Abstract
The orchid-bee fauna of 'Reserva Biológica de Una' (REBIO Una), one of the largest Atlantic Forest remnants in southern Bahia, eastern Brazil, was surveyed for the first time. Baits with sixteen different scents were used to attract males of orchid bees. Eight hundred and fifty-nine males belonging to 26 species were actively collected with insect nets during 60 hours in January and February, 2009, and January, 2010. Euglossa avicula Dressler, 1982 and Euglossa milenae Bembé, 2007 have been recorded for the first time in the state of Bahia. It was found that REBIO Una has one of the most diverse and rich orchid-bee faunas of the entire Atlantic Forest domain and holds some rare species, such as Euglossa cyanochlora Moure, 1996.
Highlights
The Atlantic Forest has been considered one of the earth’s biological “hotspots” (Myers, 1988; Mittermeier et al, 1999; Galindo-Leal and Câmara, 2003) and the region of the southern state of Bahia is probably the hottest section of this hotspot, with the highest levels of endemism for many taxonomic groups (e.g., Dean, 1995; Pacheco et al, 1996; Thomas et al, 1997, 1998; Sambuichi et al, 2008)
Concerning the Neotropical forest-dependent orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossina), Nemésio (2009, 2010a, 2011b) and Nemésio et al (2012) have warned that some orchid-bee species with restricted geographical distributions within the Atlantic Forest domain may be severely affected by their habitat loss
This study was conducted at ‘Reserva Biológica de Una’ (REBIO Una), a 18,000-ha preserve situated in the municipality of Una, in the state of Bahia, eastern Brazil in January and February 2009, and the summer of January 2010, when orchid bees are most actively foraging (e.g., Martins and Souza, 2005)
Summary
The Atlantic Forest has been considered one of the earth’s biological “hotspots” (Myers, 1988; Mittermeier et al, 1999; Galindo-Leal and Câmara, 2003) and the region of the southern state of Bahia is probably the hottest section of this hotspot (see Laurance, 2009), with the highest levels of endemism for many taxonomic groups (e.g., Dean, 1995; Pacheco et al, 1996; Thomas et al, 1997, 1998; Sambuichi et al, 2008). Most of the original forest cover in southern Bahia was wiped out and only scattered fragments remain (Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica, 1993; Ribeiro et al, 2009), the largest of them not exceeding 25,000 ha (Ribeiro et al, 2009). Species endemic in such fragmented biomes are more prone to population declines and even to extinction.
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