by a coral snake Micrurus frontalis

Herpetology Notes, volume 2: 235-237 (2009) (published online on 11 December 2009)
Predation on the lizard Ameiva ameiva (Sauria: Teiidae) by a coral
snake Micrurus frontalis (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Brazil
Fábio Maffei1*, Gerson Rodrigues do Nascimento2, Domingos Garrone Neto3
Abstract. We report a case of elapid predation on a lizard in Brazilian Savannah. A subterranean coral snake (Micrurus frontalis)
was found preying a green lizard (Ameiva ameiva) in Southeastern Brazil.
Keywords. Reptilia, Squamata, Lacertilia, Ophidia, saurophagy, diet, feeding habits.
The New World coral snakes of the genus Micrurus
have a wide distribution in South America, especially in
Brazil (Campbell and Lamar, 2004). In this last country,
24 species are recognized (Bérnils, 2009), occurring in
a great variety of ecosystems, from Amazon to Atlantic
Forest and Brazilian Savannah (Cerrado) (Campbell
and Lamar, 2004).
Micrurus frontalis comprises a complex currently
with eight recognized species (Silva Jr. and Sites Jr.,
1999; Di-Bernardo, Borges-Martins and Silva Jr.,
2007). In Brazil, six species of this group are known
to occur: M. altirostris, M. brasiliensis, M. frontalis,
M. pyrrhocryptus, M. silviae and M. tricolor, with a
distribution along virtually all the territory situated
south of the Amazon Basin (Silva Jr. and Sites Jr.,
1999; 2001; Di-Bernardo, Borges-Martins and Silva Jr.,
2007; Bérnils, 2009). Micrurus frontalis has the largest
distribution of this complex, from the central portion
of the Brazilian Savannah (States of São Paulo, Minas
Gerais, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul) to the
coastal Atlantic Forest of Espírito Santo (Silva Jr. and
Sites Jr., 1999).
The diet of this snake is poorly studied in details
under natural conditions. Some data about M. frontalis
(Sazima and Abe, 1991; Roze, 1996; França et al., 2008)
1 Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista
- UNESP, 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil;
e-mail: [email protected]
2 Setor de Répteis, Parque Zoológico Municipal de
Bauru - BAURU ZOO, 17040-900, Bauru, SP, Brazil;
e-mail: [email protected]
3 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Anhanguera
Educacional S. A. - AESA, 17021-005, Bauru, SP, Brazil;
e-mail: [email protected]
* corresponding author
and sympatric species like M. corallinus (Marques and
Sazima, 1997) show that these animals feed on preys
that have an elongate form, including amphisbaenians,
caecilians, snakes (normally colubrids), and lizards. In
this last case, data about saurophagy in Micrurus show
that the lizards preyed were predominantly cryptozoic
species (Greene, 1984; Sazima and Abe, 1991; Marques
and Sazima, 1997).
In this note, we report a case of predation on the
terrestrial lizard Ameiva ameiva by the subterranean
coral snake Micrurus frontalis in a Brazilian Savannah
area, in Southeastern Brazil.
The event was observed in the afternoon (15:25 h; 26°C)
on 29 September 2007, in an anthropic area located in a
remaining of “Cerradão” (a subtype of vegetation from
Brazilian Savannah), in the Municipality of Bauru, State
of São Paulo (22°20’31”S, 49°00’58”W, 550 m elev.).
The snake, an adult female of the elapid M. frontalis
(900mm SVL; 180g), was found inside a burrow eating
(head first) a young female of A. ameiva (170mm SVL;
60g), a teiid that occurs in nearly all tropical habitats of
South America (Pianka and Vitt, 2003). The prey was
paralyzed and with the belly facing up (Fig. 1). This
process was accompanied for 17 minutes and the coral
snake, probably under the influence of the observer,
interrupted the process of ingestion. Both animals were
collected and added to the herpetological collection of
the BAURU ZOO (without numbers).
