Snakes of Jaíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Brazil is a megadiverse country, containing about 20% of all described species. Its reptile fauna is equally rich, with 795 species, of which 405 are snakes (10,9% of global richness). In a national scale, Minas Gerais, presents 32% of all reptile taxa already described in Brazil. Our goal is to compile and present information about snakes richness from the district of Mocambinho, municipality of Jaíba, north of Minas Gerais. The data come from the herpetological collection of the Museu de Zoologia João Moojen - UFV (MZUFV), and the Fundação Ezequiel Dias (FUNED). Were recorded 35 species, representing the families; Colubridae (28 spp.), Viperidae (3), Boidae (2) and Elapidae (2). Two recently described taxa were recorded: Thamnodynastes phoenix and Helicops nentur, the latter having its distribuition range extended to this municipality. The snakes richness found represents 8,6% of the national diversity, and 22% of Minas Gerais. The Cerrado holds 10% of the snake endemic species of snakes nationally, some of which were found in Jaíba, including; Bothrops moojeni, Chironius flavolineatus, Micrurus brasiliensis and Philodryas cf mattagrossensis. None of the species occurring in Jaíba are threatened with extinction. Herpetological studies in Minas Gerais are still scarce, where most of the surveys were conducted in the Atlantic Forest, therefore, the gap knowledge about our biodiversity in the Cerrado and Caatinga are yet expressive. The present study helps to reduce such knowledge gap and improves our understanding about the biogeography of the herpetofauna in the north of Minas Gerais.