Faunistic Similarity and Historic Biogeography of the Harvestmen of Southern and Southeastern Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil

Abstract

Harvestmen show a high degree of endemism in the Atlantic Rain Forest (eastern coast of Brazil). This biome shows the highest diversity of harvestmen inhabiting Brazil; 2/3 of the species are found in this area. Most of the species are distributed in a few thousand square kilometers, almost always within one mountain range. The similarities of 26 localities were studied, including sites from the Brazilian savanna, using data from recent collections (more than 8,000 specimens) and published data. A cluster analysis using Sprensens Coefficient indicated a high degree of endemism of species of harvestmen (similarity indexes below 0.5). It resulted in six main clusters related to the large mountain ranges and near sites. A high variation in richness was observed; 4-64 species per locality. The distribution of 84 species of four recently reviewed subfamilies of Gonyleptidae (Goniosomatinae, Caelopyginae, Progonyleptoidellinae and Sodreaninae) was studied. Eleven areas of endemism, with 3-14 endemic species each, were proposed. A primary Brooks Parsimony Analysis showed a possible first vicariant event splitting the fauna of two northern areas from the rest, and a second event splitting the fauna of southern areas (until 24°35"S) from those areas related to certain mountain ranges in the central Atlantic Rain Forest. The vicariant events were related to the uplifting of the Serra do Mar and the Serra da Mantiqueira, and the appearance of large rivers and climatic changes.

Insights into the origin and distribution of biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic forest hot spot: a statistical phylogeographic study using a low-dispersal organism

“…M Á lvarez-Presas et al findings of our survey are also consistent with reports detecting a great number of endemic species (Costa et al, 2000;Pinto-Da-Rocha et al, 2005) and a high genetic diversity in southern regions (Cabanne et al, 2008). Although our results also agree with recent studies in Amphibia showing stable areas throughout the entire São Paulo coastal region (Amaro et al, 2012), we detect substantial genetic variation even in states south of São Paulo.…”

“…Moreover, the subdivision of C-SAF into two groups seen in all phylogenetic analyses (16-BB and 19-PC vs 13-EC and 22-PI) could be related to the formation of the Paraíba do Sul River Valley (from 15 to 1 Mya; Petri and Fú lfaro, 1983;Silva and Straube, 1996;D'Horta et al, 2011), a process that gave rise to two of the major AF mountain ranges, the Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira. Notably, as expected for a major geological event, this pattern is also observed in other species, such as birds (Cabanne et al, 2007;D'Horta et al, 2011) and harvestmen (Pinto-Da- Rocha et al, 2005). The basal position of population 01-AR (Figure 3c and Supplementary Figure S3C) suggests that a more ancient physical barrier, the Paraiba do Sul basin, prevented the gene flow between the CAF and SAF.…”

“…Paleoclimate modelling and some genetic studies support the existence of the forest throughout the last glaciations in the northern part of the AF (NAF; Figure 1; Cabanne et al, 2008) and a recent recolonization of southern AF regions (SAF; Figure 1; Grazziotin et al, 2006;Cabanne et al, 2007;Carnaval and Moritz, 2008;Carnaval et al, 2009). Nevertheless, data on endemism and genetic diversity studies (Pinto-Da- Rocha et al, 2005;Thomé et al, 2010;Amaro et al, 2012) suggest that during the glaciations, SAF regions may have maintained considerable diversity in forest-dependent species. Many of these studies have focussed on organisms with a high-dispersal ability (basically vertebrates, Cabanne et al, 2008;D'Horta et al, 2011) that may hinder making fine-scale predictions.…”

A new species of Serracutisoma (Opiliones: Gonyleptidae: Goniosomatinae) from the coastal Atlantic Rain Forest of Paraná and São Paulo states, Brazil

“…7). PINTO-DA-ROCHA et al (2005) and DASILVA & PINTO-DA-ROCHA (2011) delimited an area of endemism in this region based on the distributions of six species of five subfamilies of Gonyleptidae, which they named "Paraná". The core of this endemism region is in the Serra do Mar plateau of the state of Paraná.…”

Revision of the Neotropical spider genus Itatiaya Mello-Leitão (Araneae, Ctenidae) with considerations on biogeographic distribution of species

“…However, the collection site is quite far from the border of Serra do Espinhaço, beside the Serra do Brigadeiro, where no records of Itatiaya specimens exist. This area could be a new area of endemism, but spiders from this site are poorly or not found in collections and this area is poorly represented by governmental reserves and their remaining habitats are suffering high anthropic pressure as pointed by PINTO-DA-ROCHA et al (2005) for opilionid faunas. …”