Discothyrea is a genus composed of specialist predatory species rarely recorded and with little known biology. Specimen collection is usually associated with preserved native vegetation. In this work, we explore the landscape of sites with occurrence of Discothyrea seeking to improve knowledge about the natural history of this genus. Species of Discothyrea were recorded in ten Atlantic Forest sites. We analyzed the landscape around the place of occurrence of each species using a 500-m buffer. We classified the landscape as heterogeneous and homogeneous according to the percentage of natural (native vegetation), urban, and rural areas. We found 67 specimens of Discothyrea; 59 of them were D. sexarticulata, occurring in 88% of the fragments. There were also eight specimens of D. neotropica occurring in 12% of the fragments. The results show that D. sexarticulata can be found in homogeneous landscapes with anthropic influence (0-51% of rural area and 0-68% of urban area). Discothyrea neotropica is found in heterogeneous landscapes with a dominant presence of native vegetation (between 74-95%). The results improve knowledge on the biology of Discothyrea mainly in relation to the vicinity of occurrence sites. In addition, the results indicate that regional studies are important to understand species ecology.

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The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is considered one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world due to the extensive environmental impact it has endured throughout history. Only 12.4% of its original vegetation is estimated to remain. Even though reduced and highly fragmented, it houses enormous biodiversity, and its preservation is paramount to the maintenance of the country’s fauna, flora, funga and microbiota. One of the most efficient measures adopted by public agencies aimed at protecting biodiversity has been the creation of conservation units. To evaluate the preservation state of protected areas, several environmental studies have been performed; species inventories are one among them. Ants are excellent bioindicators, for they are not only sensitive to environmental changes, but they also have a history of being used in impact assessment (i.e., fragmentation). In this study we assessed the ant communities inhabiting the leaf litter in areas with different regeneration states at the RPPN Botujuru – Serra do Itapety (Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo – Brazil). Mini-Winkler traps were used in the ant survey, and diversity analyses were performed. In total, we recorded 86 species of ants, with a highlight to Camponotus cillae Forel, 1912, a species that remained unrecorded for the state of São Paulo for over 100 years, and a possible new species of Octostruma Forel, 1912. Overall, the species found show that the areas are in the process of natural regeneration. Our data on RPPN Botujuru is unprecedented, and our species list has the potential of being used as an effective monitoring tool for this conservation unit.

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