Herpetofauna Of Marechal Newton Cavalcanti Instruction Center, A Hotspot Atlantic Forest Fragment In Pernambuco, North-Eastern Brazil

Determining the richness and composition of species in an area provides indispensable information for understanding their natural history, habitat requirements, and other ecological interactions; in addition to improving our knowledge of their geographic distributions and a better understanding of their ecophysiological restrictions. The development of strategies that reconcile human population growth with biodiversity conservation is a current challenge for humanity, especially in areas with exceptionally high historical rates of destruction, such as the Atlantic Forest. This work contributes to our understanding of the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, by documenting the anuran and reptile species found in the largest Atlantic Forest remnant in the state: the Integral Conservation Protection Rainforest Unit of the Marechal Newton Cavalcanti Instruction Centre (CMINIC). Sampling was carried out between August 2008 and December 2009, and a total of 83 species were recorded, including 30 anuran amphibians and 53 reptiles (three testudines, 19 lizards, two amphisbaenians, 27 snakes, and two crocodilians). Most of the species that were recorded are widely distributed in the Atlantic Forest, although at the state, national and international levels, three of the anurans (10%) and four of the reptiles (7.5%) are in the threatened conservation status classifications. The occurrence of species listed on national and state lists in categories representing critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable status in this region reinforces the need for conservation actions, and the necessity of obtaining better knowledge about the area, which continues to be poorly studied even today.