranga cover several new localities outside the Espinhaço Mountain range, but also in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region and in the Vale do Rio Doce area, contributing to the reduction of Wallacean shortfall among Neotropical snakes. Moreover, the wide variation of morphological characters in the populations of T. boipiranga may difficult the species diagnosis, thus, we believe that more studies with this group should be done in order to elucidate the intra and interrelationships among this species. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe thank Paulo Christiano de Anchietta Garcia, Luciana Nascimento Barreto and Giselle Cotta and Flávia Cappuccio de Resende for allowing access to species under their care, and to Pedro H. Martins for kindly provided the image of T. boipiranga.REFERENCESAb’Saber, A. N. 1977. Os domínios morfoclimáticos na América do Sul. Geomorfologia, São Paulo, 52, 1–22. Alves, C. B. M., & Pompeu, P. S. 2005. Historical changes in the Rio das Velhas Fish Fauna-Brazil. American Fisheries Society Symposium, 45, 587–602.Arruda, A. J. 2014. Samambaias e licófitas das Serras Ferruginosas da Floresta Nacional de Carajás, Pará, Brasil. Master thesis. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. p. 224. Drummond, G. M., Martins, C. S., Machado, A. B. M., Sebaio, F. A., Antonini, Y. 2005. Biodiversidade em Minas Gerais: Um Atlas para sua conservação. 2. ed. Belo Horizonte: Fundação Biodiversitas. p. 222.Gonçalves, M., & Lombardi, J. A. 2004. Adições ao conhecimento da composição florística de dois remanescentes de Mata Atlântica do sudeste de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Lundiana, 5(1), 3–8.IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-1. https://www.iucnredlist.orgLara, A. C. F., & Fernandes, G. W. 1996. The highest diversity of galling insects: Serra do Cipó, Brazil. Biodiversity Letters, 3, 111–114.Lombardi, J. A., & Gonçalves, M. 2000. Composição florística de dois remanescentes de Mata Atlântica do sudeste de Minas Gerais. Revista Brasileira de Botânica, 23(3), 255–282.Marent, B. R., Lamounier, W. L., & Gontijo, B. M. 2011. Conflitos ambientais na Serra do Gandarela, Quadrilátero Ferrífero – MG: mineração x preservação. Geografias, 07(1), 99–113.Melo, F. R. 2005. A Reserva Biológica Federal da Mata Escura e sua importância como Unidade de Conservação para os primatas do Médio Rio Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais. Neotropical Primates, 13(1), 26–29.MMA, Ministério do Meio Ambiente. 2018. Mapa das Áreas Prioritárias para a Conservação, Utilização Sustentável e Repartição dos Benefícios da Biodiversidade Brasileira – 2ª Atualização. Available at: http://areasprioritarias.mma.gov.br/2-atualizacao-das-areas-prioritariasMorato, S. A. A. 2010. Tantilla boipiranga. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: eT177582A7461439.Nogueira, C. C., Argôlo, A. J. S., Arzamendia, V., Azevedo, J. A., Barbo, F. E.,  Bérnils R.S., Bolochio B.E., Borges-Martins M., Brasil-Godinho M., Braz H., Buononato M. a., Cisneros-Heredia D.F., Colli G.R., Costa H.C., Franco F.L., Giraudo A., Gonzalez R.C., Guedes T., Hoogmoed M.S., Marques O. a. V., Montingelli G.G., Passos P., Prudente A.L.C., Rivas G. a., Sanchez P.M., Serrano F.C., Silva N.J., Strüssmann C., Vieira-Alencar J.P.S., Zaher H., Sawaya R.J., & Martins M. 2020. Atlas of Brazilian snakes: Verified Point-Locality Maps to Mitigate the Wallacean Shortfall in a Megadiverse Snake Fauna. South AMerican Journal of Herpetology, 14 (Special Issue, 1), 1–274.Oecol. Aust. 24(4): 943–948, 2020 948 | New records of Tantilla boipiranga in BrazilSawaya, R. J., & Sazima, I. 2003. A new species of Tantilla (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Southeastern Brazil. Herpetologica, São Paulo, Brazil, 59(1), 119–126.Silveira, A. L., Cotta, G. A., Pires, M. R. S. 2009. Distribuição geográfica e variação fenotípica de Tantilla boipiranga Sawaya & Sazima, 2003 (Serpentes: Colubridae). Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 67(1), 93–101.Wilson, L. D., & Mata-Silva, V. 2015. A checklist and key to the snakes of the Tantilla clade (Squamata: Colubridae), with comments on taxonomy, distribution, and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology, 2(4), 418–498.Submitted: 18 October 2019Accepted: 25 May 2020Published on line: 01 June 2020Associate Editor: Murilo Guimarães

DISTRIBUTION EXTENSION OF THE BLACK-HEADED SNAKE Tantilla boipiranga SAWAYA & SAZIMA, 2003 IN THE STATE OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

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DISTRIBUTION EXTENSION OF THE BLACK-HEADED SNAKE Tantilla boipiranga SAWAYA & SAZIMA, 2003 IN THE STATE OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

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