Papers by Henrique C Costa
RESUMO: O comportamento oofágico e o canibalismo são bastante difundidos entre girinos de diversa... more RESUMO: O comportamento oofágico e o canibalismo são bastante difundidos entre girinos de diversas famílias de anuros, sendo o último particularmente comum em ambientes temporários, tais como o riacho do presente estudo. Este artigo relata um evento de predação no campo, no qual girinos de Bokermannohyla alvarengai se alimentaram de embriões co-específicos. Esta é uma importante fonte de alimento com alto teor de proteína. Não há publicações mencionando que larvas de B. alvarengai possuam características de espécies oófagas. Contudo, o registro em laboratório de uma taxa significativa de predação de 6 embriões/girino/dia indica que tais larvas sejam oófagas oportunistas. Palavras-chave: alimentação, canibalismo, Hylinae, oofagia.
Herpetology Notes, Feb 17, 2014
Herpetotheres cachinnans is a Neotropical falcon species found in a variety of forested to semi-o... more Herpetotheres cachinnans is a Neotropical falcon species found in a variety of forested to semi-open habitats from Mexico to Argentina. Despite H. cachinnans being known to consume a variety of prey types, snakes comprise the majority of its diet in terms of taxonomic richness and frequency. Here, we present a detailed review about prey records of H. cachinnans. A total of 122 prey records were compiled from 73 literature references and authors' records. Snakes were the most common prey, with 94 records (77%). Analysis of 24 stomach contents (from literature and author's records) show that 71% contained remains of at least one snake, and 62.5% had snakes exclusively. A snake-based diet seems to be uncommon in raptors, and H. cachinnans is the only one presenting such degree of diet specialization in the Neotropics.
Biota Neotropica, 2010
Based on specimens housed in scientific collections, we present here a list of snake species from... more Based on specimens housed in scientific collections, we present here a list of snake species from the Municipality of Viçosa, which is located in an Atlantic Forest portion of the State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil. Thirty four species were confirmed in Viçosa. Two others have uncertain reports and five that were registered in neighboring municipalities could also occur in Viçosa. Information concerning snakes distribution and natural history is also presented, based on scientific literature data and sporadic field observations in the study area. In general, we can consider that the snake fauna of Viçosa is comprised of species which are able to use environments modified by human action, though some of them are dependent on the remaining forest fragments. Fieldwork is still required to improve the knowledge of snake species richness in forest fragments, to confirm the presence of species with uncertain records and potential occurrence in Viçosa, and to investigate the possibility of population declines of those species without records from the last decade.
North-Western Journal of Zoology
Herpetotheres cachinnans is a Neotropical falcon species found in a variety of forested to semi-o... more Herpetotheres cachinnans is a Neotropical falcon species found in a variety of forested to semi-open habitats from Mexico to Argentina. Despite H. cachinnans being known to consume a variety of prey types, snakes comprise the majority of its diet in terms of taxonomic richness and frequency. Here, we present a detailed review about prey records of H. cachinnans. A total of 122 prey records were compiled from 73 literature references and authors' records. Snakes were the most common prey, with 94 records (77%). Analysis of 24 stomach contents (from literature and author's records) show that 71% contained remains of at least one snake, and 62.5% had snakes exclusively. A snake-based diet seems to be uncommon in raptors, and H. cachinnans is the only one presenting such degree of diet specialization in the Neotropics.
We performed a survey of lizards and amphisbaenians from municipality of Viçosa, in Atlantic Fore... more We performed a survey of lizards and amphisbaenians from municipality of Viçosa, in Atlantic Forest from state ofMinas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, based on data of the herpetological collections of Museu de Zoologia João Moojen,Universidade Federal de Viçosa, and Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo. One hundred and forty sixspecimens of 14 species were analyzed, belonging to the following families: Amphisbaenidae, Anguidae, Gekkonidae,Gymnophthalmidae, Leiosauridae, Polychrotidae, Scincidae, Teiidae and Tropiduridae. We hope to supply basicinformation that helps to understand species distribution of this group in the Atlantic Forest of Minas Gerais andsoutheastern Brazil.
A taxonomia das serpentes brasileiras tem experimentado mudanças em sua nomenclatura, as quais fo... more A taxonomia das serpentes brasileiras tem experimentado mudanças em sua nomenclatura, as quais foram sumarizadas aos profissionais da área médica por Bernarde(5), com enfoque nas formas peçonhentas. No presente trabalho apresentamos argumentos contra a aplicação na literatura médica de tais mudanças nomenclaturais recentes (exceto aquelas em nível de espécie), como: o conhecimento incipiente das relações filogenéticas das serpentes, que tem levado à publicação de propostas distintas em um ou vários aspectos; a confusão que a assimilação dessas alterações pode causar entre profissionais não familiarizados com taxonomia; a possibilidade de gastos financeiros para republicação de documentos, materiais educativos, bancos de dados, etc.; a já existente não aplicação das regras rígidas da taxonomia animal pelos profissionais da área médica para com seus objetos de pesquisa. Por fi m, salientamos também o cuidado que deve ser tomado com a aplicação de nomes “populares” para se referir às e...
Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 2015
Hydromedusa maximiliani is a freshwater turtle endemic to the Atlantic Forest of eastern and sout... more Hydromedusa maximiliani is a freshwater turtle endemic to the Atlantic Forest of eastern and southeastern Brazil and threatened by extinction. Here, we add 15 new locality records for this species based on photographs of specimens encountered in the field and examination of museum collections. We also used ecological niche modeling tools of 3 different algorithms (GARP, SVM, and Maxent) to suggest potential suitable areas for the occurrence of the species. Models predict 53,679-263,844 km 2 of suitable habitat for H. maximiliani, with 8396-31,758 km 2 inside protected areas. Besides being useful in a reassessment of the species' conservation status, our results contribute to the knowledge of distribution patterns of H. maximiliani and highlight potential areas to drive future field surveys.
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Papers by Henrique C Costa