New records of Imantodes lentiferus ( Cope , 1894 ) ( Squamata : Dipsadidae ) from the states of Pará and Mato Grosso , Brazil

The arboreal snake Imantodes lentiferus (Cope, 1894) is distributed in lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin and Guiana region, reported from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Brazil. In Brazil it occurs in the north and central-west regions, in the states of Acre, Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, and Mato Grosso. This study reports new records of Imantodes lentiferus from Pará and Mato Grosso. These new records fill a large gap in the known distribution of this species.

The specimens MPEG 25238 and MPEG 25239 were collected in the Parque Nacional da Amazônia (PARNA), municipality of Itaituba, state of Pará, Brazil.This protected area is characterized by having a Submontane Dense Ombrophilous Forest.The specimen MPEG 25238 was found on 4 July 2009 at 19:24 h, in primary forest (04°29′10.8″S, 056°17′00″ W) and was active on vegetation 1.7 m above the ground.The specimen MPEG 25239 was found on July 23 rd 2010 at 21:15 h, in primary forest (04°37′38″ S, 056°23′13″ W) and was also active on vegetation 2.1 m above the ground.
The specimen MPEG 25708 was found on 12 September 2013 and MPEG 25709 on September 10 th 2013, both The meristic and morphometric data of the eight specimens examined of I.lentiferus are summarized in Table 1.
These new records fill a large gap in the known distribution of this species (Figure 1).The gaps between records may be because of the low number of appropriate inventory surveys, as well as a possible low density of this species, making it difficult to find in the wild, especially in the arc of deforestation, in the south Pará.The new record from the locality Vale São Domingos, extended the distribution of I. lentiferus 560 km for southwestern of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Numerous specimens of Imantodes lentiferus have been collected in the Western Amazon region (adjacent to the Andes), from Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, suggesting that the species is more abundant there than in the eastern region (Duellman 1978;Myers 1982;Dixon and Soini 1986;Torres-Carvajal et al. 2012).In the Eastern Amazon region this species is considered rare, having a low occurrence or being absent in many sites (e.g., Cunha and Nascimento 1993;Martins and Oliveira 1999;Frota et al. 2005;França et al. 2006;Vogt et al. 2007;Prudente et al. 2010;Silva et al. 2011; Ávila specimens collected in Mina do Palito (06°19′34″ S, 055°47′47″ W), municipality of Itaituba, state of Pará, Brazil, without specific collection data.
The specimen MPEG 19049 was collected at the municipality of Santarém (03°8′48″ S, 054°49′46″ W), state of Pará, on 27 February 1995.There is no specific data of the collection site of this specimen.
The specimen MPEG 20483 was collected on 12 July 2002, in the Floresta Nacional de Caxiuanã (01°48′ S, 050°43′ W), municipality of Melgaço, state of Pará, at the Xingu-Tocantins interfluve, Brazil.The vegetation at Caxiuanã is a lowland Tropical Rain Forest, with patches of Open Tropical Rain Forest/Submontane, growing on yellow latosols of tertiary origin.Environments of dense forest and low plateaus (upland), flooded forests (lowlands), savanna-like vegetation (non-forest) and secondary vegetation (capoeira) are also found (Lisboa et al. 1997).