Several species of Micrurus are known to prey upon
lizards in natural conditions (Greene, 1984; Sazima and
Abe, 1991), mainly cryptozoic species. Martins and
Oliveira (1998) report M. averyi, M. hemprichii, M.
lemniscatus and M. spixii preying on Gymnophthalmidae.
Jackson and Franz (1981) and Greene (1997) mention
Anguidae and Scincidae lizards as the main items in
236
Fábio Maffei et al.
Figure 1. Micrurus frontalis (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) preying on an Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) in the Brazilian
Savannah. Photograph: Maria E. B. Santiago.
the diet of M. fulvius. Marques and Sazima (1997) cite
Anguidae, Scincidae, and Gymnophthalmidae as prey
of M. corallinus.
The predation on teiids and other terrestrial lizards
by coral snakes in natural conditions seems to be
uncommon, probably due the fact of these elapids having
predominantly fossorial habits and normally prey on
species with less exposed habits (Sazima and Abe, 1991;
Roze, 1996; Marques and Sazima, 1997; Campbell and
Lamar, 2004; França et al., 2008). However, the fact that
the observation was made on afternoon, a period where
M. frontalis and A. ameiva are expected to be in activity,
shows that in some cases the encounter of coral snakes
with potential preys without cryptic habits may result in
predation, demonstrating the potential opportunism of
this group of snakes.
To the best of our knowledge, this kind of behaviour
has so far been reported only for M. spixii, with the
observation of Kentropyx sp. (Teiidae) in its diet
(Martins and Oliveira 1998). This study represents the
first record in wide of saurophagy by M. frontalis, and
extends the knowledge about predation of teiids by
elapids in the New World.
Acknowledgements. We greatly thank to Maria Emília Bodini
Santiago (BAURU ZOO) for the photographs and Marcelo
Ribeiro Duarte (Instituto Butantan) for valuable information
about saurophagy in Micrurus spp.
References
Campbell, J.A., Lamar, W.W. (2004): The venomous reptiles of
the Western Hemisphere. Ithaca, Cornell Univ. Press.
França, F.G.R., Mesquita, D.O., Nogueira, C.C., Araújo, A.F.B.
(2008): Phylogeny and ecology determine morphological
structure in a snake assemblage in the Central Brazilian Cerrado. Copeia 2008: 23-38.
Greene, H.W. (1984): Feeding behavior and diet of the eastern
coral snake, Micrurus fluvius. Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist.
Spec. Publ. 10: 147-162.
Greene, H.W. (1997): Snakes: The evolution of mystery in nature. University of California Press, California, USA.
Jackson, D.R., Franz, R. (1981): Ecology of the Eastern Coral
Snake (Micrurus fulvius) in Northern Peninsular Florida. Herpetologica. 37: 213-228.
Marques, O.A.V., Sazima, I. (1997): Diet and feeding of the coral
snake Micrurus corallinus from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.
Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 5: 88-93.
Martins, M., Oliveira, M.E. (1998): Natural history of snakes in
forests of the Manaus region, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 6: 78-150.
Predation on Ameiva by Micrurus frontalis
237
Pianka, E.R, Vitt, L.J. (2003): Lizards: Windows to the Evolution
of Diversity. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA.
Roze, J.A. (1996). Coral snakes of the Americas: biology, identification, and venoms. Malabar, Krieger Publishing Company.
Sazima, I., Abe, A. (1991): Habits of five Brazilian snakes with
coral-snake pattern, including a summary of defensive tatics.
Stud. Neotrop. Fauna Environ. 26:159-164.
Silva Jr., N.J., Sites Jr., J.W. (1999): Revision of the Micrurus
frontalis complex (Serpentes: Elapidae). Herpetological Monographs. 13: 142-194.
Silva Jr., N.J., Sites Jr., J.W. (2001): Phylogeny of South American triad coral snakes (Elapidae: Micrurus) based on molecular characters. Herpetologica. 57: 1-22
Accepted by Miguel Vences
238