Abstract

GONZALEZ S, Luis Alejandro; PRIETO ARCAS, Antulio; MOLINA, CÉsar  and  VELASQUEZ, Jenniffer. Los reptiles de la península de araya, Estado Sucre, Venezuela. INCI [online]. 2004, vol.29, n.8, pp.428-434. ISSN 0378-1844.

The reptiles inhabiting the Araya Peninsula, Sucre state, Venezuela were studied through field trips made twice monthly in the daytime. Captures were done throughout a year both manually and with pitfall traps in the various types of habitat formations. The data was complemented by reviewing the bibliography and existing museum collections. A total of 34 species from 3 orders and 14 families were identified. The most frequent family among snakes was Colubridae, and Gekkonidae, Teiidae and Polychrotidae among lizards. The largest numbers of species were found in the ecological units of tropophic forest with 28, xerophitic thistles with 22 and thorn bushes with 19 species. The high taxonomic diversity at the tropophic forest is due to the larger structure of this type of vegetation; the opposite occurs in the occidental zone, caracterized by xerophitic areas of low productivity. Community analysis based on the presence of species in the different types of habitat formations, indicates the existence of two faunal groups, one includes the fauna dwelling in shrub, underbrush, tropophic forest, savanna and mangrove habitats, and the other includes the fauna of sandy shore and herbaceous habitats.

Keywords : Península de Araya; Reptiles; Venezuela.