First report on the herpetofauna of Ataúro Island, Timor Leste

By

Kaiser, Hinrich
Sanchez, Caitlin
Heacox, Scott
Kathriner, Andrew
Ribeiro, Agivedo Varela
Soares, Zito Afranio
Araujo, Luis Lemos De
Mecke, Sven
O'Shea, Mark

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013-8-1

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

9

Series / Issue

Issue: 4

Pages

752--762

Subjects

diversity , Herpetology , Lizards , Snakes

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/9.4.752

 

Abstract

We describe for the first time the terrestrial herpetofauna of Ataúro Island, Timor-Leste, a small mountainous island in the Inner Banda Arc of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago. The island supports a fauna of ten lizard species in three families (Gekkonidae, n = 5; Scincidae, n = 4; Varanidae, n = 1) and four snake species in three families (Colubridae, n = 3; Typhlopidae, n = 1; Viperidae, n = 1). In addition to a set of lizards (e.g., Cryptoblepharus, Eutropis, Gehyra, Gekko, Hemidactylus, Lamprolepis) and snakes (e.g., Lycodon, Ramphotyphlops, Trimeresurus) typical for the Lesser Sunda Islands, there appear to be undescribed endemic species of Cyrtodactylus, Eremiascincus, and Varanus on Ataúro. Our surveys to date have not revealed the presence of any amphibians, turtles, or crocodiles.