Philodryas aestiva ( Dumeril , Bibron & Dumeril , 1854)

enezes, Frederico de Alcantara, Abegg, Arthur Diesel, Silva, Bruno Rocha da, ranco, Francisco Luis & Feio, Renato Neves, 2018, Composition and natural history of the snakes from the Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio, southern Minas Gerais, Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil, ZooKeys 797, pp. 117-160 : 117

Philodryas aestiva ( Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril, 1854) Figure 4D

Natural history notes.

Species of medium size (n = 2), diurnal, often found on the ground in open areas ( Di-Bernardo 1998, Marques et al. 2001, Sawaya et al. 2008). A recently road-killed adult male was found in an open field during the morning. The other record is of an adult’s shed skin, located at the grassland, in a rock outcrop, at 1800 m a.s.l.. There is no information on diet and reproduction of the examined specimen. Machado-Filho (2015) describes this species as generalist, feeding on mammals (40%), birds (25%), lizards (20%) and anurans (15%). Vitellogenesis occurs between April and December and ovulation between July and December ( Fowler et al. 1998). There is a record of a captive female with eleven eggs ( Fowler et al. 1998). No defensive behavior was observed for this species.

Altitudinal variation.

This species was found at a minimum of sea level from the coast of Uruguay to Santa Catarina and maximum of 1730 m a.s.l. in Campos do Jordão, SP ( Bérnils 2009). The maximum altitudinal record for this species is presented here, with a specimen recorded at 1800 m a.s.l.. Bérnils (2009) mentioned the species occurs at sea level only from Uruguay to Santa Catarina. All other localities where this species was found are plateau areas.

Distribution and habitat.

Northeast, central-west, southeast and southern Brazil (Bahia, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo), Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay ( Wallach et al. 2014). This species was predominantly found in open areas of pampas, plateau fields, cerrados, and restingas, with records to adjacent forests ( Giraudo and Scrocchi 2002, Bérnils 2009).