Pholcidae in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
(c) B. A. Huber, October 2011
in cooperation with A. Pérez González, Cristina Rheims, Janael Ricetti, and Marcelo Alves Dias

The Atlantic Forest along the eastern Brazilian coast is considered one of the "hottest hotspots" on earth. Only 12% of the original Atlantic Forest remain, but the highly fragmented remnants still combine extreme levels of species diversity and endemism. Five expeditions since 2003 have been dedicated to explore pholcid spider diversity in these forests, and eight of the 17 localities visited so far (see map below) are among the few localities worldwide with more than 10 species per locality.
A complete list of species and specimens per locality is available here .
For diagnostic photos of selected species (work in progress), click here


Atlantic Forest remnants (green) and original extension (yellow) (map from http://www.sosmatatlantica.org.br/), the 17 localities visited so far, and number of species found at each locality

But not only the diversity is extraordinary, also endemism (or species-turnover among localities) is extremly high: of the 88 species collected so far, 55 were found at only one locality, 24 at two or three localities (see graphic below). This suggests that the entire Atlantic Forest (ranging about 3000 km from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul), may contain several hundred species of Pholcidae, many of which are probably endangered (or already extinct).