Plica plica ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A., 2015, Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. I. Dactyloidae, Hoplocercidae, Iguanidae, Leiosauridae, Polychrotidae, Tropiduridae, Zootaxa 3983 (3), pp. 1-110 : 22-24

Plica plica ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Type-locality. “ Indiis ”, restricted by Etheridge (1970a) to vicinity of Paramaribo, Suriname, and by Hoogmoed (1973) to the confluence of the Cottica River and the Perica Creek, Suriname.

Pertinent taxonomic references. Linnaeus (1758), Laurenti (1768), Latreille (1801), Daudin (1802a), Spix (1825), Boie (1826), Fitzinger (1826, 1843), Gray (1827, 1831, 1845), Kaup (1827), Wagler (1830), Wiegmann (1835), Duméril & Bibron (1837), Guichenot (1855), Boulenger (1885), Cunha (1961), Etheridge (1970a, c), Hoogmoed (1973), Hoogmoed & Gruber (1983), Kasahara et al. (1986), Frost (1992), Ávila-Pires (1995), Harvey & Gutberlet (1998, 2000), Frost et al. (2001b), Murphy & Jowers (2013).

Distribution and habitat. Plica plica is widespread in, and endemic to Amazonia, occurring in Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia ( Fig. 15 ). In Brazil it is known from the states of Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, Roraima, Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul (in gallery forests contiguous with Amazonia in its southwestern region). Plica plica is arboreal and diurnal, inhabits primary and secondary terra firme and varzea forests, and isolated forest patches inside savanna areas, where it is found mainly on the trunks and large limbs of the largest trees in the forest (at heights close to the ground up to 8 meters high), and rarely but also on the ground and on surfaces of rocks ( Hoogmoed 1973; Cunha 1981a; Cunha et al. 1985; Vanzolini 1986; Nascimento et al. 1988; Hoogmoed & Ávila-Pires 1989; O’Shea 1989; Ávila-Pires 1995; Vitt et al. 1999; 2008a; Schlüter et al. 2004; Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2008, 2011; Barrio-Amorós & Duellman 2009; Ávila-Pires et al. 2010; Whitworth & Beirne 2011; Waldez et al. 2013). Vitt (1991b) observed the preference of Plica plica for tree trunks relatively smooth and not covered by strangler vines, with a diameter larger than 0.5 meters, at heights varying between 0.15 to 13 meters. Ávila-Pires (1995) mentioned the absence of registers from the easternmost part of Amazonia, from the right margin of Tocantins Rivers to Atlantic coastal, and considered two possibilities for that: a natural absence or the disappearing due to historical deforestation. I found Plica plica on the right margin of the Tocantins River (two records: MPEG 12869, MZUSP 13612), but I am still unable to clarify its absence in the major part of the region.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Distribution of examined material of Plica plica.