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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 record is the first in the Cerrado ecoregion and is 300km northeast in straight line to the closest record in Floresta Nacional de Carajás, municipality of Parauapebas, state of Pará, Brazil, and fills a gap of 530 km.
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REVISTA LATINOAMERICANA DE HERPETOLOGÍA Vol.06 No.04 / Octubre-Diciembre2023 - 30 -
UPDATED DISTRIBUTION MAP OF AMPHISBAENA MITCHELLI PROCTER, 1923
(SQUAMATA: AMPHISBAENIDAE) WITH A NEW RECORD IN MARANHÃO, BRAZIL
MAPA DE DISTRIBUCIÓN ACTUALIZADO DE AMPHISBAENA MITCHELLI PROCTER, 1923 (SQUAMATA:
AMPHISBAENIDAE) CON UN NUEVO REGISTRO EN MARANHÃO, BRASIL
Carolina L. Paiva1*, Henrique J. Oliveira1† & Henrique C. Costa1
1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. 36036-900, Juiz de Fora, Minas
Gerais, Brazil.
†Contributed equally to this work
*Correspondence: carolina22paiva@gmail.com
Received: 2023-07-06. Accepted: 2023-10-09. Published: 2023-11-10.
Editor: Katyuscia Araujo-Vieira, Brasil.
NOTA DE DISTRIBUCIÓN
Paiva et al.- Amphisbaena mitchelli distribution extension —e748— 30-34 https://doi.org/110.22201/fc.25942158e.2023.4.748

knowledge gaps on biodiversity, reducing the Wallacean shortfall
         
     
      


     





Amphisbaena mitchelli
    
Brazil (Colli et al., 2016). It is diagnosed by having a round head,

6th or 7th annulus, two precloacal pores sequentially arranged,





        
publications brought to light new distribution records for A.
mitchelli 


In this note, we report A. mitchelli    
        
          
collected between June and July 2011 (collector and date unknown)
and deposited in the Herpetology Collection of Museu de História
     




A. mitchelli 




 


        



Amphisbaena
mitchelli
          
       
  


         
burrow at shallow depths or live in large rotten logs or close to

A. mitchelli is found are based


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Paiva et al.- Amphisbaena mitchelli distribution extension
Figura 1. Espécimen MHNCI 14186 de Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brasil, identicado como Amphisbaena mitchelli por tener una cabeza redonda, 217 anillos corporales, 26 anillos caudales
con autotomía en el séptimo anillo, dos poros precloacales dispuestos secuencialmente, sulcos dorsales y laterales, 12 segmentos dorsales y 14 segmentos ventrales en un anillo del cuerpo
medio, y tres supralabiales y tres infralabiales.
Figure 1.Specimen MHNCI 14186 from Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil, identied as Amphisbaena mitchelli by having a round head, 217 body annuli, 26 caudal annuli with autotomy at the 7th
annulus, two precloacal pores sequentially arranged, dorsal and lateral sulci, 12 dorsal and 14 ventral segments at a midbody annulus, and three supra- and three infralabials.
Amphisbaena mitchelli has been recorded inside forests, and


      
sensu       
        
         





           
species range, an ecotonal zone between the Cerrado ecoregion
   

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Paiva et al.- Amphisbaena mitchelli distribution extension
Figura 2. Mapa de distribución actualizado para Amphisbaena mitchelli. Localidad tipo en rojo, nuevo registro en negro y otros registros en blanco. Las localidades 9, 10, 12–15, 19, 20,
y 23 no están numeradas debido a la corta distancia entre puntos adyacentes. Para obtener más detalles sobre los registros en la literatura, consulte la Tabla S1 disponible en https://doi.
org/10.5281/zenodo.8422924 (donde los códigos de las colecciones de historia natural siguen a Sabaj (2020)). AP: Amapá; MA: Maranhão; PA: Pará; PI: Piauí; TO: Tocantins.
Figure 2. Updated distribution map for Amphisbaena mitchelli. Type locality in red, new record in black and other records in white. Localities 9, 10, 12–15, 19, 20, and 23 are not numbered
because of the short distance between points. For details on records in literature, see Table S1 available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8422924 (in which codes for natural history
collections follow Sabaj (2020)). AP: Amapá; MA: Maranhão; PA: Pará; PI: Piauí; TO: Tocantins.
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Paiva et al.- Amphisbaena mitchelli distribution extension
CITED LITERATURE

    Amphisbaena mitchelli
Procter, 1923 and A. miringoera   
    

        
          
        


         
         
   


rare Amphisbaena spurrelli  




Dinerstein, E., D. Olson, A. Joshi, C. Vynne, N.D. Burgess, E. Wikra-



  

        
        
  


        
Database, version 1.2.< 
,


Amphisbaena mitchelli Procter
and Amphisbaena slevini      

Amphisbaena mitchelli



         
       
        
          





Amphisbaena   
      


  
       

          
      

Amphisbaena
miringoera     

       
          
     
       

     



 

REVISTA LATINOAMERICANA DE HERPETOLOGÍA Vol.06 No.04 / Octubre-Diciembre 2023 - 34 -
Paiva et al.- Amphisbaena mitchelli distribution extension
          
     Amphisbaena mitchelli
Procter, 1923 in the state of Pará, Brazil. Check List 10:1229-1230.
        
Ichthyology and Herpetology. Copeia 108:593-669.


 
   
       
Amphisbaena mitchelli 
2021. ,


   Amphisbaena    
     



      Amphisbaena 
          
       
Zoologia 37:259-276.
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Assembled here is a reasonably complete list of annotated codes for historical and modern natural history collections associated with lost and extant specimens of fossil and Recent fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. A total of 3,845 codes are anchored to about 2,064 distinct collections and/or institutions in 155 countries. At least 633 of those collections are exclusively paleontological or include fossil specimens. The list is primarily derived from the scientific literature and may serve as a resource for plainly citing specimens in publications and for linking such citations to records in online databases. © 2020 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
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In contrast to the extraordinary adaptive radiation of Caribbean Anolis lizards, head-first burrowing worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) of the Greater Antilles show a high degree of evolutionary conservatism in both taxonomic and phenotypic diversity. While Caribbean anoles reach over 160 endemic species and six ecomorphs, amphisbaenians peak at one to seven species per island and are characterized by two distinct head shapes, each associated with a specific burrowing behaviour. Using three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometrics, we found that Caribbean amphisbaenians also occupy a relatively confined area of skull morphospace, with considerable overlap between species from different islands and strong morphological integration between crania and mandibles. The only exceptions were the bizarre keel-headed cadeids (Cadea) from Cuba, which appear to be unlike other round-headed Caribbean forms and closer to Mediterranean blanids (Blanus), their putative sister group. The only significant differences in skull shape were found between insular amphisbaenians and their mainland relatives, indicating that fossorial vertebrates may respond differently to ecological opportunity than other terrestrial fauna. Given their highly specialized subterranean niche, we suggest that worm lizards are under strong stabilizing selection to maintain cranial proportions for head-first digging, thus limiting their ability to exploit novel resources (e.g. microhabitat, prey) encountered in insular environments.
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