Serranía del Empalado

The Serranía del Empalado, also referred as serranía de Siruma or Ciruma, forms part of the system Coriano or Lara-Falcón-Yaracuy formation in Venezuela. It is a mountainous chain relatively high, small and isolated. It is separated of the Serranía of Jirajara, south, by lower heights to the 900m; of the Sierra of Baragua, to the east, by the Depression of Carora; and of the Sierra of Saint Luis by the valley of the river Matícora.

Location of the Serranía of the Empalado and the Hill Socopo in the border between the states Zulia, Falcón and Lara, in Venezuela.

It is conformed by two macizos joined by relatively high valleys. The Socopó, or Socopo hill, has an area of 38,4 km² above the height of 900 m and a maximum height of 1571 m. The macizo conformed by Cerro Azúl and the Cerrón, has an area of 508,3 km² and a maximum height of 1900 m.[1]

It is considered the natural oriental limit of the basin of the Lake of Maracaibo, and from the 19th century has served to delineate the administrative limit of the provinces of Coro, Maracaibo and Barquisimeto.[2] It is currently located at the border of the Venezuelan states Falcón, Lara and Zulia. It is also considered the north-western limit of the extinct jirajaranas language.

Vegetation

The original vegetation is predominantly dry forest, although there are remainders of cloud forest.[3][4]

It is home to emblematic trees like Gyranthera caribensis and palms Attalea butyracea (Mutis ex L.f.) Wess.Boer. or Geonoma interrupta (Ruiz & Pav.) Mart.[4][5][6][7]

Fauna

40 species of mammals (excluding bats) have been recorded in the lower west side of the Serranía del Empalado in the Burro Negro Protected Watershed of the Pueblo Viejo dam, and a similar number from the northern slopes of the range.[8]

At least three species of frogs are consider endemic of this Serranía: Dendropsophus amicorum, Mannophryne lamarcai and Leptodactylus magistris.[3][9][10][11] Other, widespread species of frogs are also found, such as Hyla crepitans, Bufo marinus, Phyllomedusa trinitatis, Phrynohyas venulosa and Physalaemus pustulosus.[12][13]

References
  1. Ferrer-Paris, José R. (2014). "Serranía del Empalado". Figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.1109955.
  2. Agustín Codazzi (1841) Resumen de la Geografía de Venezuela, en: Agustín Codazzi, Obras escogidas, Vol. 1.
  3. MIJARES-URRUTIA, A. (1998).
  4. R.F. Smith y A. Field (2001) Aspectos de la ecología de Gyranthera caribensis Pittier (Bombacaceae) y su implicación en la conservación de algunos bosques del Norte de Venezuela Acta Bot.
  5. Arias, J. C., Stauffer, F. W., & Portillo-Quintero, C. (2013).
  6. Rondón, J. B., & CUMANA CAMPOS, L. J. (2006).
  7. Arias, J., & Stauffer, F. (2013).
  8. Morán, Lisandro; García, Luis; Ferrebuz, José D.; Sánchez, Roxana; Porta, Alberto; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada; Ferrer-Paris, José Rafael (2018). "Interannual and daily activity patterns of mid-sized mammals in Maracaibo Lake Basin, Venezuela". Therya. 9 (3): 227–236. doi:10.12933/therya-18-616. ISSN 2007-3364.
  9. Enrique La Marca, Abraham Mijares 2004.
  10. Abraham Mijares, Enrique La Marca 2004.
  11. Morán, Lisandro; Cardozo-Urdaneta, Arlene; Sánchez-Mercado, Ada (2016). "Ampliación de la distribución de Mannophryne lamarcai Mijares-Urrutia & Arends, 1999 (Anura: Aromobatidae) en la serranía de Ziruma, estado Falcón, Venezuela". Cuadernos de Herpetología. 30 (2).
  12. Abraham Mijares-Urnitia & Alexis Arends R. (2000) Herpetofauna of Estado Falcón, Northwestern Venezuela: A checklist with geographical and ecological data Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service, No. 123 available in pdf
  13. Vázquez, J., Madi, Y., Cordero, I., & Rodríguez, B. (2011).
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