Herpetozoa (Apr 2020)

First record of cannibalism in Thamnodynastes phoenix Franco, Trevine, Montingelli & Zaher, 2017 (Serpentes, Colubridae)

  • Mayara da Silva Ribeiro de Morais,
  • Paula Fernanda de Araújo,
  • Renato Magnum Tavares Costa,
  • Frederico Gustavo Rodrigues França

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e47317
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 33
pp. 17 – 19

Abstract

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Cannibalism has been documented across many groups of snakes and the same is true for Brazilian snakes. Herein, we present the first observation of cannibalism in Thamnodynastes phoenix between two adult males from Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil. We suggest this behavior could be influenced by a lack of resources caused by extreme abiotic conditions, as well as the opportunistic habits of this species.