Riparian forest is protected under federal legislation in Brazil. In the Amazon Basin, numerous streams and rivers provide huge potential for increasing the conservation value of deforested and fragmented landscapes through the protection of linear remnants along watercourses. However, the potential of such remnants to be used as faunal habitat and possibly as movement corridors has never been fully investigated. We surveyed small mammal and litter-frog communities in linear remnants of primary rainforest ranging from 140 to 190 m in width, and in adjacent continuous rainforest, to compare their species richness, composition, and abundance. No signi®cant dierences were found in any aspect of community structure or species abundance. This suggests that linear remnants along watercourses provide suitable habitat for at least some forest vertebrates, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that many frogs and small mammals were found reproducing and moving in the remnants. These results highlight the potential of linear remnants to serve as habitat for small forest vertebrates and suggest they could function as corridors for some species to increase landscape connectivity. #

No abstract

ABSTRACT. The tadpole of Hypsiboas atlanticus (Caramaschi & Velosa, 1996) is described from the municipality of Maceió, State of Alagoas, Brazil. At stage 36 the larvae have an overall elliptical body in lateral and dorsal views, oral disc anteroventral, spiracular tube sinistral, and labial tooth row formula 2(1,2)/3(1). The oral disc is surrounded, almost completely (anterior medial gap present) by a single row of marginal papillae. Described tadpoles of the H. punctatus species group can be differentiated by a combined disc oral features. Additional descriptions of H. punctatus (Schneider, 1799) tadpoles from populations throughout South America may be helpful in determining the status of these populations.

A new species of the Scinax catharinae group, morphologically similar to S. strigilatus, is described from Municipality of Murici (09°12′S, 35°52′W, 509 m a. s. l.), State of Alagoas, northeastern Brazil. Scinax muriciensis sp. nov. is characterized by the medium size (adult males SVL 27.0‒28.9 mm), W-shaped interocular spot, green flash color in the inguinal region and hidden areas of thigh and shank, rounded snout in dorsal view, externally distinguished vocal sac, marked canthus rostralis, vomerine teeth in two straight series, non-developed nuptial pad, presence of supernumerary tubercles on feet, lack of externally well developed inguinal glands, foot webbing formula I – II 11/2–3+ III 11/2–21/2 IV 21/2–11/2 V. This is the northernmost distribution in the Scinax catharinae clade.