Reptiles and Amphibians of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

The status of all the reptile and amphibian species that have been recorded in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve (the southern section of the Table Mountain National Park) is described. A total of 57 species has been recorded, comprising seven tortoises and turtles, 14 lizards, one chamaeleon, 20 snakes, two platannas, and 13 frogs and toads. The Reserve is an important stronghold of the IUCN-classified ‘Endangered’ Cape Platanna Xenopus gilli, and holds the discrete southern population of the range-restricted, ‘Near Threatened’ Cape Peninsula Moss Frog Arthroleptella lightfooti.

The open-access journal Biodiversity Observations: report for 2023

“…A set of three papers by Mike Fraser covers the terrestrial vertebrates of the Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Park (Fraser 2014(Fraser , 2022(Fraser , 2023. The checklist of reptiles and amphibians was published in 2023; this paper has had 1,033 downloads in the year (Fraser 2023). The checklist of mammals (Fraser 2022) had 683 downloads in 2023, the most downloads in 2023 for a paper published in 2022.…”