Paraguayan Ground Snake

distribution

A juvenile (Fig. 13) photographed by Sergio Sotelo at General Artigas (26 ° 56 ’ 32 ’’ S 56 ° 13 ’ 31 ’’ W), Itapúa department on 19 April 2022 is the first official record for that department. The specimen was identified using the criteria established by Passos, Fernandes, Bérnils, Moura-Leite (2010) including the irregular line of paravertebral blotches and the presence of a black collar. The species has been previously reported from Cordillera, Misiones, Ñeembucú, Paraguarí and San Pedro departments in Paraguay (Cabral and Weiler, 2014; Cacciali et al., 2016 b; Mendoza Galeano et al. 2020; Smith et al., in press). It is considered to be “ Endangered ” in Paraguay (Martínez et al., 2020 c).

Twenty-eight new and significant departmental reptile records for Paraguay

distribution

Distribution. Known from Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, at the southern portion of the South American open diagonal (Plt. 173 A). In Brazil, recorded in the Atlantic Forest and Pampas Grasslands (Plt. 173 A) at low elevations (Plt. 173 B). Observed in the field in gallery forest and lower montane semi-deciduous forest (Passos et al., 2010) or in humid formations of Chaco (Giraudo, 2001).

Atlas of Brazilian Snakes: Verified Point-Locality Maps to Mitigate the Wallacean Shortfall in a Megadiverse Snake Fauna