Eletra de Souza

University of São Paulo | USP · Department of Ecology (IB)

In this note, we described the ritualized combat observed between two free-ranging male individuals of E. cenchria (rainbow boa) in the Costa de Itacaré Environmental Protection Area, Bahia state, Brazil. During our observation, we identified three phases: 1) ascent-alignment-orientation, 2) entwining (or lyre-shaped position) of the anterior trunk...

Low biodiversity in urban areas is associated with habitat loss. However, the effects of urbanization on biodiversity should also consider the historical background of land-use, explored herein. Our goal was to evaluate changes in the assemblage of reptiles in an urban habitat over 100 years, aiming to identify which ecological attributes allowed t...

Citizen science is the interaction of the non-academic community in scientific studies, often extended to collaborative platforms. We analyzed 168 photographs shared in a Brazilian citizen science platform to understand the feeding interactions between birds and snakes in Brazil, comparing our findings to published data. We searched for patterns in...

Interview given to Nature

In a recent article published in Nature Communications, AlShebli et al. (2020) analyzed the mentor-protégé relationship in scientific collaborations. Specifically, they examined the impact of gender on scientific careers and concluded that women scientists should rely on male guidance for a successful career and higher publication impact. Here, we...

Prolonged sperm storage in the female reproductive tract is a widespread strategy among vertebrates. In reptiles, especially lizards and snakes, females have specialized structures to store sperm in their oviduct, which occur in the posterior infundibulum and the nonglandular uterus. Many viperids exhibit uterine muscular coiling (UMC) in the nongl...

Urban green areas are an important instrument for the conservation of wildlife. However, urban habitats are fragmented and often isolated, resulting in a decline in species richness. Faunistic inventories in urban green areas significantly increase the knowledge on biodiversity and contribute to the understanding about impacts of habitat loss and f...

This book is a scientific dissemination work, focusing on children. Here we tell the story of the Biological Museum of the Butantan Institute, a centenary research institution in Brazil, famous for its studies with venomous snakes and the manufacture of serums and vaccines. We list natural history informations about some snakes species that can be...