Natural History Notes (Beebee & Griffiths, 2000). Autumn mating has been recorded in the wild, including in england (Braithwaite et al., 1989; Bull, 2010), and this phenomenon could explain females showing early signs of gestation the following spring, but would not account for advanced gestation, such as in the female that is the subject of this note. typically, following spring mating, birth occurs three to five months later in August or September (Beebee & Griffiths, 2000). records of individual snakes breeding biennially have therefore generally been attributed to the breeding year being followed by a fallow (non-breeding) year, presumably allowing females to build up reserves for the following season. Gravid overwintering, delaying birth until the year after mating, could also produce a pattern of biennial reproduction. the current observation raises questions of whether overwintering in this state is common in england or elsewhere in the northern part of the species’ range in europe and whether it may also occur in the adder Vipera berus, which also gestates its young internally rather than laying eggs, and also has a biennial pattern of reproduction. Further work would be needed to answer these questions, including the possible use of x-ray or ultrasound examination to confirm gravid status, and the use of data from elsewhere in england and the species’ northern (e.g. Norway) and core (e.g. central France, italy) range, to allow comparison. Similar data could also be collected for adders. it has been reported that adders show some degree of true viviparity, i.e. that there is some direct transfer of nutrition from mother to young during their development within the female, but that smooth snakes are ovoviviparous, i.e. the young are entirely enclosed within egg membranes during development and presumably therefore receive less nutrition than adder embryos (e.g. Beebee & Griffiths, 2000). if transfer of nutrition to adder embryos is more efficient than in smooth snakes, it could be suggested as contributing to the observed difference in the species’ northern limits. A more thorough study involving a larger sample of biometric data is planned for the next season, but in the meantime the author would be pleased to receive any observations regarding the possibility of gravid overwintering in smooth snake 36 Number 118 - Herpetological Bulletin [2011] or adder, whether in support or against. i am grateful to Amphibian and reptile Conservation for licence accreditation to handle smooth snakes. John Wilkinson, Chris reading and Nick moulton provided helpful advice in the preparation of this note. reFerenCeS Beebee, t.J.C. & Griffiths, r.A. (2000). Amphibians and Reptiles. A Natural History of the British Herpetofauna. London: HarperCollins. Braithwaite, A.C., Buckley J., Corbett K.F., edgar, P.W., Haslewood, e.S., Haslewood, G.A.d., Langton, t.e.S. & Whitaker, W.J. (1989). the distribution in england of the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca Laurenti). Herpetol. J. 1, 370-376. Bull, d. (2009). Coronella austriaca Laurenti (smooth snake). record of late summer mating in the wild in southern england. Herpetol. Bull. 111, 36-38. Spellerberg, i.F. & Phelps t.e. (1977). Biology, general ecology and behaviour of the snake, Coronella austriaca Laurenti. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 9, 133-164. Sumbitted by: WiLL AtKiNS, London Essex and Hertfordshire Amphibian and Reptile Trust (LEHART), 5 Roughdown Villas Road, Hemel Hempstead HP3 0AX, UK. lehartrust@hotmail.com. COLOBODACTYLUS DALCYANUS (NCN): reProduCtioN. Gymnophthalmid biology is poorly known, being limited by the paucity of specimens in collections and observations in nature (rodrigues et al., 2007; Jared et al., 2009). the gymnophthlamid genus Colobodactylus comprises two species, C. taunayi and C. dalcyanus, which occur throughout southeastern Atlantic rainforests of south America. Colobodactylus dalcyanus is a rare species known only from high altitudes (> 1000 m asl) in two localities; Serra da mantiqueira, Brejo da Lapa in rio de Janeiro (Vanzolini & ramos, 1977) and Campos do Jordão in the state of São Paulo (manzani & Sazima, 1997). to the Natural History Notes best of our knowledge there is no information on the biology of C. dalcyanus. this note provides the first observations of C. dalcyanus reproduction. Notes were taken during a herpetological survey of Campos do Jordão State Park during spring, 15-18 october 2005. Additional observations were made in a laboratory. Specimens were obtained 1940 m asl in a forest near a small stream surrounded by “Campus montanus” environment (iBGe, 1992) (22o43’01.3’’S; 45o27’43.3’’W). the climate was 18oC and 55% rH. reptiles and possibly evolved independently in several lineages (Shine, 1988; Greene et al., 2006). the behaviour described herein for C. dalcyanus has also been observed for Leposoma puk (m. dixo, pers. comm.). this suggests that parental care may be more common among gymnophthalmids than expected. the two eggs laid in captivity were subsequently fixed at different day intervals to provide embryological data. developmental stages of the embryos were established by an approximation with the developmental table for Figure 1. Colobodactylus dalcyanus female (mZuSP 95598). Figure 2. embryos of Colobodactylus dalcyanus from female mZuSP 95603. a) embryo mZuSP 99608 at stage 36 (dufare & Hubert, 1961). b) embryo mZuSP 99609 at stage 40. Scale bar = 1.0 mm. Four female C. dalcyanus with eggs in their oviducts were collected during this survey. two of them were preserved (mZuSP 95601, 95602) while the remaining two specimens (mZuSP 95598, 95603) were kept alive and transferred to the laboratory where they laid eggs. All four specimens retained two eggs, one in each oviduct, fitting the clutch size pattern of two eggs recorded for