Henrique Caldeira Costa

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Verified

Henrique verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• DSc.
• Professor at Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

For almost 60 years, a specimen of Amphisbaena collected in the 19th century by the Danish zoologist Johannes Theodor Reinhardt in southeastern Brazil has been identified as Amphisbaena prunicolor. Here I present a reidentification of this specimen (NHMD R4448) as A. hogei, together with a review of known records of this small worm lizard species,...

As many new evolutionary lineages are being discovered and formally named, sequencing topotypes when holotypes are not available becomes essential for taxonomy. This study uses a DNA-taxonomy approach to sequence new populations of the Ischnocnema verrucosa species complex (Brazilian Wart Frogs) from different locations, including, for the first ti...

Ranacephala hogei is a South American freshwater turtle considered one of the 25 most endangered chelonian species in the world. Endemic to the Atlantic Forest hotspot of southeastern Brazil, the conservation status of R. hogei is subject to continuous assessment at various levels. However, the scarcity of data regarding this species, particularly...

We present here the etymology and a proposed pronunciation of the scientific names of the Brazilian Amphisbaenia. Our approach includes the valid names of 81 species, three sub-species, three genera, and one family, as well as the clades Amphisbaenia and Squamata. The class and grammatical gender of each name are also provided, and two specific nam...

Morphological patterns may vary spatially in response to adaptations to regional environmental conditions. In fossorial animals, edaphic gradients potentially predict intra and interspecific morphological variation because they can limit dispersal and select morphotypes. We measured morphological traits of South American worm lizards, including thr...

Human beings have a memory adapted to primarily retain and recall information that favors their survival and reproduction. We tested whether the frequency and severity of environmental challenges influence adaptive memory, i.e., the ability to retain and recall adaptive information. Therefore, in a community of family farmers, we verified whether t...

The skull anatomy of amphisbaenians directly influences their capacity to burrow and is crucial for the study of their systematics, which ultimately contributes to our comprehension of their evolution and ecology. In this study, we employed three-dimensional X-ray computed tomography to provide a detailed description and comprehensive comparison of...

Species identification plays a significant role in biodiversity conservation. As many species remain unrecognized, particularly in neotropical hotspots like the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (AF), novel molecular techniques are being widely employed to bridge this gap. In this study, we used DNA barcoding and phylogenetic tools to identify a new popula...

Biotic and abiotic factors play a crucial role in determining the distribution of species. These factors dictate the conditions that must be met for a species to thrive in a particular area. Sister species that present some degree of niche overlap can shed light on how they are distributed and coexist in their environment. This study aims to invest...

Amphisbaena mitchelli is a small-sized worm lizard species described from Ilha de Marajó, state of Pará, Brazil. After its description, few publications brought new distribution records for A. mitchelli, all in eastern Amazonia. In this paper we report a new record of the species in municipality of Imperatriz, state of Maranhão, Brazil. The new rec...

Amphisbaena anomala is a species of worm lizard endemic to Brazil, with most known records in eastern Amazonia, but also occurring in northern Cerrado and at highland moist forest enclaves in Caatinga. Based on citizen science data, we report a new easternmost and southernmost locality for A. anomala, representing its first record in the lowlands o...

Hypopigmentation is characterized by the lack of melanin in part or the whole body. For nocturnal or fossorial reptiles, hypopigmentation may be less disadvantageous, as they are less exposed to visually oriented predators. But chromatic anomalies are challenging to observe in fossorial species, such as worm lizards (Amphisbaenia), because they are...

Museum specimens and citizen science initiatives are valuable sources of information on how anthropogenic activities affect biodiversity and how species respond to rapid global change. Although tropical regions harbor most of the planet's biodiversity, investigations on species' phenological changes are heavily biased toward temperate regions. Such...

Recent studies have argued that changes in fire regimes in the 21st century are posing a major threat to global biodiversity. In this scenario, incorporating species' physiological, ecological, and evolutionary traits with their local fire exposure might facilitate accurate identification of species most at risk from fire. Here, we developed a fram...

