Angolan Herpetological Collection - IICT

Study Extent

The study covers part of Angola, including 10 of the 18 provinces. The best represented province is Moxico, while there are also some few records from Malanje, Uíge and Bié. The provinces of Zaire, Kwanza Norte, Luanda, Bneguela, Namibe, Cunene, and Cuando Cubango are not represented in the collection . The temporal distribution is mainly concentrated in the decade of 1950s (especially in years 1957, 1958 and 1959).

Sampling

The majority of the records of this dataset result from the Missões Apícolas de Angola carried out by the former Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, coordinated by Fernando Frade and José Filipe Lopes do Rosário Nunes between 1957 and 1959. Some of these specimens were previously studied and cited in Manaças (1963, 1973, 1982), Gans (1976) and Ruas (1996, 2000). Other records result from intermittent donations of specimens to the Junta de Investigação Científica do Ultramar from 1957 to 1972 .

Quality Control

Information from each specimen was catalogued in an Excel spreadsheet, involving two steps: i) digitization of specimen records; and ii) taxonomic revision and data checking. The authors AMB and DCB also contributed to the taxonomic revision of the specimens, either by direct contact with the specimens or through high- quality digital photographs. 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. names of administrative regions, names of rivers, etc.).

Method steps

1. The herpetological collections were catalogued using the software Microsoft Excel. We conducted extensive shelf surveys to locate all the remaining Angolan 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. 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 using: 1) the published gazetteer of all the vertebrate collections in Angola for all the publications before 1989 (Cabral & Mesquitela 1989), converted to decimal degrees; or 2) following the GPS location available in newer publications, and then also converting to decimal degrees. When no data were available in Cabral & Mesquitela (1989) or 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 24 families, 41 genus, 65 species and one subspecies of Amphibians and Reptiles.

