LAGARTO

Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo
Volume 44(6):91-97, 2004

www.scielo.br/paz.htm

ISSN 0031-1049

FRUGIVORIA E DISPERSÃO DE SEMENTES PELO LAGARTO TEIÚ
TUPINAMBIS MERIANAE (REPTILIA: TEIIDAE)*
EVERALDO RODRIGO DE CASTRO1,3
MAURO GALETTI2
ABSTRACT
(Frugivory and seed dispersal by the tegu lizard Tupinambis merianae Reptilia: Teiidae). Tegu lizards have a generalist diet and may play an important role as seed dispersers in semideciduous forests in southeast Brazil. We studied the frugivory and seed dispersal of tegu lizards using captive animals and offering wild fruits from a semideciduous forest. Thirty fruit species were eaten by the lizards in captivity, ranging from 0.81 to 10.0 cm (fruit diameter). Even large fruit adapted to dispersal by large mammals were swallowed (ex. Syagrus oleracea). There were no statistical differences in seed germination between seeds that passed through the lizard gut and the control in Eugenia uniflora (χ2 = 0.69, P>0.50), Genipa americana (χ2 = 6.4, P>0.975), Cereus peruvianus (χ2 = 0.018, P>0.10), and Solanum viarum
(χ2 = 6.23, P>0.975). Seed retention time in the tegu gut ranged from 22-24 h (Solanum lycocarpum) to 43-44 h (for Syagrus romanzoffiana). Our results indicate that tegu lizards have a potential to be an important seed dispersers in the Neotropics.
KEYWORDS: Brazil, Atlantic forest, frugivory, fruits, lizard, seed dispersal, seed retention time, Tupinambis.

INTRODUÇÃO
Os répteis foram, juntamente com os peixes, os primeiros vertebrados a interagirem com plantas que possuem sementes (Tiffney 1984). Assim, há 200 milhões de anos, os progenitores das atuais Cycas deixaram fósseis com sementes de frutos aparentemente adaptados para o consumo por répteis primitivos

(Sporne 1965). Os frutos são parte da dieta de muitas aves, mamíferos e répteis tais como tartarugas e lagartos (Iverson 1985; Jordano 2000). As tartatugas e os lagartos consomem uma variedade de espécies de frutos, além