The genus Bachia Gray, 1845 is widely distributed in South America and exhibits its greatest diversity in the semi-arid foothills and in the low tropical elevations that surround the Amazon basin (Dixon, 1973; Barros and Rincón, 1999). Of the 26 known species, nine are found in Colombia (Uetz et al., 2018). Bachia bicolor (Cope, 1896) is a small fossorial lizard that lives in lowland tropical forests, Andean agroecosystems, and intervening urban areas (Dixon, 1973; Ramos-Pallares et al., 2017). Bachia bicolor has been reported in Colombia for 13 of its 32 departments, generally following the Andean spine as it bisects the country (Ramos-Pallares et al., 2017).

Material and Methods

We measured the snout-vent length (SVL), tail length (TL) and total length (ToL) of the collected lizards using an analogic calliper with 1 mm precision. We identified these specimens using the descriptions available in the literature (Dixon, 1973; Barros and Rincon, 1999; Teixeira et al., 2013) and the vouchers are deposited in the Museo de Zoología de la Universidad de Sucre (MZUSU-H00011 and MZUSU-H00012).

Results and Discussion

During fieldwork on 22 April 2015, we found a female B. bicolor (SVL = 52 mm, TL = 62 mm, ToL = 114 mm; Fig. 1A) on the edge of a path adjacent to a forest fragment in the Serranía de los Montes de María, Toluviejo Municipality, Department of Sucre (9.5199°N, 75.3930°W, Datum WGS84, elevation 430 m). The habitat (Fig. 1B) is part of the Tropical Dry Forest biome (Hernández-Camacho and Sánchez-Páez, 1992) characterized by the presence of different forest fragments in several successional stages and showing an intense habitat transformation due to agricultural activities. In addition, on 17 May 2018, we found another female of B. bicolor (SVL = 62 mm; TL = 89 mm; ToL = 151 mm) within the urban part of Sincelejo municipality (9.3063°N, 75.4032°W, Datum WGS84, elevation 220 m) under a trunk on soil without vegetation cover and scarce leaf litter.

These are the first records of B. bicolor in the department of Sucre, increasing the number of localities where this species occurs far removed from the Andes (Fig. 2). Some authors reported the presence of B. bicolor in the department of Sucre earlier (e.g., Ayala, 1986; Carvajal-Cogollo et al., 2012). However, in neither case were the exact localities defined and no reference was made to biological material deposited in museums. Therefore, this species seems to be more widely distributed in the lowlands of the Colombian Caribbean region than had previously been thought, and where it occurs it might be limited to environments that have optimal microhabitat conditions for these populations, such as dry forest fragments, secondary vegetation, and forest plantations. Furthermore, our findings support that this species can tolerate environments with human disturbances, such as urban areas (Ramos-Pallares et al., 2017) in both Andean and lowland habitats.

Herpetology Notes, volume 11: 907-909 (2018) (published online on 01 November 2018)

New records of Bachia bicolor (Cope, 1896) in the Caribbean Region of Colombia (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae)

Jorge A. Díaz1,2,*, Cristian J. Castillo2, Luis F. Montes3, and Pedro L. Atencia3

1 Laboratório de Sistemática, Biogeografia e História Natural de Anfíbios e Répteis (Mapinguari), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, CEP 79.070-900, Brazil.

2 Grupo de Investigación en Zoología y Ecología, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia.

3 Facultad de Educación y Ciencias, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: diazpjorgea@gmail.com

Jorge A. Díaz et al.908

Acknowledgements. We thank Matheus Neves, Henrique Folly, Sarah Mangia, and Martha P. Ramírez for reviewing the manuscript. We are grateful to Richard Torres for his logistical support.

References

Ayala, S.C. (1986): Saurios de Colombia: lista actualizada, y distribución de ejemplares colombianos en los museos. Caldasia 15: 555–575.

Figure 1. (A) Bachia bicolor (MZUSU-H00011) and (B) the habitat in which it was found in the Serranía de los Montes de María, Department of Sucre, Colombia.

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of Bachia bicolor in Colombia based on the records of Ramos-Pallares et al. (2017). The red and yellow stars indicate the new records in Toluviejo and Sincelejo municipalities, respectively, both in the department of Sucre.

Barros, T., Rincón, A. (1999): Segundo registro y redescripción de Bachia bicolor (Sauria: Gymnophthalmidae) en Venezuela. Boletín del Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas 33: 111–124.

Carvajal-Cogollo, J.E., Cárdenas-Arévalo, G., Castaño-Mora, O. (2012): Reptiles de la región Caribe de Colombia. In: Colombia Diversidad Biótica XII. La Región Caribe de Colombia, p. 791–812. Rangel, J.O., Ed., Bogotá, Colombia, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales-Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Dixon, J.R. (1973): A systematic review of the teiid lizards, genus Bachia, with remarks on Heterodactylus and Anotosaura. Miscellaneous Publication, University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History 57: 1–47.

Hernández-Camacho, J., Sánchez-Paéz, J. (1992): Biomas terrestres de Colombia. In: La Diversidad Biológica de Iberoamérica I, p. 153–173. Halffter, G., Ed., Xalapa, México, Instituto de Ecología A.C.

Ramos-Pallares, E., Meza-Joya F., Hernández-Jaimes, C. (2017): Bachia bicolor (Cope, 1896). Catálogo de Anfibios y Reptiles de Colombia 3: 43–51.

Teixeira, M., Vechio, F., Nunes, P., Neto, A., Lobo, L., Storti, L., et al. (2013): A new species of Bachia Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the western Brazilian Amazonia. Zootaxa 3636: 401–420.

Uetz, P., Freed, P., Hošek, J. (2018): The Reptile Database. Available at: http://www.reptile-database.org. Accessed on 5 July 2018.

New records of Bachia bicolor in the Caribbean Region of Colombia 909

Accepted by Pedro Pinna