8/6/2019 Oxyrhopus Petola Mating

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8/6/2019 Oxyrhopus Petola Mating

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Rogério Loesch Zacariotti & Rodrigo del Rio do Valle140

that laid seven eggs in June, 1960 (late fall). There is

no information available in the scientic literature about

the mating behavior of O. petola.

On 31st October 2008 (mid-spring), during a

herpetofaunal survey in disturbed forest fragments

along Rio Sapucaí Mirim (20°49´E, 47°86´S),

southeastern Brazil, two adults of  Oxyrhopus petola 

(male 760 mm SVL, 243 mm tail length, mass 86g;

female 1050mm SVL, 277 mm tail length, mass 105g)

were captured, around 23:20, in the same locality (a dirtroad between two forest fragments), with 5 minutes

 between captures. The snakes were placed together in

a plastic container for measurement and marking (PIT

tags #5709204, male and #5483245, female). As soon as

the male was in contact with female, it started to display

courtship behaviours with head and chin movements

over the female’s body. After approximately 10 minutes

of courtship, the male penetrated the female and mating

continued for at least 240 minutes (gures 1 and 2). Both

individuals were released in capture locality followingtheir observation.

We describe a mating event during mid-spring in

Brazil, but Lynch (2009) found near-term eggs in early

spring in Colombia and Test et al. (1966) observed egg

laying in captivity in late fall. This apparent asynchrony

  between events of mating and egg laying found

 between ourselves and other authors could be a result

of geographic differences along the wide distribution of 

O. petola.

Acknowledgements. We thank Dr. Selma M. Almeida-SantosWe thank Dr. Selma M. Almeida-Santos

for comments on early version of this manuscript. We also thank 

CELAN – Central Elétrica Anhanguera S. A. and WLM – Wildlife

Management Consultoria Veterinária Ltda. for nancial support.

Collecting permit was issued by Instituto Brasileiro do Meio

Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA/ permit

127/2008-SUPES/SP).

References

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Figure 2. Detail of Calico snakes (Oxyrhopus petola) mating.

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