An updated herpetofaunal species inventory of Iona National Park in southwestern Angola

Lobón-Rovira, Javier; Pinto, Pedro Vaz; Becker, François S.; Tolley, Krystal A.; Measey, John; Bennet, Bruce; Boon, Bastiaan; Sá, Sango de; Conradie, Werner

doi:10.15560/18.2.289

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Southwestern Angola represents a hotspot of diversity (Ceríaco et al 2016;Marques et al 2018;Lobón-Rovira et al 2022) with a high number of new reptile species described from here in the last decade (Conradie et al 2012;Stanley et al 2016;Ceríaco et al 2018Ceríaco et al , 2020Branch et al 2019aBranch et al , 2019bBranch et al , 2021Marques et al 2019Marques et al , 2020Parrinha et al 2021). There are still, however, several areas in the southwest that remain largely undocumented in terms of biodiversity and that require further surveys and research focus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

The Angolan bushveld lizards, genus Heliobolus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Lacertidae): Integrative taxonomy and the description of two new species

Marques¹,

Ceríaco²,

Heinicke³

et al. 2022

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The genus Heliobolus comprises four recognized species, all endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, only Heliobolus lugubris occurs in southern Africa, its distribution extending from Angola in the west to Mozambique in the east and reaching as far south as parts of northern South Africa. Like many of the reptile species that occur in southern Africa, Heliobolus lugubris is poorly studied, and preliminary investigation suggested that it may contain cryptic diversity. The present work focusses on the Angolan population of H. lugubris and uses an integrative taxonomic approach based on morphological, coloration and DNA sequence data. The results indicate that some of the current and historical specimens of H. lugubris from Angola do not correspond to the nominotypical form, and that differences between specimens suggest the presence of two additional species, described here as Heliobolus bivarisp. nov. from the southernmost xeric/desertic regions and plateau of Namibe Province, southwestern Angola and H. crawfordisp. nov. from the Serra da Neve inselberg north through the sub-desert coastal regions of northern Namibe, Benguela, and Kwanza Sul provinces. Nominotypical Heliobolus lugubris is confirmed to occur in Cuando Cubango Province, southeastern Angola.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

The Angolan bushveld lizards, genus Heliobolus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Lacertidae): Integrative taxonomy and the description of two new species

Marques¹,

Ceríaco²,

Heinicke³

et al. 2022

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“…Recent surveys in southwestern Angola revealed undescribed cryptic diversity associated with Rhoptropus barnardi ( Ceríaco et al 2016 ; Kuhn 2016 ; Butler et al 2019 ; Lobón-Rovira et al 2022 ). The specimens collected in Serra da Neve belong to an undescribed Angolan endemic with affinities to Rhoptropus barnardi Hewitt, 1926 and R. biporosus FitzSimons, 1957, which is widespread in southwestern Angola, from sea level to an elevation of more than 2000 m. A revision of the genus is being prepared (DP unpubl.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A specimen from northwestern Namibia was assigned to this species by Broadley (1991 , 1996 ). A very similar species, L. namibianum Broadley, 1991, which occurs in northwestern Namibia and southern Namibe Province ( Broadley 1991 , 1996 ; Lobón-Rovira et al 2022 ), is distinguished from L. hellmichi by the lack of contact of the post-nasal with the first labial (in contact in L. hellmichi ). Our specimens agree with the holotype in both coloration and the contact between post-nasal and first supralabial ( Laurent 1964 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An island in a sea of sand: a first checklist of the herpetofauna of the Serra da Neve inselberg, southwestern Angola

Marques,

Parrinha,

Lopes-Lima

et al. 2024

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The Serra da Neve inselberg in Namibe Province, southwestern Angola is the second highest peak of Angola with an elevation of 2489 m. It remains one of the least explored regions in the country, despite several endemic species having been recently described from this inselberg. Here we provide an inventory of the amphibian and reptile species ocurring in Serra da Neve and compare its fauna with that of the surrounding habitats at lower elevations. We also examine the phylogenetic affinities of the inselberg taxa. A total of 59 herpetological taxa were recorded for the Serra da Neve inselberg and its immediate surroundings. These include 11 species of amphibians, belonging to nine genera and seven different families, and 48 species of reptiles, belonging to 32 genera and 12 families. Of these, one amphibian and seven reptiles from seven different genera are strictly endemic, making the inselberg the richest region in southwestern Africa with respect to strict endemics, with one endemic reptile taxa per 127 km2. Not surprisingly, most of the recorded taxa belong to clades that are endemic, or at least strongly associated, with southern Africa, but two are representatives of central African clades, and another two are more closely related to eastern African highland taxa. We also provide comments on the threats to the conservation of this endemic-rich inselberg.

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“…This is particularly true for lizards, as suggested by the description of several endemic or near-endemic species in the last decade, including six lacertids (Conradie et al 2012;Branch et al 2019a;Parrinha et al 2021;Marques et al 2022), six gekkonids (Ceríaco et al 2020b;Marques et al 2020;Branch et al 2021;Lobón-Rovira et al 2022a), one scincid (Ceríaco et al 2020a) and two cordylids (Stanley et al 2016;Marques et al 2019). Gekkonids are particularly diverse in the region, with more than half of Angolan species recorded in Iona National Park alone (Lobón-Rovira et al 2022b). The description of Pachydactylus maiatoi sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A new species of thick-toed gecko (Pachydactylus) from Serra da Neve and surrounding rocky areas of southwestern Angola (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

Marques¹,

Parrinha²,

Ceríaco³

et al. 2023

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Several specimens of Pachydactylus angolensis, a poorly known Angolan endemic gecko, have recently been collected in southern Angola, considerably increasing its known distribution range. Previous observations led to the hypothesis that two different morphological forms exist in the country—a coastal form and an inland form. Based on the morphological examination of historical and recently collected specimens, as well as on newly generated molecular data, we conducted a taxonomic revision of this putative species complex. The results support the separation of these two forms as two different species. The coastal form belongs to the nominotypic population, while the inland form is here described as a new species, Pachydactylus maiatoisp. nov.. A brief comment on the biogeographical implications of this discovery is also provided.

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An updated herpetofaunal species inventory of Iona National Park in southwestern Angola

Cited by 10 publications

References 60 publications

The Angolan bushveld lizards, genus Heliobolus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Lacertidae): Integrative taxonomy and the description of two new species

The Angolan bushveld lizards, genus Heliobolus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Lacertidae): Integrative taxonomy and the description of two new species

An island in a sea of sand: a first checklist of the herpetofauna of the Serra da Neve inselberg, southwestern Angola

A new species of thick-toed gecko (Pachydactylus) from Serra da Neve and surrounding rocky areas of southwestern Angola (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

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