Butterflies of Amazon and Cerrado remnants of Maranhão, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Species inventories are important tools to evaluate biodiversity losses and contribute to the conservation of endangered areas. The Amazon and Cerrado are the largest Brazilian biomes and represent some of the most threatened regions of the country. Due to its location between these biomes, the state of Maranhão, Northeast Brazil, possesses a great variety of habitats and a high local diversity. Nonetheless, few faunistic inventories of diversified groups have been performed in the state. In the specific case of butterflies, a well-known biological indicator, no inventories have been published in the past years. This study aimed to expand the knowledge on the composition of butterflies in Amazon and Cerrado remnants of Maranhão. Butterflies were sampled between 2011 and 2015 across eight municipalities of the state. Captures were made through entomological nets and baited traps. In total, 189 species were sampled, of which 165 were captured in the Amazon, 65 in the Cerrado and 41 in both biomes. We sampled 167 species through entomological nets and 43 through baited traps, representing 12% of similarity in species composition between sampling methods. We estimate that the recorded species represent a small subset of the butterflies from Maranhão. Therefore, long-term researches in poorly studied areas of the state are recommended to identify novel and/or endemic taxa.Keywords: tropical forest, diversity, Lepidoptera, Neotropical region, savanna. Borboletas de remanescentes de Amazônia e Cerrado do Maranhão, nordeste do BrasilResumo: Inventários de espécies são ferramentas importantes para avaliar perdas de biodiversidade e contribuir para a conservação de áreas ameaçadas. A Amazônia e o Cerrado são os maiores biomas brasileiros e representam algumas das regiões mais ameaçadas do país. Devido à sua localização entre estes biomas, o estado do Maranhão, nordeste do Brasil, possui uma grande variedade de habitats e uma alta diversidade local. No entanto, poucos inventários faunísticos de grupos diversificados foram realizados no estado. No caso específico de borboletas, um indicador biológico bem conhecido, nenhum inventário foi publicado nos últimos anos. Este estudo objetivou expandir o conhecimento sobre a composição de borboletas de remanescentes de Amazônia e Cerrado do Maranhão. As borboletas foram amostradas entre 2011 e 2015 em oito municípios do estado. As capturas foram realizadas através de redes entomológicas e armadilhas com iscas. No total, 189 espécies foram amostradas, das quais 165 foram capturadas na Amazônia, 65 no Cerrado e 41 em ambos os biomas. Nós amostramos 167 espécies através de redes entomológicas e 43 através de armadilhas com iscas, representando 12% de similaridade na composição de espécies entre métodos de amostragem. Nós estimamos que as espécies registradas representam um pequeno subconjunto das borboletas do Maranhão. Deste modo, pesquisas de longa duração em áreas pouco estudadas do estado são recomendadas para identificar taxa novos e/ou endêmicos.

Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) from the campos rupestres of Serra de São José, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…The richness of butterfly species on Serra de São José is within the expected range for the campos rupestres, although it is higher than that observed in other inventories for the Brazilian Cerrado and open grassy vegetation (e.g., Bogiani et al 2012, Araújo & Paprocki 2015, Martins et al 2017. For example, Nery et al…”

Species diversity and community structure of fruit-feeding butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in an eastern amazonian forest

“…For example, Barlow et al (2007) recorded 128 species in a study area between the states of Pará and Amapá, and Ribeiro et al (2012) collected 68 species in the state of Amazonas. Respecting the eastern Amazon, little information on fruit-feeding butterfly diversity have been published, especially for the state of Maranhão (Martins et al, 2017). To date, the only published study so far analyzing community structure of fruit-feeding butterflies in the state was performed by Ramos (2000), in which 90 species were collected.…”

“…Despite fruitfeeding butterflies being a well-known group, knowledge of butterfly diversity varies greatly with locations in Brazil (Santos et al, 2008). Thus, although this guild has received a great attention in some biomes, such as the Atlantic forest (Uehara-Prado et al, 2007; Ribeiro et al, 2010;Santos et al, 2011;Ribeiro et al, 2012), the same is not true for the eastern Amazon, where there are still major gaps of butterfly inventories (Santos et al, 2008;Martins et al, 2017).…”

Arctiini Leach, [1815] (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae) of the Brazilian Amazon. IV - Subtribe Euchromiina Butler, 1876

“…Studies with Arctiini in the Altamira (Pará Brazilian State) showed that there are 2 times more Euchromiina species in Amazonian forest sites (64, Teston & Correa 2015) than in Cerrado sites (32, Valente et al 2018) and 4 times more Euchromiina species in Amazonian forest sites than altered sites (pasture and orchard) (16, Delfina & Teston 2013). Martins et al (2017) also obtained 2.5 times more butterfly species in sites of Amazonian forest than in Cerrado sites in the Maranhão Brazilian State. Teston et al (2019) have reported 847 Arctiinae species in the Brazilian Amazon.…”

“…As observed for the subtribes Phaegopterina (Teston & Ferro 2016a), Pericopina (Teston & Ferro 2016b) and Ctenuchina (Teston et al 2019), the number of Amazonian Euchromiina species is underestimated because the fauna was never sampled in the vast majority of the biome (less than 10% of the municipalities were sampled). Even the sites already sampled need to be studied in the long-term (at least 1 year of sampling) because it is known that tiger moths respond to climate/seasonal changes (Kitching et al 2000, Hilt et al 2007, Scherrer et al 2013, Ferro et al 2014 and that Lepidoptera richness is higher in long-term surveys than in short-term surveys (Ferro & Diniz 2007, Moreno & Ferro 2016, Martins et al 2017. Moreover, studies that sample Amazonian Lepidoptera in different types and strata of vegetation are rare.…”