Salvator merianae Dumeril & Bibron, 1839

Figs 10.8 and 19

Type locality.

Cayenne, French Guiana; Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay.

Distribution.

In the Caatinga it is registered in the states of Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, and Sergipe. It is widespread in the Caatinga and with annual mean temperature 20 to 28°C along eight ecoregions (Table 1; Appendix S3). Distributed in low to high elevation areas (5-919 m a.s.l.), with annual mean temperature 21 to 28°C, and annual average annual rainfall between 412 and 1,573 mm.

Ecological notes.

Terrestrial and diurnal. It is found in all kind of open vegetation landscapes inside Caatinga (Barbosa et al. 2018; Castro et al. 2019). Diet is omnivorous, generalist eating invertebrates (e.g., Araneae, Orthoptera, and Blattaria), small vertebrates (e.g., anuros, snakes, and Muridae), eggs, carrion, and fruits (e.g., Arecaceae and Moraceae) (Kiefer and Sazima 2002; Castro and Galleti 2004; Silva and Hillesheim 2004; Oliveira-Santos and Leuchtenberger 2009). Oviparous, the female usually lays 20-50 eggs at a time (Yanosky and Mercolli 1991; Naretto el al. 2015).