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To mitigate the impacts of deforestation, Brazilian legislation requires the implementation of a Degraded Area Recovery Plan (PRAD). One way to assess the recovery of these areas is using bioindicators. This research tested the use of the drosophilid community structure as an indicator to evaluate post‐mining area restoration. We compared two regeneration techniques within the same chronological sequence and as reference used the forest remnants within the exploration area. The study was conducted in the municipality of Paragominas—Pará, in areas managed by Hydro mining company. Five sites of forest remnants were selected, five in natural regeneration and five in the nucleation technique, the latter two making up the PRADs. A total of 5,919 male drosophilids were collected belonging to 10 genera, and 32 species. Rarefaction showed the curves of the PRADs to be more asymptotic, than forested areas. Forest areas are potentially richer and, on average, have lower abundances and lower diversity. Beta diversity components in the forest present greater turnover and less nestedness processes when compared to PRADs areas. The PRADs showed no differences between them for any of the analyzed patterns. D. nasuta and D. sturtevanti behaved as generalists in relation to habitats, D. paulistorum and D. willistoni as forest specialists. D. malerkotliana, D. simulans, Scaptodrosophila latifasciaeformis, and Zaprionus indianus behaved as specialists in PRADs areas. The structure of the drosophilid community varied according to the environment, proving to be a good indicator for forest and regenerating environments, but it did not detect differences between the PRADs environments in early regeneration (6 years). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]