Snake body-bending behaviour
extensive range of A. kitaibelii (Uetz & Hosek,
2012) subsequent study of populations from other
areas in its range are warranted to ascertain if there
is geographic variation in reproduction.
I thank Shai Meiri (TAUM) for permission
to examine A. kitaibelii, Erez Maza (TAUM) for
facilitating the loan and the National Collections
of Natural History at Tel Aviv University for
providing samples of A. kitaibelii for this study.
REFERENCES
Bar, A. & Haimovitch, G. (2011). A Field Guide
to Reptiles and Amphibians of Israel. Herzilya:
Pazbar Ltd 1989.
Baran, I. & Atatür, M.K.
(1998). Turkish
Herpetofauna [Amphibians and Reptiles].
Ankara: Publication Board of the Ministry of
Environment.
Beshkov, V. & Nanev, K. (2006). Amphibians and
Reptiles in Bulgaria, Sofia: Pensoft.
Fuhn, I. E. & Vancea, S. (1961). Fauna Repiblicii
Populare Romine, Reptilia (Testoase, Sopirle,
Serpi) Volumul XIV. Bucharest: Editura
Academiei Republicii Populare Romine.
Göcmen, B., Kumlutas, Y. & Tosunoglu, M.
(1996). A new subspecies, Ablepharus kitaibelii
(Bibron & Borry, 1833) budaki n. ssp. (Sauria:
Scincidae) from Turkish Republic on Northern
Cyprus. Doga Turkish Journal of Zoology 20:
397-405.
Presnell, J.K. & Schreibman, M.P. (1997).
Humason’s Animal Tissue Techniques.
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press.
Stojanov, A.N., Tzankov A. & Naumov, B. (2011).
Die Amphibien und Reptilien Bulgariens.
Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira,
Uetz, P. & Hosek, J. (2012). The Reptile Database,
www.reptile-database.org (accessed 02/09/12).
Valakos, E.D., Pafilis, P., Sotiropoulos, K.,
Lymberakis, P., Maragou, P. & Foufopoulos,
J. (2008). The Amphibians and Reptiles of
Greece. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira.
APPENDIX
Ablepharus kitaibelii from Israel examined by
District: Center, (TAUM) 736, 11436; Haifa,
(TAUM) 746, 4936, 5154, 5155, 13789; Jerusalem,
(TAUM) 12372, 14869; Northern, (TAUM) 732,
734, 739, 740, 743, 747, 749, 1437, 2528-2531,
2904, 2966- 2968, 3859, 3883, 6026, 6057, 6060,
6062, 11143, 12073, 12371, 12688, 12968, 13406,
15710; Southern, (TAUM) 5980, 8504, 8951,
12960, 13781; Tel Aviv, (TAUM) 3957, 3958,
9375.
Body-bending behaviour: a new
instance in a terrestrial snake
from Brazil
JIVANILDO PINHEIRO MIRANDA1, JOÃO
CARLOS LOPES COSTA2, CARLOS
FREDERICO D. ROCHA3
1
Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Centro de
Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, MA-230,
Km 4, s/n, CEP 65500-000, Chapadinha, MA,
Brazil.
2
Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia,
Laboratório de Herpetologia, Museu Paraense
Emilio Goeldi,Avenida Magalhães Barata, 376,
Terra Firme, CEP 66040-170, Belém, PA, Brazil.
3
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,
Departamento de Ecologia,Rua São Francisco
Xavier, 524, CEP 20550-011, Rio de Janeiro, RJ,
Brazil.
1
Correspondent author: jivanildo@gmail.com
S
nakes exhibit a wide range of antipredator
tactics
including
cryptic
colouration,
immobility, struggling, cloacal discharging, sound
production, S-coil posture, vibrating the tail,
actively breaking the tail, exuding blood from the
eyes, feigning death, biting and spitting venom
(Greene, 1997). In addition, a defensive behaviour
called body-bending has been described for the first
time for two species of arboreal colubrids, Pseustes
poecilonotus and P. sulphureus (Beebee, 1946;
Abuys, 1986). This behaviour was then interpreted
as a defensive tactic in which, by bending its
body, a snake can increase the resemblance it may
already have to some portions of its habitat as
bent sticks and lianas that are often found among
branches in the canopy or on the forest floor,
Herpetological Bulletin [2012] - Number 122
35
Snake body-bending behaviour
Figure 1. View of “Restinga” habitats at Lençóis
Maranhenses National Park, Maranhão state,
Northeastern Brazil.
