The Herpetological Journal
The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.
ISSN 0268-0130
2023 Impact Factor for the Herpetological Journal is 1.1, with the Journal sitting just below Quartile 2 in Zoology, at percentile 46.9
pdf Rediscovering a caecilian in the largest megalopolis of South America: an unexpectedly abundant population of Luetkenotyphlus brasiliensis
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Authors: Natália Ferreira Torello-Viera, Karina Rodrigues da Silva Banci & Michel Varajão Garey
Abstract: Living caecilian are apodal amphibians that present mainly fossorial and secretive habits, making the usual sampling methods ineffective. Therefore, data on the species and their ecology are scarce. In the Atlantic Forest, there are only 13 species, and anecdotal information is available for just three. The Metropolitan Region of São Paulo is highly fragmented, resulting in local extinction of several species. The first record of caecilians on São Paulo, the largest megalopolis in South America, was in 1905, whereas the last record dates back to 1960. Herein, we report the discovery a Luetkenotyphlus brasiliensis population at Parque da Previdência, a small urban park in São Paulo, with vegetation in the primary stage of succession. This park is the smallest Atlantic Forest remnant housing caecilians, and surprisingly, it shows the third largest relative abundance of individuals ever registered in this domain. Our results show the importance of even small forest fragments for species conservation.
Keywords: Atlantic Forest, conservation, fragmentation, Gymnophiona, herpetofauna
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Please note that as from Volume 31 Number 1 (January 2021) on, the Herpetological Journal will be available as an online publication only - the last print edition will be Volume 30 Number 4.
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