Amphibians of Vassununga State Park, one of the last remnants of semideciduous Atlantic Forest and Cerrado in northeastern São Paulo state, Brazil

Abstract

Although São Paulo state has one of the best known amphibian fauna in Brazil, there are still protected areas for which the species composition remains unknown. Here, we present the first species list of anuran amphibians in Vassununga State Park. This area is one of the last remnants of semideciduous Atlantic Forest and Cerrado in the northeastern region of São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. To survey species, we visited six sites (two ponds, two streams, and two transects) in December, January, and February of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, totalizing 18 days of field samplings at each site. We recorded 24 anuran species belonging to four families: Bufonidae (2 species), Hylidae (11 species), Leptodactylidae (10 species), and Microhylidae (1 species). Anurans consist mainly of generalist and widely distributed species. Although none of the species recorded are threatened with extinction according to the International Red List of Endangered Species (IUCN), four species have declining population and another three species have unknown population trends.

Amphibians in a transition region between the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest,west-central region of the State of São Paulo, Brazil

“…(10) In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of published studies on the 202 diversity of amphibians in the Cerrado and seasonal forest in the state of São Paulo. Few studies describe the taxocenoses of anurans of the Cerrado and its ecotone with the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest of São Paulo, with a special attention given to those conducted in Guararapes, (11) Rio Claro, (12) Itirapina and Brotas, (13) Assis, (14) Luiz Antonio, (15) Pedregulho, (16) ..Avaré, (17) ..Águas..de..Santa..Bárbara, (18) Angatuba, (19) Anhembi, (20) Jaú and Agudos, (21) Vassununga, (22) and Bauru. (23) The strong anthropic pressure, the high level of endemism and the decline in anurans populations registered in this biome reinforce the importance of taxonomical inventories and studies about the ecology of anurans in Cerrado areas.…”