Herpetofauna of Paranapiacaba: expanding our knowledge on a historical region in the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The largest area of preserved Atlantic forest is located in the southern portion of Brazil. The region of Paranapiacaba is depicted in Brazilian zoological studies as one of the first and most intensely sampled areas of the state of São Paulo.We provide a concise list of reptiles and amphibians from the Paranapiacaba Municipal Park. It represents the first comprehensive survey of the group in the area. We recorded 136 species of reptiles and amphibians from field surveys, museum collections and the literature. The anuran diversity of Paranapiacaba is greater than that of Estação Ecológica de Boracéia, which has been considered the most distinctive areas in São Paulo in terms of amphibian diversity. The rich history of herpetological research in the region, including the occurrence of the two most threatened species in Brazil, converts the area to an important conservation landmark for the Brazilian herpetofauna.

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

“…In general, the observed richness to the PESP is similar than that of other sites in the low-elevated Southeast Atlantic Forest (e.g., Marques and Sazima 2004, Centeno et al 2008, Pontes and Rocha 2008, Hartmann et al 2009a,b, São Pedro and Pires 2009, Moura et al 2012, Trevine et al 2014). Given the altitude increments of this sampling effort, several high-altitude species are expected to be found in the area, such as Ditaxodontaeniatus (Peters in Hensel, 1868), with a record to the Campos do Jordão - SP, approximately 100 km from the study area (see Thomas et al 2006); Philodryasarnaldoi (Amaral, 1933), with two records for the Franca - SP, approximately 330 km away from the study site (Bérnils 2009).…”

“…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). …”

“…These features pose challenges to quantitative and comprehensive study of these populations. There have been several efforts to describe the ecology and natural history of snakes in Brazil (e.g., Amazon Forest: Cunha and Nascimento 1978, Martins and Oliveira 1998, Pantanal: Strüsmann and Sazima 1993, Cerrado: Nogueira 2001, Sawaya et al 2008, Caatinga: Mesquita et al 2013, Guedes et al 2014; Atlantic Forest: Marques 1998, Cicchi et al 2007, Centeno 2008, Cicchi et al 2009, Hartmann et al 2009a, b, Trevine et al 2014). Although these studies have advanced our understanding of snake fauna in various ecosystems, studies focusing on snake communities in high altitude areas and the Araucaria forests remain scarce.…”

“…Although these studies have advanced our understanding of snake fauna in various ecosystems, studies focusing on snake communities in high altitude areas and the Araucaria forests remain scarce. Studies with this focus are mainly concentrated in the Serra do Mar of São Paulo State (e. g., Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar: Hartmann et al 2009b; Parque Natural Municipal Nascentes de Paranapiacaba: Trevine et al 2014; Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina: Ortiz et al (2017) and southern Brazil (e.g., Centro de Pesquisas e Conservação da Natureza Pró-Mata: Di-Bernardo 1998; Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra: Deiques 2009). However, there is a lack of knowledge about the Serra da Mantiqueira snake fauna.…”

Amphibians of the Reserva Ecológica Michelin: a high diversity site in the lowland Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil

“…and Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho (65 ssp. ), represent mountainous areas (Heyer et al 1990, Forlani et al 2010, Almeida et al 2011, Trevine et al 2014). Over the altitudinal gradients, changes in biotic and abiotic features increase the availability of microenvironments which are believed to promote greater species diversity.…”