Mussurana quimi Franco, Marques

De Alencar, Arília Aiarsa Laura R. V. & Martins, Marcio, 2013, Natural History Of Pseudoboine Snakes, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 53 (19), pp. 261-283 : 266

Mussurana quimi Franco, Marques & Porto, 1997

Distribution: Mussurana quimi is distributed in central and southeastern Brazil, northeastern Argentina and eastern Paraguay ( Franco et al., 1997; Giraudo, 1999; Scott Jr. et al., 2006; Vaz-Silva et al., 2007).

Habitat and time of activity: Mussurana quimi is a moderate-sized pseudoboine (maximum SVL = 1078 mm, female; Pizzatto, 2005) and there is only scattered information about its ecology. It seems to inhabit open areas of the Brazilian Cerrado ( Vaz-Silva et al., 2007; P. Valdujo, unpublished data), and few data indicate that this species may be terrestrial (N = 2) and active during the night (N = 2) (P. Valdujo, unpublished data).

Feeding: Mussurana quimi seems to be specialized in small mammals (N = 6), but also consumes lizards (N = 1) and snakes (N = 1, Helicops modestus ) ( Franco et al., 1997; this study).

Reproduction: Clutch size varies from seven to 26 eggs (N = 8, mean = 11.3 eggs; Franco et al., 1997; Pizzatto, 2005; this study). Females attain larger body size than males ( Pizzatto, 2005). The smallest mature female was 660 mm SVL ( Pizzatto, 2005) and the smallest mature male was 573 mm SVL ( Pizzatto, 2005).