Composição e riqueza de lepidoptera (Hesperioidea e Papilonoidea) em brejo de altitude e caatinga paraibana.

Abstract

Knowledge about butterflies in Caatinga including altitude wetlands is insufficient for an adequate characterization of the real fauna, even being priority areas for conservation of Lepidoptera. This study aims to generate data about the richness, composition and similarity of butterflies assemblages in three areas of the Paraiba State: two are xerophytes savanna located at Depressão Sertaneja Setentrional - Reserva Legal da Fazenda Tamandua (FATA) and the Centro de Saúde e Tecnologia Rural (CSTR); and one is an altitude wetlands - Parque Estadual Pico do Jabre (PEPJ). For these three areas were marked six transects of 300 m taking into account the different altitudinal gradients of PEPJ (base and top) and different vegetation types of FATA (tree-shrub savanna and gallery forest). The butterflies were captured with entomological nets in all transects. These were alternately covered during all months of the analysis (one day per month, from 08 am to 16 pm), in a total sampling effort of 392/hours/net/one collector for all areas. Considering the richness of butterfly species obtained in PEPJ (132 spp.), in FATA (82 spp.) and CSTR (81 spp.), it was recorded a total of 161 butterfly species (most from open environments with wide distribution in Brazil). The rarefaction curves and richness estimates (CHAO 2) for each evaluated locality indicated that more species could be probably recorded if a greater survey effort were employed. The family Hesperiidae was the most representative (55 spp. - 34%), followed by Nymphalidae (48 spp. - 30%), Lycaenidae (25 spp. - 16%), Pieridae (18 spp. - 11%), Riodinidae (11 spp. - 7%) and Papilionidae (4 spp. - 2%). This result was also observed in the same order for the PEPJ and FATA however in the CSTR occurred the inversion of the families Pieridae/Lycaenidae and Papilionidae/Riodinidae. The highest percentages found in Hesperiidae and Nymphalidae, obtained from the three separated areas and together, are not in agreement with other studies developed with similar methodologies in the Brazilian Northeast, but follow the majority of other relatively complete inventories in other biomes of Brazil. Cluster analysis revealed a greater faunal similarity between FATA and the CSTR and a lower of these two areas in relation to PEPJ. Nine new records are posted to the Brazilian Northeast (most Hesperiidae). Two endemic species of the Brazilian semiarid region, Fountainea halice moretta and Hypna clytemnestra forbesi, were recorded for all areas studied (PEPJ, FATA and CSTR). A population of Heraclides himeros baia (Rothschild & Jordan 1906), critically endangered butterfly, was recorded for PEPJ with possible reporting of its host plant, previously unknown. Until the present study, this species was not found in protected areas of Brazil.