Odonata Community in a transition area between Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil

The Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes are global biodiversity hotspots. Despite this, they are constantly losing their natural habitats, making it urgent to conduct fauna inventories for the conservation of taxa such as dragonflies (Odonata). These insects provide fundamental environmental services to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and are poorly sampled in some regions of Minas Gerais state. In this regard, the present study aimed to inventory the Odonata community in the surroundings of Luminárias, a municipality located in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. This area consists of a transition between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, with biotic and abiotic attributes suggesting the creation of a Conservation Unit (CU) to provide data on the distribution of this taxon for future conservation actions. The study was conducted between 2023 and 2024, in 10 locations, totaling 690 hours of sampling effort. Fifty-seven species were recorded, distributed among seven families, with four species at some risk of extinction or with insufficient data, according to the IUCN or ICMBio. Considering the significant richness of Odonata fauna obtained in this study, which includes threatened species, it is urgent to establish management actions for the protection of these populations, including the creation of a CU.