A survey of the Ilha Grande land snails was carried out in order to compare the diversity and similarity among two regions of secondary Atlantic Rain Forest. The diversity was estimated using the richness and the equitatibility; the alpha diversity was calculated using the Simpson index (γ). The Sörensen and Jaccard indexes were used to calculate the similarity. A quantitative survey of two 600 m² area, one in each studied region, recorded 336 individuals snails distributed in 23 species and 13 families. The region with more altered secondary forest showed higher richness (17) and diversity (γ = 3,6) than the region more preserved (richness = 14; γ = 2,78), but, the same equitatibility (0,20). The similarity was medium by Jaccard index (IJ = 0,52) and low by Sorensen index (IS = 0,15). These differences could be explained by the dominance of Subulinidae (four species and 117 specimens) in the more altered region and Systrophiidae in the more preserved (four species and 97 specimens).
Terrestrial gastropods; diversity; ecology; Rio de Janeiro; Brazil