The Role of Gallery Forests in th Zoogeography of the Cerrado's Non-volant Mammalian Fauna

The cerrado, one of the largest vegetation formations in Brazil, has been poorly studied. We present the first comprehensive list of the non-volant mammalian fauna and analyze its zoogeographic affinities. There are 11 endemic non-volant mammal species out of a total of 100 species. The cerrado flora is rich in endemics and shows pronounced adaptations to a xeric environment in contrast to the cerrado mammalian fauna. This is probably due to the fact that gallery forests have been present in the cerrado for a long time and have served as mesic enclaves, making xeric adaptations on the part of the mammalian species unnecessary. This contrast between cerrado flora and fauna is similar to the situation in the caatinga, although seemingly for different reasons.