1. Amphibia
   rank: class
2. Reptilia
   rank: class
3. Squamata
   rank: order
4. Chelonii
   rank: order
5. Anura
   rank: order
6. Arthroleptidae
   rank: family
7. Brevicipitidae
   rank: family
8. Bufonidae
   rank: family
9. Hemisotidae
   rank: family
10. Hyperoliidae
    rank: family
11. Phrynobatrachidae
    rank: family
12. Pipidae
    rank: family
13. Ptychadenidae
    rank: family
14. Pyxicephalidae
    rank: family
15. Ranidae
    rank: family
16. Agamidae
    rank: family
17. Amphisbaenidae
    rank: family
18. Chamaeleonidae
    rank: family
19. Colubridae
    rank: family
20. Elapidae
    rank: family
21. Gekkonidae
    rank: family
22. Gerrhosauridae
    rank: family
23. Lacertidae
    rank: family
24. Lamprophiidae
    rank: family
25. Natricidae
    rank: family
26. Pelomedusidae
    rank: family
27. Scincidae
    rank: family
28. Typhlopidae
    rank: family
29. Viperidae
    rank: family
30. Arthroleptis
    rank: genus
31. Breviceps
    rank: genus
32. Poyntonophrynus
    rank: genus
33. Sclerophrys
    rank: genus
34. Hemisus
    rank: genus
35. Hyperolius
    rank: genus
36. Phrynobatrachus
    rank: genus
37. Hylarana
    rank: genus
38. Ptychadena
    rank: genus
39. Amietia
    rank: genus
40. Xenopus
    rank: genus
41. Acanthocercus
    rank: genus
42. Agama
    rank: genus
43. Dalophia
    rank: genus
44. Zygaspis
    rank: genus
45. Chamaeleo
    rank: genus
46. Crotaphopeltis
    rank: genus
47. Dasypeltis
    rank: genus
48. Dispholidus
    rank: genus
49. Boaedon
    rank: genus
50. Psammophis
    rank: genus
51. Philothamnus
    rank: genus
52. Hemidactylus
    rank: genus
53. Gerrhosaurus
    rank: genus
54. Tetradactylus
    rank: genus
55. Ichnotropis
    rank: genus
56. Lycophidion
    rank: genus
57. Psammophylax
    rank: genus
58. Prosymna
    rank: genus
59. Limnophis
    rank: genus
60. Natriciteres
    rank: genus
61. Pelomedusa
    rank: genus
62. Pelusios
    rank: genus
63. Sepsina
    rank: genus
64. Trachylepis
    rank: genus
65. Lubuya
    rank: genus
66. Panaspis
    rank: genus
67. Varanus
    rank: genus
68. Afrotyphlops
    rank: genus
69. Causus
    rank: genus
70. Bitis
    rank: genus
71. Arthroleptis stenodactylus
    rank: species
72. Breviceps poweri
    rank: species
73. Poyntonophrynus kavangensis
    rank: species
74. Sclerophrys garmani
    rank: species
75. Sclerophrys gutturalis
    rank: species
76. Sclerophrys pusilla
    rank: species
77. Hemisus marmoratus
    rank: species
78. Hyperolius sp.
    rank: species
79. Hyperolius angolensis
    rank: species
80. Phrynobatrachus natalensis
    rank: species
81. Xenopus petersii
    rank: species
82. Amietia angolensis
    rank: species
83. Hylarana darlingi
    rank: species
84. Ptychadena sp.
    rank: species
85. Ptychadena uzungwensis
    rank: species
86. Ptychadena cf. mascareniensis
    rank: species
87. Ptychadena subpunctata
    rank: species
88. Ptychadena upembae
    rank: species
89. Ptychadena anchietae
    rank: species
90. Ptychadena anchietae
    rank: species
91. Bitis arietans
    rank: species
92. Bitis gabonica
    rank: species
93. Causus rhombeatus
    rank: species
94. Causus bilineatus
    rank: species
95. Varanus niloticus
    rank: species
96. Afrotyphlops sp.
    rank: species
97. Afrotyphlops angolensis
    rank: species
98. Trachylepis bayonii
    rank: species
99. Trachylepis wahlbergii
    rank: species
100. Panaspis sp.
     rank: species
101. Trachylepis monardi
     rank: species
102. Trachylepis sp.
     rank: species
103. Lubuya ivensii
     rank: species
104. Sepsina angolensis
     rank: species
105. Pelusios bechuanicus
     rank: species
106. Pelomedusa subrufa
     rank: species
107. Limnophis bangweolicus
     rank: species
108. Natriciteres sp.
     rank: species
109. Limnophis bicolor
     rank: species
110. Psammophis mossambicus
     rank: species
111. Psammophylax acutus
     rank: species
112. Boaedon fuliginosus
     rank: species
113. Boaedon sp.
     rank: species
114. Psammophis zambiensis
     rank: species
115. Prosymna angolensis
     rank: species
116. Psammophylax sp.
     rank: species
117. Lycophidion capense
     rank: species
118. Ichnotropis bivittata
     rank: species
119. Gerrhosaurus bulsi
     rank: species
120. Tetradactylus ellenbergeri
     rank: species
121. Hemidatylus longicephalus
     rank: species
122. Pseudohaje goldii
     rank: species
123. Philothamnus heterolepidotus
     rank: species
124. Dispholidus typus
     rank: species
125. Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia
     rank: species
126. Philothamnus angolensis
     rank: species
127. Dipsadoboa shrevei
     rank: species
128. Dasypeltis scabra
     rank: species
129. Chamaeleo dilepis
     rank: species
130. Zygaspis nigra
     rank: species
131. Dalophia angolensis
     rank: species
132. Agama sp.
     rank: species
133. Agama schacki
     rank: species
134. Agama aculeata
     rank: species
135. Acanthocercus cyanocephalus
     rank: species
136. Dispholidus typus punctatus
     rank: subspecies

The Republic of Angola (excluding Cabinda enclave)