Systematic surveys of the anuran fauna of Montagne Belvédère (county of Saül, French Guiana), conducted during 3 short missions, revealed the presence of about 41 species of anurans.
6 Bufonidae, 1 Centrolenidae, 6 Dendrobatidae, 13 Hylidae, 14 Leptodactylidae and 1 Microhylidae were recorded from this small site located in central French Guiana. 15 of these species were unknown from the county of Saül before this survey. Hyla minuscula, Osteocephalus cabrerai and Colostethus stepheni are reported for the first time from French Guiana. Two probably new species of Adenomera were collected.

THE STUDY SITE

The small village of Saül houses more or less 80 inhabitants and is located at about 170 km southwest of Cayenne in the geographic center of the country (N 3° 37’, W 53° 12’). The Montagne Belvédère is a small hill (highest point at ca 330 m)  located at about 7 km southwest of the village (base camp at the foot of the hill, between the "Crique Popote" and the "Carbet Maïs trail" : N 3° 36’, W 53° 10’). Several habitats are represented: streams (called "criques") and ripiculous forest, permanent ponds, semi permanent ponds, swamps, artificial clearings (called “abattis”) at the foot of the hill and terra firme primary forest on the hillsides and on the summit. The accessibility is facilitated by marked trails.

LIST OF SPECIES

WHY THIS RESEARCH ?

Mainly thanks to the work of Lescure who published the first checklist in the seventeens (1976), the anuran fauna of French Guiana is relatively well known. Some systematic herpetofaunal surveys on regions like the Trois Sauts area (Lescure, 1987), the Petit Saut area (Hoogmoed and Avila Pires, 1991) and the biological research station “Les Nouragues” (Born, 1996) were undertaken and results published. Until today, it was not the case of the area surrounding the small village of Saül although of special interest since some species like Atelopus spumarius barbotini Lescure, 1981 could be endemic to it. However, it must be noted that Lescure and botanists like de Granville collected material in the area surrounding Saül but no specific publication followed. It must also be emphasized that this area is dedicated to be part of a national parc.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Collections and observations of the anuran fauna were undertaken during three short missions (of about three weeks each) in November - December 1996, June 1998 and April - May 1999. Due to the strict French regulation concerning collection of specimens of amphibians in French Guiana, we collected only a few specimens as voucher specimens.
The specimens collected were encountered on the forest floor, under the leaf litter, fallen trees, decaying wood, on rocks, in creek and in the vegetation. Higher vegetation and the canopy were also investigated thanks to caving equipment. Voucher specimens were collected by hand at various times of day and night. Habitat, microhabitat and other data like reproduction, atmospheric conditions or peculiar activity were recorded for each specimen collected (Heyer et al., 1994). Calling males were usually recorded. Pictures (color slides) were taken in vivo from almost each voucher specimen. A Global Positioning System (GPS) Garmin® 50 was used to record the exact position of the base camp. The few collected frogs were anesthetized by Xylocaïne® prior fixation in a 10% formalin solution. All the material was deposited in the herpetological collections of the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium).

SOME REPTILES OBSERVED ON THE SITE

LITERATURE CITED
 
 

Last update of this page: 20/08/2000.