New records for the flora of Angola: observations from Uíge and Cuanza Norte

Abstract

Background and aims – Located in the transition zone of Guineo-Congolian and Zambezian phytochoria, the Angolan provinces of Uíge and Cuanza Norte are of particular interest for floristic studies and high biodiversity is expected. Nevertheless, explorations of the vegetation are relatively rare. Our study aims to supplement a recent checklist of vascular plants of Angola. Methods – Data were collected during 17 field trips between 2013 and 2018, during which herbarium specimens were prepared for later identification of plant species. The results were compared with the current checklist as well as with other floristic works, herbarium collections and online databases relevant for the region.Key results – We document 20 new records of indigenous vascular plant species for the flora of Angola (19 species and one subspecies), including four new generic records. Furthermore, nine alien species are added to the checklist of the flora of Angola.Conclusion – Our results confirm that the flora of northern Angola is composed by elements of various adjacent areas. However, not all species present are known yet. Further botanical investigation is needed to complete our floristic knowledge of the region.

At the edge of extinction: a first herpetological assessment of the proposed Serra do Pingano Rainforest National Park in Uíge Province, northern Angola

“…For many taxa, the Congo river basin was thought to represent a natural barrier and the southern boundary of their distribution. Our findings challenge this assumption, at least for amphibians (Ernst et al 2014(Ernst et al , 2015Jongsma et al 2018; this study) and for plants (Lautenschläger et al 2020). Additional evidence is also available for reptiles (e.g.…”

Sixty-seven species newly recorded for the flora of Angola: recent findings from vegetation surveys and herbarium collections

“…Those studies focus on a single region, whereas our study combines the work of several groups working in Angola, thus providing more new floristic knowledge at once. This work adds to recent reports of new records (Lautenschläger et al 2020b) and species (e.g. Swanepoel et al 2021) in Angola, and we expect more to come if survey efforts will be increased, and/or more alien species are introduced (Rejmánek et al 2017).…”

“…Many of the new records from Uíge presented here have a Guineo-Congolian background. This is because the mountain ranges in Uíge are covered by evergreen tropical forest and represent an exclave of the Guineo-Congolian Floristic Region (Lautenschläger et al 2020b). Probably, the exclave is a remnant of a broader expanse of montane habitats in the Pleistocene, when a corridor of evergreen tropical forests likely spanned from Cameroon over Angola to East Africa (Allen et al 2021).…”

“…The checklist of Figueiredo and Smith (2008) was used as the baseline for assessing Angolan species records. Species missing there but subsequently reported in later publications (Swanepoel 2009;Bergh and Nordenstam 2010;De Sousa et al 2010;Catarino et al 2013;Abreu et al 2014;Hind and Goyder 2014;Paton 2014;Cheek et al 2015;Darbyshire 2015;Abrahamczyk et al 2016;Darbyshire et al 2018;Harris and Wortley 2018a, 2018b, 2018cDarbyshire and Goyder 2019;Swanepoel 2019;Tripp and Darbyshire 2020;Lautenschläger et al 2020b;Darbyshire et al 2021;Smith and Lautenschläger 2021;Swanepoel et al 2021, Figueiredo andSmith 2022) were excluded.…”