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Diversity of tiger moths in a Neotropical hotspot: determinants of species composition and identification of biogeographic units

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Abstract

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a Biodiversity Hotspot, yet many biological groups in this biome are poorly known. We compiled information on the diversity of Atlantic Forest tiger moths (Arctiidae) and assessed the resemblance among localities, whether arctiid assemblages are concordant with major vegetation types, and the importance of environmental factors in structuring the variation among assemblages. Additionally, we developed a procedure composed of subsampling and procrustean analysis to assess the robustness of the results from community composition ordinations when localities differ in species richness. To do this, we built a database from specimens deposited in the ten most important Brazilian entomological collections, and mapped species richness in one-degree latitude/longitude grid cells. We employed Principal Coordinates Analysis to assess similarities among the best-sampled localities. We obtained 8,667 records including 1,193 species, representing 60 and 20% of the estimated Brazilian and Neotropical faunas, respectively. Our subsampling procedure indicated that the ordination was not greatly affected by differences in species richness, and was congruent with major vegetation types. Lowland localities on the seacoast were quite distinct in species composition. A second group included localities in montane areas in the southeast part of the biome. The last group included localities in the southern region and those with Araucaria forests, and was associated with long distances from the ocean, even distribution of precipitation throughout the year, and large annual temperature ranges.

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Acknowledgments

We especially thank Dr. Vitor Becker for his friendly hospitality on many occasions, providing access to his moth collection and library, and training of VGF in the identification of Arctiidae. We are in debt to museum curators for allowing VGF access to the collections under their responsibility and for logistical support. We extend our gratitude to all the people who collected specimens deposited in the museums. Rafael D. Loyola and two anonymous referees offered suggestions on the manuscript. Janet W. Reid revised the English. ASM received a research fellowship (CNPq no. 302482/2008-3) and research grants (476304/2007-5, 474560/2009-0) from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and from the International Foundation for Science (IFS no. A/4107-1).

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  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, CP 131, Goiânia, Goiás, 74001-970, Brazil

    Viviane G. Ferro & Adriano S. Melo

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  1. Viviane G. Ferro
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  2. Adriano S. Melo
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Correspondence to Viviane G. Ferro.

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Ferro, V.G., Melo, A.S. Diversity of tiger moths in a Neotropical hotspot: determinants of species composition and identification of biogeographic units. J Insect Conserv 15, 643–651 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-010-9363-6

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