Abstract
The richness and abundance of the assemblage of species in a community are a way to understand the patterns of diversity found around the world. This study describes the assemblages of Saturniidae and Sphingidae in an area of Montana Mixed Ombrophilous Forest, Tijucas do Sul, Paraná, Brazil, 880m, 25º50'8.93"S, 49º 02'55.20"W. Samples were collected between November 2010 and September 2011 during two nights at the twelve new moons periods with a light trap equipped with black light lamp (ultraviolet) of 46 watts between two mercury mixed-light lamps HWL 250 watts from 6:00 p.m to 06:00 a.m. The sampling effort totaled 288 hours. This sampling effort was responsible for the capture of 1235 specimens, distributed in 124 species: 858 specimens and 86 species of Saturniidae, and 377 specimens and 38 species of Sphingidae. It is noteworthy the sampling of 10 new species: one of Automerella Michener, 1949, two of Hylesia Hübner, [1820], one of Lonomia Walker, 1855 and six of Periga Walker, 1855, that will be described.
Highlights
Faunistic studies allow us to answer primary fundamental questions in ecology, such as “what is the species composition in a given locality?” (Silveira et al 2010), where species richness is commonly used as a community descriptor in many ecological studies (Magurran 2004)
Without faunistic research performed in a systematic and comparative way, it is difficult to understand the real patterns of distribution of species richness, between different areas used by their populations and how this richness is distributed among different spatial and temporal niches
This research presents the largest list of Saturniidae published to date for Paraná, with 86 species, including 67.19% of the 128 Saturniidae species listed for this state of Brazil
Summary
Faunistic studies allow us to answer primary fundamental questions in ecology, such as “what is the species composition in a given locality?” (Silveira et al 2010), where species richness is commonly used as a community descriptor in many ecological studies (Magurran 2004).All the information provided by these studies allow us to make long-term predictions about environmental changes, understand the resilience of organisms and their persistence in small fragmented habitats, which are isolated and / or have a long history of disturbance (Rubinoff and Powell 2004).Without faunistic research performed in a systematic and comparative way, it is difficult to understand the real patterns of distribution of species richness, between different areas used by their populations and how this richness is distributed among different spatial and temporal niches. Faunistic studies allow us to answer primary fundamental questions in ecology, such as “what is the species composition in a given locality?” (Silveira et al 2010), where species richness is commonly used as a community descriptor in many ecological studies (Magurran 2004). All the information provided by these studies allow us to make long-term predictions about environmental changes, understand the resilience of organisms and their persistence in small fragmented habitats, which are isolated and / or have a long history of disturbance (Rubinoff and Powell 2004). It is difficult to assess the efficiency of collection methods. It limits more robust conclusions regarding the use of these organisms as bioindicators (Carneiro and Leivas 2012), and support to conservation, preservation, environmental education and management strategies São Paulo: Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica, Belo Horizonte: Conservação Internacional, p. 60-65
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