Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga IV: Chapada Diamantina National Park, Bahia, Brazil

We provide a list of amphibians, lizards, chelonians, and snakes collected during a 30-day expedition to the northern portion of Chapada Diamantina National Park, Palmeiras municipality, Bahia State, Brazil. Thirty-five pitfall trap arrays composed of 4 buckets each, coupled with glue traps, and haphazard searches were used to sample the herpetofaunal diversity. We recorded 15 species of lizards, 4 amphisbaenas, 23 snakes, 2 chelonians and 31 frogs. Herein, we provide the first record of several species for Chapada Diamantina, which among them are worth mentioning Chiasmocleis sp. (Anura: Microhylidae) and Acanthochelys sp. (Testudines: Chelidae). Despite these findings, our rarefaction curves suggest that local biodiversity is still underestimated, which reinforces the need for future inventories in this and in less studied sites along this region. Finally, the number of endemic and undescribed species recorded in this study provides additional evidence of the importance of Chapada Diamantina for the maintenance and conservation of the herpetofauna within the Caatinga domain.