We present the updated Brazilian list of reptiles for the year 2022. Brazil has 856 species of reptiles recorded within its borders: 39 Testudines, 6 Crocodylia, and 811 Squamata (81 amphisbaenians, 295 lizards, and 435 snakes). If subspecies are counted, the number increases to 889 taxa. Brazil supports the third richest reptile fauna in the world...

Among populations of the same species, the diet composition varies depending on the environment, given the variation in diversity and abundance of available prey. Since Thoropa miliaris is a habitat specialist in reproduction, we tested the hypothesis that this specialization is also verified in its diet. We carried out the work in 10 localities in...

The rock river frog Thoropa miliaris (Cycloramphidae) is a saxicolous species endemic to the Atlantic Forest. There is scarce literature on potential predators of this species, which is likely related to the difficulty of recording its predatory interactions. In this paper, we report opportunistic records of predation on T. miliaris by the snake Ch...

Although the recent advances on the relationship of its major groups, the systematics of the rich fauna of Neotropical snakes is far from being a consensus. In this sense, derived groups presenting continental distributions have represented a main challenge. The taxonomy of the snake tribe Echinantherini is one of the most contentious among the div...

The whiptail lizard Ameivula ocellifera (Spix, 1825) was described from “Bahia”, northeastern Brazil, by Spix in 1825. Its syntypes are considered lost, and the type locality is unknown. For many years, A. ocellifera was considered one of the most widespread whiptail lizard species in South America. Since 1997, several populations assigned to A. oc...

Amphisbaena mertensii is a worm lizard species from South America. Because of its subterranean lifestyle, data on its biology are scarce. In this paper, we present the first record of A. mertensii as prey of a bird, the wood rail Aramides cajaneus. We also review the geographic range of this species, reporting it for 114 localities from west-centra...

Novos registros dos lagartos Ameivula cipoensis Arias et al., 2014, Enyalius capetinga Breitman et al., 2018, Psilops paeminosus (Rodrigues, 1991) e Tupinambis quadrilineatus Manzani & Abe, 1997 (Squamata) para o estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil, através da ciência cidadã

Color anomalies are rarely reported in Amphisbaenia. We present the first record of amelanism in this group based on a specimen of Amphisbaena darwinii from Argentina. The photos were uploaded to a citizen science platform, reinforcing the positive impact of citizen science to filling gaps in our knowledge about biodiversity.

Studying species interactions in nature often requires elaborated logistics and intense fieldwork. The difficulties in such task might hinder our ability to answer questions on how biotic interactions change with the environment. Fortunately, a workaround to this problem lies within scientific collections. For some animals, the inspection of preser...

The snake species Typhlops wilderi (today Liotyphlops wilderi) was described in 1883 based on specimens from São Cyriaco, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The name of this type locality has been cited in different ways in the literature, making its geographic location confusing. Solving this question is an important issue for future taxonomy and systematic...

We present the list of Brazilian reptiles for the year 2021. Brazil has 848 species of reptiles whose presence is confirmed within its borders: 38 Testudines, 6 Crocodylia, and 804 Squamata (82 amphisbaenians, 292 lizards, and 430 snakes). If subspecies are counted, the number increases to 885 taxa. This is the third richest reptile fauna in the wo...

Known locality records of Amphisbaena mertensii.

We report for the first time the occurrence of the venomous snake species Micrurus ibiboboca in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, based on a specimen collected in an Atlantic Forest area. This is the sixth record of a venomous coral snake in Minas Gerais and increases to 160 the number of known snake species in the state.

While visiting the reptile collection of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), I encountered a specimen of A. spurrelli from Panama that was not recorded in the literature. This specimen (AMNH 115649; Figure 1) was collected on 14 August 1976 by Pedro Galindo and Rodolfo Hinds in a flooded forest in the Majecito River of the Bayano River D...

Predator–prey interactions are important evolutionary drivers of defensive behaviors, but they are usually difficult to record. This lack of data on natural history and ecological interactions of species can be overcome through museum specimens, at least for some reptiles. When facing aggressive interactions, reptile species may exhibit the defensi...

