Anfíbios anuros do Norte de Minas Gerais: contribuições para o conhecimento e prioridade para pesquisa e conservação numa área de transição Cerrado – Caatinga

Abstract

Brazil is considered the country with the greatest diversity of amphibians in the world. Approximately 200 species are recorded for the State of Minas Gerais, this high diversity can be explained by being a region composed of environmental heterogeneity. One of the most efficient strategies to protect species and promote the continuity of natural ecosystems and avoid mass extinctions is through the implementation of protected areas. In Minas Gerais there are 95 conservation units. In the North of Minas Gerais, the Sertão Veredas Peruaçu Mosaic of Protected Areas (MSVP) is included, made up of 23 conservation units. With a high potential richness of anuran amphibian species, the region presents a sampling deficiency. Based on this, the objectives of the present study were to compile a list of species that describes the richness of anuran amphibians in the northern region of Minas Gerais, and to investigate the composition of the anuran amphibian community in the Cerrado-Caatinga gradient of the Sertão Veredas-Peruaçu Mosaic, using field data and bibliographic survey. In 34 of the 89 municipalities in the north of Minas Gerais, 125 species of anuran amphibians were recorded, 87 of which were registered within the MSVP. Five species were considered microendemic and seven species are threatened with extinction. Most of the species recorded are typical of the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes, however we recorded two species exclusive to the Atlantic Forest: Pseudis fusca and Phyllomedusa burmeisteri. These results demonstrate the diversity of species existing in the region, considered one of the largest areas of preserved Cerrado in the state of Minas Gerais. The data collected during the bibliographic search indicate that at least 22 species did not mention Minas Gerais in their geographic distribution, of the species listed, 37 were recorded in just one municipality, of which 19 were records from zoological collections. The compilation of this work characterizes for the first time the richness of anuran amphibian species existing in the North of Minas Gerais and the importance of the region for the diversity of amphibians in the state, highlighting the contribution of the Cerrado-Caatinga gradient in the Mosaic of Protected Areas Sertão Veredas- Peruaçu for species conservation.