Species List
Knowledge of biological diversity, and its ability to generate services for human well-being, provides essential tools for communities and societies at the local, regional, and national levels to improve management decisions for ecosystem integrity protection. Biodiversity is the basis of ecosystem functioning and the services it provides. Multiple natural and ecological processes between species are responsible for regulating the flow of energy and matter and maintaining critical functions such as carbon fixation and oxygen production.
Butterflies
The Butterfly Inventory was led by the Veragua Foundation site parataxonomist Julián Solano Salazar, supported by the National Biodiversity Institute (INBIO) and the National Museum of Costa Rica. The sampling objectives were to describe the diversity of species, the population dynamics, and the spatial and temporal distribution of the species in the Veragua Rainforest and its surroundings. Weekly systematic samples were carried out using light and fruit traps and free sampling with an entomological net.
The results show a total of 585 species of butterflies, representing 37% of the species described for Costa Rica. Of the total number of butterflies, 315 diurnal species and 270 nocturnal sp, divided into 5 and 16 Families, respectively, were recorded. The best-represented families of diurnal butterflies are Nymphalidae (188 sp) and Lycaenidae (73 sp); in the case of nocturnal butterflies, the most diverse families were Arctiidae (96 sp), Sphingidae (50), Saturniidae (39 sp) and Noctuidae (31 sp).
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Beetles
The beetles monitoring has been led by the site entomologist of the Veragua Foundation MSc. Rolando Ramírez with the support of specialists from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and the National Museum of Costa Rica. The monitoring was carried out between 2008 and 2021.
Our results show a diversity of 808 species divided into 42 families; the best-represented family is Cerambycidae, with 248 sp. This number of species represents the greatest species richness for this family in the same locality in Central America. Other families with good representation were Curculionidae (106 sp.), Scarabaeidae (94 sp.), Chrysomelidae (86 sp.), Tenebrionidae (41 sp.), Elateridae (38 sp.), and Carabidae (31 sp.). During this monitoring, 12 new species were recorded for Costa Rica and two new species for science (Galissus niggrescens and Jamesia ramirezi).
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Amphibians and reptiles
The site herpetologist of the Veragua Foundation MSc José Andrés Salazar Zúñiga, has led the monitoring of amphibians and reptiles, supported by the Zoology Museum of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), research assistants at the UCR School of Biology, as well as local naturalists and employees of Veragua Rainforest.
Regarding the amphibians, between 2012 and 2017, a monitoring survey was conducted to study the distribution patterns and natural history of species across this region, particularly those considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The results show the highest amphibian species richness among Middle America lowland evergreen forests, with a notable anuran representation of 65 species. The greatest diversity in the study area occurred in the mature forest on the basal belt. Of the 68 amphibian species found, seven (10%) are endemic to the Atlantic versant, and eight (11.6%) are threatened. This survey includes the first record of Gastrotheca cornuta in Costa Rica since it was last reported 21 years ago. New populations of Agalychnis lemur (Critically Endangered) and Duellmanohyla uranochroa (Endangered) are reported, and Ecnomiohyla veraguensis (Endangered) is reported for the first time in Costa Rica. These findings show that this locality is a high-priority conservation area for many amphibian species, often threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation.
The reptile inventory is in the process of analysis; so far, a total of 78 species have been identified, of which 25 are lizards, 50 are snakes, and 3 are turtles.
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Birds
Bird monitoring has been carried out from 2008 to the present through participatory monitoring led by the Veragua Rainforest Park (VRF) and the Veragua Foundation, where biologists, naturalist guides, local naturalists, students, volunteers, VRF employees, and the community, participate. In addition, VRF has organized the Christmas Bird Count for this region of the Cordillera de Talamanca for several years. This activity resulted in 408 sp, data that breaks the Central American record for species seen in one day for one location. The accumulated number of species observed in the year was 478 sp., of which 343 species were detected in the Veragua Rainforest. The recorded species richness represents more than half of the birds in Costa Rica. Therefore, VRF is a priority site for bird conservation.
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Mammals
The monitoring of mammals has been developed from 2015 to the present, led by the Fundación Veragua site mastozoologist Lic. Diego Salas Solano and supported by the Zoology Museum of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), UCR research assistants, Veragua Rainforest employees, volunteers, and the local community.
A total of 100 species have been recorded, of which 49 are bats, representing almost 50% of bat species in Costa Rica. This list includes the following threatened species: the felines, Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), Margay (Leopardus wieedii), Puma (Puma concolor), Jaguar (Panthera onca); the primates, Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata), and the Central American Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi); and the water opossum (Chironectes minimus). In addition, we report species threatened by illegal hunting, such as the Red Brocket Deer (Mazama temama), Collared Peccary (Pecari tajacu), Agouti (Dacyprocta punctata), and Paca (Cuniculus paca).
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