Diversity and habitat use of snakes from the coastal Atlantic rainforest in northeastern Bahia, Brazil

The north coast of Bahia comprises a 220 km long region within the Atlantic rainforest ecoregion. Studies focusing

on snake communities are still scarce in this part of the state of Bahia. In this study, we assess snake diversity at nine

locations, including habitat use and activity patterns. The sites were surveyed for three years, and four museum collections

were visited to compile additional data. We obtained information on 50 species from 774 specimens. While the snake

fauna at Instituto da Mata contained the greatest richness with 15 observed species, the snake fauna at Imbassaí exhibited

the greatest snake diversity due to a lower dominance. The estimated species richness of the region might be as many as 55

species. Snakes occurred mainly in the restinga ecosystem (N = 27), followed by ombrophilous forest (N = 25), and consisted

mainly of terrestrial species. The restinga dry forest is home to most species, however some are restricted to habitats

in other vegetation types related to their biology. The snake assemblage on the north coast of Bahia is similar to others in

the Atlantic rainforest and Caatinga domain in northeastern Brazil.