São Tomé and Príncipe Herpetological Collection - IICT

Study Extent

The study covers both São Tomé and Príncipe Islands, but also the small islet of Tinhosa Grande, situated at approximately 20 km southwest of Príncipe Island. The temporal distribution is mainly concentrated in the decade of 1950’s (especially in years 1954, 1955 and 1956).

Sampling

The majority of the records of this dataset result from the Missões Científica de São Tomé carried out by the former Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, coordinated by Fernando Frade during 1954. Some other material from Príncipe Island, collected during the years of 1955 and 1956, correspond to offers by Décio Passos (a former official of the Príncipe Airport Services). Other records result from intermittent donations of specimens to the Junta de Investigação Científica do Ultramar from 1955 to 1971. Some of these specimens were previously studied and cited in Manaças (1958, 1973), and more recently used on species descriptions (Ceríaco 2015; Ceríaco et al. 2016, 2018; Soares et al. 2018).

Quality Control

Information from each specimen was catalogued in an Excel spreadsheet, involving two steps: i) digitization of specimens records; and ii) taxonomic revision and data checking. Nomenclature was checked through available literature, The Reptile Database [http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/], and the Amphibia Species of the World v.6.0 [http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/]. Georeferencing followed the recommendations by Chapman and Wieczorek (2006), including the determination of uncertainty of coordinates, in particular when insufficient information was available from specimens’ records and labels to attribute a specific locality (e.g. Island).

Method steps

1. The herpetological collections were catalogued using the software Microsoft Excel. We conducted extensive shelf surveys to locate all the remaining São Tomé and Príncipe specimens of amphibians and reptiles. After locating the specimens, basic curatorial procedures were taken. Each jar was cleaned, and ethanol or formalin was changed to 70% ethanol gradually. In certain cases jars were substituted as they were cracked or were otherwise not reliably sealable. All the information linked to the survinving specimens and/or jars were collected, copied, and linked to the specimen. After completion of curatorial activities, each specimen was identified to the species and/or subspecies level. The identification of the specimens was accomplished by consulting the most updated available literature sources and followed the currently accepted nomenclature. Additionally, the specimens’ original information was re-checked at this phase, comparing the label data with surviving original field books and catalgoues, in order to screen for any initial cataloguing errors. The collecting locality for each bibliographic reference was georeferenced following the GPS location available in newer publications, and then also converting to decimal degrees. When no data were available in the recent publications, we used “GEOLocate online application” (http://www.museum.tulane.edu/geolocate/) for georeferencing the locality cited . The uncertainty of georeferenced localities was recorded whenever possible. For some records it was not possible to determine the coordinates due to insufficient location information. All coordinates are given in geographic format, decimal degrees, datum WGS 84.

The dataset comprises representatives of 11 families, 16 genus, 28 species of Amphibians and Reptiles.

1. Amphibia
   rank: class
2. Reptilia
   rank: class
3. Anura
   rank: order
4. Gymnophiona
   rank: order
5. Squamata
   rank: order
6. Dermophiidae
   rank: family
7. Ptychadenidae
   rank: family
8. Hyperoliidae
   rank: family
9. Arthroleptidae
   rank: family
10. Phrynobatrachidae
    rank: family
11. Scincidae
    rank: family
12. Colubridae
    rank: family
13. Typhlopidae
    rank: family
14. Gekkonidae
    rank: family
15. Lamprophiidae
    rank: family
16. Elapidae
    rank: family
17. Schitometopum
    rank: genus
18. Ptychadena
    rank: genus
19. Hyperolius
    rank: genus
20. Leptopelis
    rank: genus
21. Phrynobatrachus
    rank: genus
22. Trachylepis
    rank: genus
23. Philothamnus
    rank: genus
24. Letheobia
    rank: genus
25. Hemidactylus
    rank: genus
26. Hapsidophrys
    rank: genus
27. Boaedon
    rank: genus
28. Afrotyphlops
    rank: genus
29. Naja
    rank: genus
30. Panaspis
    rank: genus
31. Feylinia
    rank: genus
32. Lygodactylus
    rank: genus
33. Schitometopum thomense
    rank: species
34. Ptychadena newtoni
    rank: species
35. Hyperolius sp.
    rank: species
36. Hyperolius thomensis
    rank: species
37. Leptopelis palmatus
    rank: species
38. Phrynobatrachus dispar
    rank: species
39. Phrynobatrachus leveleve
    rank: species
40. Trachylepis affinis
    rank: species
41. Philothamnus thomensis
    rank: species
42. Letheobia newtoni
    rank: species
43. Hemidactylus principensis
    rank: species
44. Hapsidophrys principis
    rank: species
45. Hemidactylus longicephalus
    rank: species
46. Boaedon sp.
    rank: species
47. Afrotyphlops elegans
    rank: species
48. Hemidactylus sp.
    rank: species
49. Trachylepis adamastor
    rank: species
50. Trachylepis thomensis
    rank: species
51. Trachylepis principensis
    rank: species
52. Letheobia sp.
    rank: species
53. Hemidactylus mabouia
    rank: species
54. Boaedon bedriagae
    rank: species
55. Naja peroescobari
    rank: species
56. Hemidactylus greeffii
    rank: species
57. Feylinia polylepis
    rank: species
58. Lygodactylus delicatus
    rank: species
59. Panaspis africana
    rank: species
60. Panaspis thomensis
    rank: species

The São Tomé and Príncipe Islands (including the Tinhosa Grande Islet), Gulf of Guinea