This paper presents an analysis of vertebrate roadkills in five different habitats of tropical South America. Observations of vertebrate roadkills were conducted in 1978, on a 572 km road between Caracas and Mantecal/Apure in Venezuela, during the rainy season (June-October). During five passages on this route, which includes five distinct habitats, 79 vertebrate carcasses - mammals and reptiles - were found. If we assume that the carcasses remain for two days on the road, vehicles can be expected to strike 350 spectacled caimans Caiman crocodilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Alligatoridae) during the rainy season alone. Similar calculations for other species yield 313 snakes and lizards, 294 opossums Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus, 1758 (Didelphidae), 220 crab-eating foxes Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1776) (Canidae), 129 tamanduas Tamandua tetradactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Myrmecophagidae), 55 capybaras Hydrochaerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766) (Hydrochaeridae) and 37 eastern cottontails Sylvilagus floridanus Allen, 1890 (Leporidae). Numerous papers have been published on vertebrates killed by vehicles on roads in Europe, North America, and Australia, and several papers are available regarding vertebrate roadkills in Africa and Asia. From South America there are several papers on vertebrates, birds, and mammals, whereas from Venezuela only one and it deals with iguanas (Iguana iguana Linnaeus, 1758, Iguanidae).
Mammals; mortality; reptiles