most Gymnophthalmidae (Pianka & Vitt, 2003). one female (mZuSP 95598) (Fig. 1) was found under leaf litter, curled around its laid eggs. this female did not show any defensive behaviour. When disturbed it reacted by moving the body without loosening the curl around the eggs and remained inactive when left in-situ. A second female (mZuSP 95603) was collected by pitfall trap from the same forest area and laid two eggs in a plastic container. this specimen was transferred with the eggs to a terrarium covered with the litter vegetation from its capture area. After approximately one hour the female curled around the eggs and kept this position for 30 hours. these two records suggest initial parental care of eggs by C. dalcyanus. Parental care is rare in Lacerta vivipara (dufaure & Hubert, 1961). the first egg was opened 32 days after oviposition and revealed an embryo (mZuSP 99608; SVL= 12,6 mm) in stage 36. digits were already differentiated but the interdigital membrane was still in the process of being absorbed (Fig. 2a). the second egg was opened after 56 days and revealed an embryo (mZuSP 99609; SVL = 26.7 mm) in stage 40 (Fig. 2b). According to dufare & Hubert (1961), stage 40 is one of the latest stages before hatchling, being characterised by pigmented scales, closed parietal fontanel and the presence of an egg tooth. the presence of an embryo with 56 days pre-hatchling morphology indicates a period of embryological development of approximately 60 days, under controlled conditions. We thank Vanessa K. Verdade, miguel t. rodrigues, Giovanna G. montingelli and Paola Sanches martinez for their critical reading of previous versions of this contribution and itamar A. martins and Álvaro F. B. Junqueira for assistance Herpetological Bulletin [2011] - Number 118 37 Natural History Notes in field work. We are also grateful to iBAmA for providing the research permit (No. 148/2005 CGFAu/LiC, 02001.007052/2001). this work was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do estado de São Paulo (FAPeSP) through a thematic Project (02/136024) to HZ. reFerenCeS dufaure, J.P. & Hubert, J. (1961). table de développement du lézard vivipare: Lacerta (Zootoca) vivipara Jacquin. Arch. Anat. Micr. Morph. Exp. 50, 309-328. Greene, H.W., rodríguez, J.J.S. & Powell, B.J. (2006). Parental behavior in anguid lizards. S. Am. J. Herpetol. 1, 9-19. iBGe- instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e estatística (1992). manual técnico da Vegetação Brasileira. 1a edição, rio de Janeiro. Jared C., Antoniazzi, m.m. & rodrigues, m.t. (2009). reproductive behavior: Alexandresaurus camacan. Herpetol. Rev. 40, 218-219. manzani, P.r. & Sazima, i. (1997). Geographic distribution: Colobodactylus dalcyanus. Herpetol. Rev. 28, 95. Pianka, e.r. & Vitt L.J. (2003). Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity. Berkeley: university of California Press. rodrigues, m.t., Pellegrino, K.C.m., dixo, m., Verdade, V.K., Pavan, d., Argolo, A.J.S. & Sites-Jr, J.W. (2007). A new genus of microteiid lizard from the Atlantic forests of State of Bahia, Brazil, with a new generic name for Colobosaura mentalis, and a discussion of relationships among the Heterodactylini (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 3565, 1-27. São Paulo (estado). decreto estadual nº 53.494, de 2 de outubro de 2008. Espécies de mamíferos, aves, répteis, anfíbios e peixes de água doce ameaçados de extinção no Estado de São Paulo. diário oficial, Poder executivo SP, 3 de outubro de 2008, Seção i, v. 118, 187, 1-10. Shine, r. (1988). Parental care in reptiles. in: Biology of Reptilia, Volume 16, Ecology B: Defense and Life History. Gans C. & Huey, r.B. (eds.). Pp. 275-239. New York. Vanzolini, P.e. & ramos, A.m.m. (1979). A new species of Colobodactylus, with notes on the 38 Number 118 - Herpetological Bulletin [2011] distribution of a group of stranded microteiid lizards (Sauria, teiidae). Pap. Avul. Zool. S. Paulo 31, 123-144. Submitted by: Pedro HeNriQue BerNArdo, riCArdo Arturo GuerrA-FueNteS and HuSSAm ZAHer Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Nazaré, 481, CEP 04263-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. bernardoph@ gmail.com. ODONTOPHRYNUS CARvALHOI (Carvalho’s escuerzo): mALFormAtioN. Amphibians’ permeable skin, poorly protected eggs and embryos, and biphasic life cycle make them particularly sensitive to environmental change. the occurrence of malformations in a few individuals is expected in healthy populations and may be related to natural mutations, developmental errors or predation (Blaustein & Johnson, 2003). trematoda parasites, uV radiation, environmental pollutants, and/or the synergism between these variables may also increase abnormalities among natural populations (Loeffler et al., 2001; Kiesecker, 2002; Ankley et al., 2004; Burton et al., 2008). the commonest types of malformation in amphibians are the absence of limbs or the presence of extra ones (Ankley et al., 2004; meteyer, 2000). Abnormalities in vital organs are less common and drastically reduce chances of survival during the larval period (Loeffler et al., 2001). in this note, we report a case of anophthalmia in Odontophrynus carvalhoi Savage and Cei, 1965, an anuran species found in rainforests of eastern Brazil. observations took place at Parque das trilhas, municipality of Guaramiranga, state of Ceará, northeast Brazil (04º16’S, 38º56’W; 880 m asl). the area comprised 70 ha of conserved tropical rainforest that was continuous with surrounding 1,584,836 ha of forest within an area of environment protection under the State’s responsibility. on 10 April 2009 at 11:15 an O. carvalhoi (SVL 64.18 mm; 34 g) was found dead near a small stream inside a conserved forested area. upon inspection we found that the anuran’s left eye was missing. there was a lack of scars or sign of injury, suggesting this was a case of