Anurofauna of an Atlantic Rainforest fragment and its surroundings in Northern Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

We carried out a sudy on the anurofaunal community from an Atlantic Forest fragment (Monte Verde mountains) and the surrounding area in Cambuci municipality Rio de Janeiro State Brazil which constitutes one of the largest fragments remaining in the largely deforested landscape of the northern portion of the State We combined three sampling methods plot sampling transects and pit-fall traps We recorded twenty species of amphibians of which only eleven were found within the forest fragment (and five of these also occurred in the surrounding matrix) Two of the specie, recorded in the present study (Crossodactylus sp and Ischnocnema of parva) may represent undescribed taxa Our records expand the distribution range of one species (Scinax trapicheiroi) to the north and fill a geographic distribution gap for another one (Ischnocnema oea) The estimated overall density of frogs living in the leaf litter of the fragment (based on results of plot sampling) was 3 1 individuals/100 m(2) with Haddadus binotatus being the most abundat species (2 4 individual/100 m(2)) Comparisons of our data with those of other studies suggest that anuran communities in forest fragmets ca 1 000 ha or smaller may be severely limited in their richness and often include a large proportion of species tolerant to open areas such as many hylids Our results show the importance of increasing knowledge about the anurofaunal community of the northern portion of the State of Rio de Janeiro and preserve the forest remnants that still exist in the region