Amphibians and reptiles of the Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (PETAR), SP: an Atlantic Forest remnant of Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The herpetofauna of São Paulo State, Brazil, can be characterized as the most well-known in the country. However, despite the large number of studies in this area, there are still many sampling gaps within biomes such as the Atlantic Forest that are considered global conservation priorities due to the high rate of endemism and human disturbance. As a result of political and historical pressure, this biome has been reduced to less than 12% of its original extent and, despite its importance for global biodiversity conservation, only a small percentage of its original vegetation cover (1%) has some form of legal protection. This is the case of the Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (PETAR) which, together with the Parque Estadual de Intervales, Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho and Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação de Jacupiranga, forms of an ombrophilous forest continuum of 360 thousand ha in the south of São Paulo State. This study presents a list of amphibians and reptiles from the PETAR, with information on the local distribution and habitat use of the species. The survey was conducted from October to December 2009, completing a total of 15 sampling days using four complementary methods of active sampling: visual encounters, auditory encounters, searches by car and incidental encounters. We recorded a total of 91 species belonging to 53 genera and 24 families. This high diversity can be attributed to the existence of a wide variety of habitats and microhabitats in this region, such as the various aquatic sites used by many species of anuran amphibians. Moreover, the PETAR features a large altitudinal gradient (80 - 1,160 m elevation) that gives a large climatic, geological and hydrological heterogeneity to the area. This inventory is an important contribution to the expansion of knowledge about these assemblages in the Atlantic Forest to the south of Serra de Paranapiacaba mountain range, and provides support for the conservation of these groups in São Paulo State.

Amphibians of Serra Bonita, southern Bahia: a new hotpoint within Brazil’s Atlantic Forest hotspot

“…Most areas with high amphibian diversity in the Atlantic Forest are located in southeastern Brazil and are usually associated with mountainous locations (Heyer et al 1990, Izecksohn and Carvalho-e-Silva 2001, Verdade et al 2009, Forlani et al 2010, Araujo et al 2010). Aside from being the region where amphibians were better studied in Brazil, it concentrates the largest number of research groups working on amphibians (Rossa-Feres et al 2011, Campos et al in press).…”

Herpetofauna of Núcleo Experimental de Iguaba Grande, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

“…Studies of amphibian and reptile diversity in Atlantic Rainforest areas have grown considerably over the past five years (e.g., Dixo and Verdade, 2006;Juncá, 2006;Moraes et al, 2007;Colombo et al, 2008;Carvalho-e-Silva et al, 2008;Lucas and Fortes, 2008;Santana et al, 2008;Serafim et al, 2008;Bertoluci et al, 2009;Narvaes et al, 2009;Marques et al, 2009;Araujo et al, 2010;Wachlevski and Rocha, 2010;Costa et al, 2010;Sousa et al, 2010;Vilela et al, 2011). For example, the number of studies concerning the composition of local amphibian and reptile fauna have also increased in this period in the state of Rio de Janeiro (e.g., Rocha and Van Sluys, 2006;Carvalho et al, 2007;Carvalho-e-Silva et al, 2000;Rocha et al, 2008;Silva et al, 2008;Pontes et al, 2009;Almeida-Gomes et al, 2008.…”

Composition and natural history of the snakes from the Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio, southern Minas Gerais, Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil

“…Areas used for the analysis of similarity between snake assemblages.The following snake assemblages were included in the analyzes: São Paulo State: 1 Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (Araújo et al 2010) 2 Ilha da Cananéia (Cicchi et al 2007) 3 Parque Estadual Ilha do Cardoso (Rocha et al 2008) 4 Fazenda Etá (Fiorillo 2016) 5 Ilha Comprida (Cicchi et al 2007) 6 Estação Ecológica Juréia-Itatins (Marques and Sazima 2004) 7 Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho (Forlani et al 2010) 8 Municipalities of Tapiraí and Piedade (Condez et al 2009) 9 São Sebastião (Centeno et al 2008) 10 Ilhabela (Centeno et al 2008) 11 Parque Municipal de Paranapiacaba (Trevine et al 2014) 12 São Paulo (Barbo et al 2011) 13 Parque Estadual da Serra do Japi (Sazima and Haddad 1992) 14 São Vicente Island (Cicchi et al 2007) 15 Santo Amaro Island (Cicchi et al 2007) 16 Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (Núcleo Santa Virgínia) (Hartmann et al 2009a) 17 Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (Núcleo Picinguaba) (Hartmann et al 2009b) 18 São José do Barreiro (Ortiz et al 2017); Rio de Janeiro State 19 Ilha Grande (Rocha and Van-Sluys 2006) 20 Parque Natural Municipal da Serra do Mendanha (Pontes et al 2009) 21 Duque de Caxias (Salles and Silva-Soares 2010) 22 Niterói (Citeli et al 2016) 23 Estação Ecológica do Paraíso (Vrcibradic et al 2011) 24 Núcleo Experimental de Iguaba Grande (Martins et al 2012) Minas Gerais State 25 Munhoz (Cardoso 2011) 26 Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio (This study) 27 Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro (Moura et al 2012) 28 Viçosa (Costa et al 2010) 29 Ouro Branco (São-Pedro and Pires 2009) 30 Ouro Preto and surroundings (Silveira et al 2010) 31 Estação Ambiental de Peti (Bertoluci et al 2009). …”