Serpentiform body is a morphological adaptation present in several groups of animals. This body shape is often associated with snakes, which can result in the indiscriminate killing of animals. Despite their great socioeconomic and ecological importance, snakes are commonly associated with feelings of aversion, fear, and disgust, that may lead to t...

We describe a new species of Amphisbaena from the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil. The new taxon is identified mainly by having 216–239 body annuli, 13–17 caudal annuli without autotomic site, 4–8 (usually six) precloacal pores without a median hiatus, 18–24 dorsal and 18–24 ventral segments at a midbody annulus, 4 supralabials, 3 infralabials, and...

Accurate and detailed species distribution maps are fundamental for documenting and interpreting biological diversity. For snakes, an ecologically diverse group of reptiles, syntheses and detailed data on distribution patterns remain scarce. We present the first comprehensive collection of detailed, voucher-based, point-locality, range maps for all...

We present new records of Amphisbaena metallurga (the first outside the type locality) and A. sanctaeritae (previously known only for the holotype), extending their known geographic ranges and improving their morphological descriptions. Additionally, we report for the first time the presence of A. hiata in Brazil. These new findings give continuity...

As anfisbênias são um intrigante grupo de répteis fossoriais, com cerca de 200 espécies conhecidas, distribuídas na América do Sul, Caribe, oeste do México, Flórida, África, Península Ibérica, Anatólia e Oriente Médio. Neste artigo, apresentamos uma visão geral sobre diferentes aspectos da biologia desses animais, incluindo suas principais caracter...

Amphisbaena talisiae and A. mensae, two worm lizard species endemic to the Cerrado ecoregion, in central Brazil, are considered synonyms based on morphological characters. With the proposed synonymy, the name A. talisiae has priority of use over A. mensae. Amphisbaena talisiae can be distinguished from its congeners by a series of morphological cha...

Ohler & Dubois (2018) argued that Article 23.9 of the Code cannot be used to reject the name Hyla quoyi Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1828 in favor of its junior synonym Hyla prasina Burmeister, 1856. However, their statement was based on an insufficient literature search erroneously suggesting that H. prasina had been rarely used. We discuss this issue a...

Amphisbaena slateri is a rare species of worm lizard from Peru and Bolivia, known only from three specimens. We found two additional specimens of this taxon, housed at the herpetological collections of the Zoological Museum (Cenak), Universität Hamburg, and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, updating its known geographic distribution...

Mesmo em áreas sob grande pressão antrópica, a Mata Atlântica ainda suporta uma elevada diversidade biológica e inúmeras espécies endêmicas. Cerca de 220 espécies de serpentes já foram registradas para este bioma, muitas das quais são restritas a pequenos fragmentos florestais. Nesse guia, nós examinamos uma pequena parte dessa riqueza. As espécies...

We describe a new species of Amphisbaena from the Caatinga in the northern region of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. The new taxon is identified mainly by having two precloacal pores, 158–165 body annuli, 12–14 caudal annuli with autotomy on the third and fourth annuli, 14–16 dorsal and 15–16 ventral segments on a midbody annulus, four supralabials, th...

We present an updated checklist of Brazilian reptile species and, for the first time, its confirmed presence in federation units (26 states and the Federal District). Brazil has the third richest reptile fauna in the world, with 795 species: 36 Testudines, 6 Crocodylia, and 753 Squamata (72 amphisbaenians, 276 “lizards”, and 405 snakes). If subspec...

Understanding how we built our knowledge on species descriptions is especially important in biodiversity hotspots, since those regions potentially harbour many undescribed-endemic species that are already threatened by intensification of human activities. We compiled an extensive dataset on anuran, lizard, and snake assemblages in the Atlantic Fore...

These data correspond to information on average description year of anuran, lizard, and snake species in multiple localities in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, as well as data on geographic and socioeconomic variables that potentially explain species discovery trends. More specifically, we provided data on 376 species assemblages of anura...

Amphisbaena rozei is endemic to the Caura River basin in Venezuela, and known only from the holotype and one paratype. Its original description is very brief, lacking relevant information used by taxonomists today. Additionally, A. rozei appears to be similar to A. spurrelli, a species from northwestern Colombia and southern Panama. We present a re...

