Figure 4 in Natural regeneration in Atlantic Forest Fragments: using ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for monitoring a conservation unit

Figure 4. Camponotus cillae recorded for the RPPN Botujuru: (A) front view; (B) dorsal view; (C) side view. regeneration of the older areas provides resources to Another important factor is the potential of conservation those species with more specialized habits. units to discover new species, mainly invertebrates (Liu We underscore the presence of two species, a pos- et al., 2022), a group that lacks inventory data. sible new species of Octostruma Forel, 1912, recorded They also emphasize the need to advance in the idenin the areas with an understory, and Camponotus cillae tification of recorded morphospecies, increase sampling Forel, 1912 (Fig. 4) recorded in Brazil only by the type se- efforts, use other collection techniques to better underries in the state of São Paulo (Botucatu) by Forel in 1912 stand the diversity of ants and other faunal and floristic (Forel, 1912). Data on their biology is scarce in the liter- groups in the RPPN. Moreover, these results also underature. This new record highlights the importance of new score the need for the creation of measures aiming at studies on biodiversity to our comprehension of the dis- preserving the area, given that the urbanization process tribution of species (Janicki et al., 2016). has been intense in the vicinity of the conservation unit. In addition, our results show the potential of RPPN Botujuru; the occurrence of C. cillae and the possible species of Octostruma in the Botujuru RPPN emphasizes the CONCLUSION importance of conservation units for threatened biomes. Fragments of Atlantic Forest found in conservation units The diversity of ants evaluated in this first work, carare important for the preservation of biodiversity, acting ried out with only one collection campaign, indicates as refuge areas for species that suffer from anthropo- that the natural regeneration process is having positive genic pressures such as deforestation and urban growth effects in abandoned areas. The fragments that compose (Gardner et al., 2009; Pardini et al., 2009; Lima et al., 2020), the RPPN Botujuru may prove to be very representative providing resources, even for those rarely collected. of the Alto Tietê region regarding the conservation of the