Faunistic analysis of Saturniidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera) in a fragment of Atlantic Forest of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to analyze the composition and community structure of the saturnids from the Biological Station of Boracéia, comparing with the assemblage of Lepidoptera sampled in 1948 and 1949, as part of the environmental monitoring on the rapid urbanization in the vicinity of the reserve. The expansion of human activities, especially in the last century, has exerted strong pressure on the natural conservation areas, with severe reduction of biological diversity. Some case studies have shown that the weak link that causes loss of insect diversity is the destruction of their habitats, and even intensive collecting should not cause a risk to the well-established populations of insects. In light of this finding, there is currently a need to monitor these environments so that timely intervention is possible, where human activities endanger the balance that is observed here. Some authors point out that the choice of organism groups to act in environmental monitoring can be focused taxonomically or functionally. In the first case, one monitors the presence / absence or the relative abundance of all members of a particular taxonomic group, being Saturniidae a suitable group for this evaluation. The study proposed here should also aid the development of a possible guide to the species of Saturniidae of the state of Sao Paulo and in making a catalog for them.