Ofidios del litoral de Argentina (Reptilia: Serpentes): Biodiversidad y síntesis sobre el estado actual de conocimiento

Abstract

We analyzed the state of knowledge of the snakes biodiversity in the fluvial littoral of Argentina including aspect of species richness, sistematic, biogeography, biology, ecology and conservation. The fluvial littoral is the richest region of Argentina with 102 species and subspecies of snakes, 78 % of the Argentinean ophidiofauna represented in approximately a 7% of the continental surface of this country. Several new species and new records were described and published for this region in the last years. Misiones province showed the highest species richness (78 taxa) with a similar richness to some amazonian megadiverse regions with equivalent surfaces. The fluvial littoral contains 86% of the Argentinean threatened snakes (30 of 36 species), with some very restricted range species in Argentina. Although, the actual protected areas sistem is insuficient to conserve all snakes species, and regions with high diversity or endemic species present few or any protected area.