The Serra do Teimoso Natural Reserve

The Serra do Teimoso is a small mountain 800 m high approximately 75 km southwest of the city of Ilhéus, Bahia, and marks the ecological transition zone from moist forest to semi-deciduous forest. As such, its remaining forests are a unique combination of species from both forest types, with species from the drier semi-deciduous forests on the lower slopes and rain forest species found in the moister forests higher on the slope.

In 1997, the owner, Mr. Henrique F. B. de Carvalho, created a private nature reserve (RPPN) which runs from the base of the mountain to the top. By establishing 200 hectares (500 acres) of his 500 hectare farm as a permanent forest preserve, he no longer had to pay property taxes on this land. Mr. Carvalho has gone a step further: he has created a trail system in the reserve and has actively encouraged biologists to study the diversity of his forest.

Mr. Carvalho and his wife have started surveys of the Reserve’s primates and found three monkeys, the Golden-headed Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas), Wied’s Black Tufted-eared Marmoset (Callithrix kuhli), and the Masked Titi Monkey (Callicebus personatus melanochir). Known to occur in the Reserve, but not sighted during their surveys, is the Wooly Spider Monkey (Brachytelles arachnoides). Three of the four are listed in CITES Appendix 1 and are globally endangered, and the fourth, the Masked Titi, is listed on CITES Appendix 2.

A floristic survey of the Reserve and a checklist (Amorim et al., in press) produced . The vascular plant flora of the Teimoso Reserve comprises 727 species in 400 genera and 119 families. The angiosperms comprise 667 species in 363 genera and 100 families and the pteridophytes include 60 species in 37 genera and 19 families.