The 'Zona da Mata' of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, has less than 10% of remaining native vegetation and is home of a rich herpetofauna, still poorly surveyed. We present the results of an assessment of lizard and amphisbaenian species at Atlantic Forest fragments in the municipality of Cataguases, state of Minas Gerais, from 2009 to 2013. We...

Aim: Snake faunal dissimilarity within tropical forests is not well characterized, nor are the factors underlying these patterns. Our aim was to disentangle the ecological and historical factors driving biogeographical subregions (BSR) for snakes. LocationBrazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF). Methods: We compiled 274 snake inventories to build a specie...

1. The ongoing biodiversity crisis increases the importance and urgency of studies addressing the role of environmental variation on the composition and evolutionary history of species assemblages, but especially the tropics and ectotherms remain understudied. 2. In regions with rainy summers, coexistence of ectothermic species may be determined by...

This is the (1) R-script needed to reproduce the analysis of drivers of compositional and phylogenetic beta-diversity in Atlantic Forest snake assemblages and the (2) csv file contains all raw data needed to run the R-script provided in this digital repository. Briefly, the first row of the csv file is the heading, and the next 218 rows correspond...

We update the known geographic distribution of the snake species Trilepida jani, extending its northernmost record to Parque Estadual de Grão Mogol, state of Minas Gerais, 260 km from the closest record. We also correct literature records of Trilepida koppesi from the Atlantic Forest of Minas Gerais, re-identifying the specimens as T. salgueiroi. F...

SUPPORTING INFORMATION TO Moura, M.R., Argôlo, A.J., Costa, H.C. (2016) Historical and contemporary correlates of snake biogeographical subregions in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. Journal of Biogeography, DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12900. Appendix S2 - Additional figures and tables.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION TO: Moura, M.R., Argôlo, A.J., Costa, H.C. (2016) Historical and contemporary correlates of snake biogeographical subregions in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. Journal of Biogeography, DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12900. Appendix S1 Comments on taxonomical nomenclature and additional tables (Table S1.1– S1.3) containing the snake species l...

SUPPORTING INFORMATION TO Moura, M.R., Argôlo, A.J., Costa, H.C. (2017) Historical and contemporary correlates of snake biogeographical subregions in the Atlantic Forest hotspot. Journal of Biogeography, DOI 10.1111/jbi.12900. Appendix 1 - Data sources.

Teiidae and Gymnophthalmidae are lizard families endemic to the Neotropical region (Vitt & Caldwell 2014), with about 150 and 245 valid living species, respectively (Uetz & Hošek 2015). Extinct teiid taxa are known from the Cretaceous to the Holocene (Albino 2005; Estes 1983b; Sullivan & Estes 1997). The authorship of Teiidae is undoubtedly attribu...

Helicops is a genus of Neotropical watersnakes containing 16 species. Based on morphological (scale counts, dentition, coloration, and hemipenis anatomy) and genetic data (16S rRNA and C-mos genes), we identify a new species of this genus. The new taxon is diagnosed by having 17-17-15 dorsal scale rows; 111–117 ventral plates; 41–56 subcaudals with...

Climate change may cause several biodiversity impacts in the near future, including shifts in the range of species, as well as local population declines. Distribution modeling tools have proven to be useful to predict areas with environmentally suitable conditions for numerous taxa, and predicting these changes in distribution are critically import...

We correct and clarify some nomenclatural issues involving family‐level and species‐level nomina of Platyrrhini. First, we found that the authorship of Ateles hypoxanthus, Cebus xantosternos, and Callithrix melanochir should be attributed to Wied (1820) not Kuhl (1820), based on the date of publication. We also conclude that: i) Thomas (1903) is th...

Data on species distribution is basic information for many research fields, including assessment of conservation status. Usually, this issue is non-available or it is incomplete for fossorial species. Herein, we provide an updated map of distribution and new records of occurrence of the blind snake Liotyphlops beui. Although it is one of the most w...