Eunectes murinus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Guedes, Thaís B., Nogueira, Cristiano & Marques, Otavio A. V., 2014, Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 3863 (1), pp. 1-93 : 23

Eunectes murinus (Linnaeus, 1758) “Sucurí”

(Figs. 9.6 and 22.1)

It was recorded from a single site in the Caatinga, in the municipality of Aquiraz, northern portion of Ceará State ( Mendonça et al. 2009), 14 m elevation. It is widely distributed in the Atlantic Forest, Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal ( Cunha & Nascimento 1978; Strüssmann & Sazima 1993; Martins & Oliveira 1998; Marques et al. 2001; Argôlo 2004; Marques et al. 2005; Sawaya et al. 2008; Nogueira et al. 2010). The area of occurrence in the Caatinga is adjacent to coastal areas with high humidity. According to Freitas and Silva (2007), it can also be found near São Francisco, Paraguaçú, Itapicuru, Contas, and Jequitinhonha Rivers in Bahia state, but this information could not be confirmed herein due to lack of voucher specimens. It is a typical riparian species, found associated to floodlands and lentic water bodies, often on lowlands. It has semi-aquatic habits, is nocturnal and diurnal, and feeds on vertebrates ( Marques et al. 2005).