Birds from cerrad？o woodland, an overlooked forest of the Cerrado region, Brazil

the cerrado region still receives relatively little ornithological attention, although it is regarded as the only tropical savanna in the world considered to be a biodiversity hotspot. cerrad？o is one of the least known and most deforested cerrado physiognomies and few recent bird surveys have been conducted in these forests. in order to rescue bird records and complement the few existing inventories of this under-studied forest type in the state of s？o paulo, we looked for published papers on birds of cerrad？o. additionally we surveyed birds at a 314-ha cerrad？o remnant located in central s？o paulo, brazil, from september 2005-december 2006 using unlimited distance transect counts. out of 95 investigations involving cerrad？o bird studies, only 17 (18%) investigations teased apart bird species recorded inside cerrad？o from those recorded in other physiognomies of cerrado. except for one study, no research found more than 64 species in this type of forest, a result shared within many regions from brazil and bolivia. differences in species richness do not seem be related with levels of disturbance of landscape or fragment size. considering all species recorded in cerrad？o in brazil and bolivia, a compilation of data accumulated 250 species in 36 families and 15 orders. in recent surveys at central s？o paulo, we recorded 48 species in 20 families, including the pale-bellied tyrant-manakin neopelma pallescens, threatened in s？o paulo, and the helmeted manakin antilophia galeata, near threatened in the state and endemic to the cerrado region. among the most abundant species inside this fragment, none was considered to be neither threatened nor endemic.