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Herpetological Review, 2007, 38(1), 24–30.
© 2007 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Herpetofauna of Mount Roraima, Guiana Shield
Region, Northeastern South America
ROSS D. MACCULLOCH
and
AMY LATHROP
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada
e-mail: rossm@rom.on.ca; amyl@rom.on.ca
ROBERT P. REYNOLDS
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History
MRC 111, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, USA
e-mail: reynolds@si.edu
J. CELSA SEÑARIS
Museo de Historia Natural La Salle, Apartado 1930
Caracas 1010-A, Venezuela
e-mail: josefa.senaris@fundacionlasalle.org.ve
and
GREGORY E. SCHNEIDER
Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079, USA
e-mail: ges@umich.edu
The Guiana region of northeastern South America is an area of
high biodiversity, and the varied habitats on the tepuis of the re-
gion support a significant portion of this diversity. The zoogeog-
raphy of the pantepui region has been a recent topic of interest,
with several sources of published data (Duellman 1999; Gorzula
and Señaris 1999; Hollowell and Reynolds 2005a; Hoogmoed
1979a; McDiarmid and Donnelly 2005).
The herpetofaunal communities of several tepuis have been de-
scribed (Donnelly and Myers 1991; Gorzula 1992; McDiarmid
and Paolillo 1988; Myers 1997; Myers and Donnelly 1996, 1997,
2001). Mount Roraima, the most famous of these table mountains,
has been explored extensively (McDiarmid and Donnelly 2005).
Although numerous specimens have been collected on Roraima,
these collections have never been summarized or analyzed.
Roraima (05º12'N, 060º44'W) is one of the highest points in
northeastern South America, and it marks the boundary between
Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil. The summit plateau, from 2600 to
2810 m elevation, is some 34 km
2
in area. The plateau is known
for its varied rock formations, and for its very sparse vegetation.
The summit is at the top of steep walls which extend from below
2000 m up to 2600–2700 m; these walls are occasionally broken
by more gradual slopes. At the bottom of the vertical walls, below
about 2000 m, the tepui is surrounded by forested slopes. The for-
est is most extensive below 1500 m, with only a narrow band en-
circling the mountain above this elevation. Descriptions of the
physical features and vegetation of Roraima are in Huber (1995a,
b).
Herpetofaunas on tepui summits often differ in species compo-
sition from faunas on tepui slopes. Summit faunas are often more
depauperate than slope faunas (Myers and Donnelly 2001). Both
elevation and microhabitat can affect species distributions, and
many species occur over a range of elevations (McDiarmid and
Donnelly 2005). It is therefore worthwhile to have a compilation
of slope and summit species, for comparison with faunas on other
mountains.
The first aim of this paper is to compile a list of the known
herpetofauna of Roraima, from both summit and slopes. The sec-
ond aim is to compare the Roraima herpetofauna with those of
other tepuis in the Guiana Shield (following Hollowell and
Reynolds 2005b, p.1); this consists of 1) comparison using crite-
ria developed by McDiarmid and Donnelly (2005), and 2) the hy-
potheses of tepui zoogeography of Myers and Donnelly (2001),
who enumerated five general points about the composition of tepui
herpetofaunas. Such comparisons can provide valuable insight
about the zoogeography of the region.
Methods.—Information was taken from museum records or pub-
lished literature. Amphibian taxonomy follows Faivovich et al.
(2005), Frost et al. (2006) and Grant et al. (2006); reptile tax-
onomy follows Avila-Pires (2005). Institutional abbreviations fol-
low Leviton et al. (1985), with the following additions: CSBD –
Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity, University of Guyana,
Georgetown, Guyana; MHNLS – Museo de Historia Natural La
Salle, Caracas, Venezuela (formerly SCNLS); ULABG –
Laboratorio de Biogeografia, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida,
Venezuela.
The aims of this study require that two points be defined. First,
what are the boundaries of Roraima? Second, what are highland
species? These questions were resolved as follows:
Roraima: We defined the boundaries of Roraima as that part of
the mountain which is above 1500 m. Although some studies of
the Guiana Shield region have used 1000 m as a minimum eleva-
tion (e.g., Hoogmoed 1979a), the use of this criterion at Roraima
would necessitate the inclusion of the extensive surrounding up-
lands, and would increase the boundaries of Roraima to an unreal-
istic extent. We therefore adopted the 1500 m criterion, as have
other studies of the Guiana fauna (Gorzula and Señaris 1999;
McDiarmid and Donnelly 2005).
Because of the potentially great difference between faunas on
tepui summits and faunas on forested tepui slopes, we have indi-
cated the location from which each species was recorded, in order
to determine whether each is part of the summit or slope faunal
assemblages. The habitat on the slopes of Roraima is varied, rang-
ing from steep rocky walls to more gently sloping forested areas
(Huber 1995a, b).
Highland Species: Highland species are those which typically
occur above 1500 m; any such species is here considered a high-
land species, although it may have been occasionally collected
below 1500 m. McDiarmid and Donnelly (2005) followed a simi-
lar procedure. Although a highland species may occasionally oc-
cur at elevations below 1500 m, it will not be widespread below
that elevation. Table 1 contains all species reported from above
1500 m, plus several highland species collected slightly below