Updated list of non-volant small mammals from the Serra da Bocaina National Park, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

In the core of the Atlantic Forest biome, the Serra da Bocaina National Park (SBNP) is located in the Atlantic Forest Southeast area of endemism for vertebrates. Filling gaps in knowledge about the spatial distribution and occurrence of species in national parks is of fundamental importance to know how many species are protected and to guide conservation initiatives. Here we updated the non-volant small mammal species list of the SBNP, providing new data on species list and abundance, with species identified mainly by karyotype and/or molecular analysis. Twelve sampling sessions with a capture-mark-recapture approach were carried out in four sites in the SBNP from 2013 to 2016, during the paving works of the state highway RJ-165 (Estrada Parque Paraty-Cunha), municipality of Paraty, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Non-volant small mammals (Rodentia and Didelphimorphia) were sampled using Sherman® and Tomahawk® live traps (18,987 trap-nights) and pitfall traps (4,591 trap-nights). Thirty-two species (11 marsupials and 21 rodents) were recorded from 1,185 captured specimens. Species richness ranged from 18 to 28 between sites. Ten and 11 species were exclusively captured in live traps and pitfall traps, respectively. The observed richness (32 species) represented 91.4% of the estimated species richness for the study area. Sites 2 and 4 were the most similar to each other regarding species composition, and site 3 was the most dissimilar. The species with highest relative abundance were Euryoryzomys russatus (14%) and Delomys dorsalis (14%), while six species had relative abundances lower than 1%. Fourteen and 17 species were identified by karyotype and molecular analysis, respectively. The present study added 22 species to the park’s non-volant small mammals list, which now has 37 species with confirmed occurrence. This species richness found in the SBNP is one of the highest ever recorded for the group of non-volant small mammals in protected areas of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, corroborating the Serra da Bocaina region as a biodiversity hotspot.