NASCIMENTO E DESENVOLVIMENTO DE BOTHROPS NEUWIEDI EM
CATIVEIRO (SERPENTES, VIPERIDAE)
Moema Leitão de Araújo ^
Maria Lúcia Machado Alves '
Rafael Lucchesi Balestrin ''^
Luís Felipe Schmidt de Aguiar '-^
ABSTRACT
BORN AND DEVELOPMENT OF BOTHROPS NEUWIEDI IN CAPTIVITY (SER-
PENTES,VIPERIDAE). Between 1990 and 1997, were observed 581 neonates oí Bothrops neuwiedi Wagler,
1 824 bom from Jan Ist to May 12th. From497sanipIes, 171 (34.4%) were females and 326 (65.60%) were males.
Among these, 70.79% of the females and 80.06% of the males died within the first year; and 8.75% of the females
and 7.68% of the male died within two years. Until the 6th year, 7.01% of the females and 2.14% of the males
survived and 13.45% of the females and 10.12% of the males still live. The females weighted 10.5 g when they
were bom and were 26.0 cm long; and the males 10.75 g and 26.1 cm, in average. In the first year, the females
have grown in average 26.0 g and 16.1 cm; and the males 8.94 g and 5.4 cm; in the second year, females 39.7
g and 15.7 cm, and males 19.97 g and 3.54 cm. The proportion of the tail if compared to the head and tmnc, was
6.9 for females and 6.27 for males.
KEYWORDS. Bothrops neuwiedi, neonates, development, captivity.
INTRODUÇÃO
Nascimento e desenvolvimento de filhotes de Bothrops Wagler, 1824, Bothriechis
Peters, 1859 e Porthidium, Cope, 1871 foram relatados por diversos autores. Leloup
(1973) observou um lote de 50 neonatos áe Bothrops moojeni Hoge, 1966 nascidos em
cativeiro, citando média dos pesos e desenvolvimento até 3 anos. Leitão-De-Araújo &
Perazzolo (1974) citaram o comprimento e a massa de filhotes de Bothrops altematus D.
B. & D., 1854 nascidos em cativeiro e a primeira alimentação.
Hoge & Federsoni Jr. (1976/77) descreveram o nascimento de 33 neonatos de
1 . Núcleo Regional de Ofiologia de Porto Alegre, Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotànica do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 1 1 8
CEP 90001-970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
2. Bolsista FAPERGS (Proc. N° 89.00949.0).
Iheringia, Sér. Zool., Porto Alegre, (85): 3-10, 27 nov. 1998
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