On the snake Siphlophis worontzowi ( Prado , 1940 ) : notes on its distribution , diet and morphological data

We provide geographic data for the poorly known dipsadid Siphlophis worontzowi including the first records to the Tocantins state and on the left bank of Madeira River at Rondônia State. Our data also extend its distribution on Mato Grosso State. We also provide new morphometric, meristic and ecological data to the knowledge of this species.

The genus Siphlophis is considered a forest dweller with semi-arboreal and nocturnal habits, feeding mainly upon lizards (Martins and Oliveira 1998;Marques et al. 2001;Mollo Neto et al. 2013).Despite the information provided for some species of the genus, little is still known on the biology of the species Siphlophis worontzowi.The few specimens mentioned in the literature were found in pastureland, primary or disturbed forests, usually climbing or resting on the vegetation generally at night (Bernarde and Abe 2006;Moravec et al. 2009;Costa et al. 2010).Its dietary preferences are also poorly known and Prudente et al. (1998), Bernarde and Abe (2006) and Gaiarsa et al. (2013) describe only four items: three lizard species (Iphisa elegans, Gonatodes humeralis and Hemidactylus mabouia) and a frog without identification.
Herein, we add new distributional data on this poorly known species providing the first record on the left bank of Madeira River at Rondônia state and the first record at the Tocantins state.Our data also extend its distribution southeastward over the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.Additionally we present new morphometric and meristic data as well as habitat and diet information.
We analyzed eleven specimens of Siphlophis worontzowi deposited at the Herpetological Collection of Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP), São Paulo, Brazil.Five of them were found during a three-year (2010)(2011)(2012) sampling project taken at forests of Rondônia state.This area comprises both banks of Madeira River (for detailed effort spent and habitat description see Teixeira et al. 2013), an area dominated by várzea forest, with dense leaf litter and relatively open canopy.
Specimens examined add five new localities to the currently known distribution of the species (Figure 1).Two individuals (MZUSP 19290 and MZUSP 19289) (Figure 2a, b) were collected on April 2011 at Babaçulândia municipality (06°59′43.01″S, 047°32′47.21″W, 160 m above sea level [a.s.l.]) in the gallery forest of Tocantins River, Tocantins state, representing the first record of S. worontzowi for the state.These two specimens also represents the easternmost record for the species, extending its distribution range ca.900 km from the closest record at Santarém, Pará (Santos-Jr. et al. 2003).This last record creates a large gap in its distribution along central-eastern Pará, probably due to incipient sampling effort (Cunha et al. 1985;Nascimento et al. 1991;Prudente and Santos-Costa 2005;da Silva et al. 2011;Bernardo et al. 2012) allied to its local rareness.
Three new records from Mato Grosso state also extend the distribution of S. worontzowi.The specimen MZUSP 11345 from São José do Rio Claro municipality (ca.13°25′ S, 056°42′ W), extends ca.350 km southwards and 450 km southeastwards the species distribution from the closest records at Alta Floresta municipality, Mato Grosso state and Espigão D'Oeste municipality, Rondônia state, respectively (Zaher and Prudente 1999;Bernarde and Abe 2006;Costa et al. 2010).MZUSP 11251 was collected at Cláudia municipality, located in the east-central part of Mato Grosso state (ca.11°29′ S, 054°53′ W) and ca.200 km southeastwards from the closest record at Alta Floresta municipality (Costa et al.et al. 2010).MZUSP 11323, was collected at night on 14 June 1997, climbing the vegetation ca.50 cm above the ground at Juruena southwards in about 800 km from the closest record at São José do Rio Claro, Mato Grosso, Brazil (this study).
An unpublished record of Siphlophis worontzowi from Campo Grande municipality, Mato Grosso do Sul state, was based on an individual housed at the Herpetological collection of the Instituto Butantan (IB 29074), São Paulo, Brazil (M.Gaiarsa, pers. comm.).Unfortunately, this individual is probably lost now.It was recorded in the collection catalogue previously to a fire accident on May 2010, which destroyed most of the specimens housed there.As we could not properly verify its identity, we only indicate its putative presence in Mato Gosso do Sul.If confirmed, this record would be the first of S. worontzowi in this state extending its distribution    allowing its identification.The other two specimens were found on the left bank of Madeira River.MZUSP 19751 (Figure 3B) was found on 8 July 2011, on the ground at noon, near the district of Abunã (09°38′02.82″S, 065°26′23.72″W, 114 m a.s.l.) and MZUSP 20467 on 5 February 2012, on the ground at night (around 21:00) near the Caiçara waterfall (in the vicinity of the district of Nova Mutum Paraná) (09°26′56.3″S, 064°50′00.8″W, 115 m a.s.l.).The previously closest records from all these five specimens were: Samuel Power Plant, Rondônia, Brazil (Silva-Jr. 1993), ca.200 km eastward, and Palmira, Pando, Bolivia (Moravec et al. 2009), ca.150 km southwestern (Figure 1).The color pattern is similar in all examined specimens and to those referred in the literature.They have a black head and a red-orange nuchal collar not completed ventrally; the dorsum and belly are black, with lateral cream-white blotches throughout the body and vertebral and paravertebral redorange spots (not evident in MZUSP19290 due to faded coloration).Prado (1940) described the color pattern of the holotype based on an individual conserved in ethanol sampled three years before, which was similar to those described here.However the black surface of the head, dorsum and belly he described as green-bronzed could be an artifact of fixation.
We found little variation in pholidosis among the analyzed individuals and those from the literature including the holotype (Table 1).Prado (1940) describe that just the fourth and fifth supralabials contact the eye in the holotype; in our specimens and those referred by Costa et al. (2010) and by Silva-Jr. (1993), it is the third supralabial that contact the eye.Also, two individuals show a distinct number of temporals (2+4) from the holotype (2+3).We believe this variation is due to intraspecific variation.Scale counts and measurements of specimens are detailed in Table 1.
Considering that all ten previous records of Siphlophis worontzowi were restricted to the right bank of Amazon and Madeira Rivers and they represent important barriers to dispersion in several groups (Ayres and Cluttonbrock 1992;Haffer 1992Haffer , 2008;;Ribas et al. 2012;Teixeira Jr et al. 2013), the record at the left bank of Madeira River was surprising (Costa et al. 2010).Thus, its presence on the left bank could be the result of recent dispersal through rafts of vegetation, frequently observed flowing downstream especially at the beginning of the rainy season, or efflux of humans crossing the river carrying large containers from one bank to another.Or even a relictual population isolated by the running of Madeira River toward Solimões river when the changes of the Amazon hydrography during the late Miocene (Horn et al. 2010), together an incipient sampling effort in the area are also possible explanations for the previously unknown presence of S. worontzowi in both banks of the river.Thus, we provide the first record of Siphlophis worontzowi to left bank of Madeira River in addition to the first record and extension distribution to Tocantins and Mato Grosso states and ecological data to this poorly known species.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to H. Zaher and C. Castro-Mello for allow access to specimens at MZUSP.We also wish to thank all people involved in the field work, Luís Storti and Marco Aurélio de Senna for ecological information about the specimens collected and Renato Gaiga for the photo.We would like to thank Energia Sustentável do Brasil (ESBR) and Arcadis Logos S.A. for support during field work.IBAMA for the authorization to work in the region (permit CGFAP 260/2010) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for financial support.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Siphlophis worotzowi.A: MZUSP 20781 found at the right bank of Madeira River.This specimen had preyed upon a Copeoglossum nigropunctatum, note the expansion on the middle body; B: MZUSP 19751 found in the left bank of the Madeira River, both at municipality of Porto Velho, Rondônia state, Brazil.