Reptiles, Squamata, Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara, municipality of Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil

: Herein we report a list of the reptiles from Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara, municipality of Duque de of de southeastern Brazil, an area situated in the Atlantic Rainforest Domain. The study was carried out from September 2006 to October 2008. We recorded 31 species of Squamate reptiles: one species of the family Amphisbaenidae; eight species of lizards of the families Anguidae (n = 1), Gekkonidae (1), Phyllodactylidae (1), Polychrotidae (1), Scincidae (1), Teiidae (2), and Tropiduridae (1); and 22 species of snakes of the families Boidae (2), Colubridae (6), Dipsadidae (11), Elapidae (1), and Viperidae (2). Our study indicates that the PNMT is an important area for the conservation of the Squamate reptile assemblages that inhabit lowlands of Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil.


Introduction
The Atlantic Rainforest is a complex environment that detains one of the world's biggest animal diversities, showing high level of species endemism (Myers et al. 2000). Currently, the remaining area is restricted to ca. 16,377,472 ha, that represents 11.73 % of its original extension (Ribeiro et al. 2009). These fragments are under enormous anthropogenic action and subject to a strong risk of extinction (Morellato and Haddad 2000). The fragmentation of the Atlantic Rainforest has been subject of many recent studies (Brown and Freitas 2000;Machado and Fonseca 2000;Strier 2000;Tabanez and Viana 2000). Most of them agree that even these remnants still detain a large diversity of species and efforts for its conservation have been made.
In order to provide additional data on the composition of species of squamate reptiles for the Atlantic Rainforest lowland, we present the results of two years of field work at the Parque Natural Municipal de Taquara.

Study site
The study area includes the Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara (PNMT; 22°35' S, 43°14' W) and its surroundings, in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil ( Figure 1). The PNMT is a conservation area that belongs to the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA) since 1992 and is probably the most important forested area of that municipality. It is situated in a lowland portion of the Atlantic Rainforest Domain (Ab'Sáber 1977), in the Serra do Mar complex, with approximately 20,1 ha and altitudes under 100 m (above sea level). The native vegetation is classified as Ombrophilous Forest, found in subtropical to tropical portions of the Atlantic Rainforest (Rizini 1979;Fernandes 1998).

Data collection
The fieldwork was carried out from September 2006 to October 2008, three times a week during the day, and once a month during the night.
Specimens were captured by active-searching method ) (flashlights were used at night), and handled with leather gloves, hooks and slingshots. They were preserved using the usual techniques proposed by Pisani and Villa (1974).
Comparing our results to other studied areas (Table  2), it is noteworthy that the number of species found at PNMT is not much different comparable to the number of species reported for other larger localities of the Atlantic Rainforest (e.g. Santana et al. 2008;Bertoluci et al. 2009).
The number of snakes found at PNMT is smaller than the number of species found in the Serra do Mendanha , which also belongs to Serra do Mar. Despite having a larger area (ca. 8.500 ha) and being located nearly 32.5 km straightline distant from PNMT, the number of species of snake found in Serra do Mendanha (N = 27) is almost similar to the number found in our study site (N = 22). Moreover, we found three species which were not recorded by  at Serra do Mendanha: Corallus hortulanus, Liophis reginae, and Sibynomorphus neuwiedi.
Concerning the conservation status, none of the species found is included in IBAMA's Red List or IUCN (2007).
The species Corallus hortulanus and Boa constrictor were recorded for the area but not collected. The specimens were photographed in the site and released ( Figure 3A). The specific level of Thamnodynastes sp. could not be reached. The same species is cited by Franco and Ferreira (2002) and  as Thamnodynastes sp1., and probably refers to a new species.
The lizard Hemidactylus mabouia, a species introduced in Brazil by slavery ships from Africa (Vanzolini 1978), is completely adapted in PNMT's environment, but always encountered associated with human buildings. Specimens of the lizard Gymnodactylus darwinii were found inside the forest and nearby built structures as well. Differently of the results obtained by Teixeira (2002) The present study indicates Parque Natural Municipal da Taquara as a Conservation Unity of great diversity in Squamate reptiles, despite its restricted area. Thus, the conservation of this area and its vicinity turns out to be of high importance to preserve the species that inhabit the lowlands of the Atlantic Rainforest.