Figure 2. Psomophis joberti from Lençóis Maranhenses
National Park, Maranhão state, Northeastern Brazil,
exhibiting body-bending behaviour.
hence escaping potential predators (Beebee, 1946;
Abuys, 1986). In recent years, new instances of
body-bending behaviour have arisen: Marques et
al. (2006) reported the body-bending behaviour for
two species (Philodryas viridissimus and Spilotes
pullatus) from Brazil and Doherty-Bone (2009)
reported it for Pantherophis spiloides, a species
from North America. Considering that until then
body-bending behaviour was known only for
arboreal snake species, Marques et al. (2006)
suggested that it could have evolved independently
in the Xendontinae and Colubrinae as an adaptation
to arboreal life. However, Maddock et al. (2011)
described body-bending behaviour in another two
species from Northwest Ecuador: the terrestrial
Coniophanes fissidens and the semi-arboreal
Chironius monticola. Maddock et al. (2011) argued
that body-bending behaviour in Neotropical snakes
could be more widespread than previously thought
and that the adaptive value of that behaviour could
extends further than the arboreal life style.
Herein, we provide a new instance of bodybending behaviour in Psomophis joberti (Sauvage,
1884) from Northeastern Brazil, which is the first
report of this behaviour in a terrestrial species
which lives in open habitat. The genus Psomophis,
in the subfamily Dipsadinae, has three species
that are found in South America (Myers & Cadle,
1994). P. joberti is a diurnal and terrestrial species
distributed in central and northeastern Brazil, with
a disjunct population in Marajó Island, Pará (Myers
& Cadle, 1994; França et al., 2006). On June
23rd 2005 at 16:00 h, we observed an individual
of P. joberti (Male, SVL: 236 mm) moving on
sand in an open area of “Restinga” in Lençóis
Maranhenses National Park (LMNP), Maranhão,
Northeastern Brazil (02° 32’ 31.7”S and 43° 11’
28.3” W, SAD69). “Restinga” habitats in LMNP
are mosaics of open areas with herbaceous and
shrubby vegetation (Figure 1). Initially, the snake
was in a normal posture, but upon our approach
it began to display the body-bending behaviour
(Figure 2). We took a picture and collected the
individual, which kept its bending posture even
after collection and handling. On March 10th 2006
at 16:01 h, we observed another individual of P.
joberti (Male, SVL: 292mm) in the same park
(02° 36’ 27.8” S and 45° 05’ 10.4” W, SAD69) and
upon our approach it performed the body-bending
display too. However, this later individual stopped
bending its body after collection and immediately
began to press its tail spine against the hand of
the collector, a typical defensive behaviour of P.
joberti, known as spine-press behaviour (Lima et
al., 2010).
Our observations strengthen the hypothesis
that body-bending behaviour is not an adaptation
to arboreal life (Maddock et al., 2011) and that
even snake species from open areas, where
lianas are uncommon, can benefit from this kind
of behavioural trait. We expect that as fast as
new examples of body-bending behaviour were
reported, we may improve our knowledge about it
and decipher the real meaning of this interesting
behaviour in snakes.
The specimens of P. joberti cited here are
36
Number 122 - Herpetological Bulletin [2012]
Snake body-bending behaviour
deposited in Coleção Herpetológica “Claude
d’Abbeville”, Museu de História Natural do Leste
Maranhense at Universidade Federal do Maranhão
(CCAA/UFMA), Maranhão state, Brazil (CHMA
500 and CHMA 501, respectively).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Simon Maddock for valuable
suggestions on the manuscript; Mr. Antonio
Pereira, Mrs. Maria Grossa, Arnaldo Oliveira
Silva, Edmilson Godé, and Thiare Fortes for field
assistance. JPM thanks Conselho Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
for PhD Fellowship, Fundação “O Boticário” de
Proteção à Natureza for research grants (Process
0612_20041) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa
e ao Desenvolvimento Tecnológico do Estado do
Maranhão - FAPEMA (Process INFRA-00563/10
and APP-01131/10). CFDR received grants
from CNPq (Processes 304791/2010-5 and
472287/2012-5) and from Fundação Carlos Chagas
Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de
Janeiro – FAPERJ (Process 26.102.765/2012)
through Programa Cientistas do Nosso Estado.
IBAMA permit number 02001.004089/03-50.
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XIII: Subfamily Xenodontinae (genera
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Greene, H.W. (1997). Snakes. The Evolution of
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Maddock, S., Tolhurst, B., Brown, M., Peck,
M., Pérez, E. V. & Morales, J.N. (2011).
Body bending behaviour: more widespread
than previously thought? New reports from
two snake species of Northwest Ecuador.
Herpetology Notes 4: 79-81.
Marques, O.A.V., Rodrigues, M.G. & Sazima, I.
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Herpetological Bulletin [2012] - Number 122
37
Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha