Herpetofauna of San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia

Abstract

We present the results of three years of sampling of amphibians and reptiles in different habitats in the municipality of San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia. We conducted four field excursions between 2012 and 2014 and found a total of 40 amphibian and 63 reptile species, representing a sampling coverage of 98 % for amphibians and 93 % for reptiles. Collection records and literature search increased our species list by 7 amphibians and 4 reptiles, for a total of 47 amphibians and 67 reptile species recorded for the region. Also, for the first time in Colombia, we documented the presence of the lizard Gymnophthalmus leucomystax, and confirmed the expansion of the distribution of the frog Boana maculateralis, and the snakes Atractus collaris, Atractus fuliginosus and Epictia amazonica in the department of Guaviare. Since most of the species found are from the central and western region of San José del Guaviare, sampling towards the eastern region, which has higher forest cover and less perturbed habitats, will undoubtedly increase the number of recorded species.