Abstract

MORENO-ARIAS, RAFAEL  and  QUINTERO-CORZO, SIMÓN. Reptiles from the dry valley of the Magdalena River (Huila, Colombia). Caldasia [online]. 2015, vol.37, n.1, pp.183-195. ISSN 0366-5232.  https://doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v37n1.50811.

We describe the assemblages of reptiles from the dry valley of the Magdalena River in Huila department, and a comparison of assemblages between the predominant vegetation coverages and climatic seasons. We recorded 31 species belonging to 30 genera from seventeen families. Within lizards, Teiidae was the most diverse family with three species, and within snakes, Colubridae with nine species. The Order Testudines was represented by one species. Based on the species accumulation curves and the non-parametric Jackknife 2 and Bootstrap estimators, we obtained high representativity for the lizard survey (83% and 92%, respectively) and lower for snakes (75% and 82%, respectively). Reptile assemblages of each vegetation coverage did not differ significantly in structure and composition, and in general are characterized by few abundant and many rare species. Scrubland was the species-richest vegetation coverage, followed by riverine forests and cacao plantations. In general, the abundance of reptiles was higher during the wet season than during the dry season, nevertheless the way in which species respond to climatic seasons is given by their ecological, physiological and behavioral characteristics.

Keywords : Tropical dry forest; species assemblages; abundance; species accumulation curves.

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