Guinea-Bissau Herpetological Collection - IICT

Study Extent

The study covers all 8 regions of Guinea-Bissau (Bafatá, Biombo, Bissau, Bolama, Cacheu, Gabu, Oio, Quinara and Tombali). The temporal distribution is mainly concentrated in the decade of 1940's (especially in years 1945 and 1946).

Sampling

The majority of the records of this dataset result from the Missões Científica da Guiné carried out by the former Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, coordinated by Fernando Frade during the period of 1945 and 1946. Some other material correspond to intermittent donations of specimens to the Junta de Investigação Científica do Ultramar from 1939 to 1991. Some of these specimens were previously studied and cited in Manaças (1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1955). The majority of the records refered in those publications were used in the most recent checklist of the amphibians and reptiles from the Bijagós archipelago and mainland Guinea-Bissau (Auliya et al. 2012).

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. Nomemclature 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. Guinea-Bissau).

Method steps

1. The herpetological collections were catalogued using the software Microsoft Excel. We conducted extensive shelf surveys to locate all the remaining Guinea-Bissau 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 22 families, 33 genus, 48 species and one subspecies 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. Crocodylia
   rank: order
7. Bufonidae
   rank: family
8. Dermophiidae
   rank: family
9. Dicroglossidae
   rank: family
10. Hyperoliidae
    rank: family
11. Pipidae
    rank: family
12. Ptychadenidae
    rank: family
13. Ranidae
    rank: family
14. Gekkonidae
    rank: family
15. Lamprophiidae
    rank: family
16. Agamidae
    rank: family
17. Typhlopidae
    rank: family
18. Viperidae
    rank: family
19. Chamaeleonidae
    rank: family
20. Crocodylidae
    rank: family
21. Colubridae
    rank: family
22. Amphisbaenidae
    rank: family
23. Scincidae
    rank: family
24. Leptotyphlopidae
    rank: family
25. Elapidae
    rank: family
26. Pythonidae
    rank: family
27. Phyllodactilidae
    rank: family
28. Varanidae
    rank: family
29. Sclerophrys
    rank: genus
30. Geotrypetes
    rank: genus
31. Hoplobatrachus
    rank: genus
32. Hyperolius
    rank: genus
33. Xenopus
    rank: genus
34. Ptychadena
    rank: genus
35. Amnirana
    rank: genus
36. Hemidactylus
    rank: genus
37. Boaedon
    rank: genus
38. Psammophis
    rank: genus
39. Agama
    rank: genus
40. Afrotyphlops
    rank: genus
41. Atractaspis
    rank: genus
42. Bitis
    rank: genus
43. Causus
    rank: genus
44. Chamaeleo
    rank: genus
45. Crocodylus
    rank: genus
46. Crotaphopeltis
    rank: genus
47. Cynisca
    rank: genus
48. Dasypeltis
    rank: genus
49. Dispholidus
    rank: genus
50. Grayia
    rank: genus
51. Limaformosa
    rank: genus
52. Lycophidion
    rank: genus
53. Mochlus
    rank: genus
54. Myriopholis
    rank: genus
55. Philothamnus
    rank: genus
56. Naja
    rank: genus
57. Python
    rank: genus
58. Tarentola
    rank: genus
59. Toxicodryas
    rank: genus
60. Trachylepis
    rank: genus
61. Varanus
    rank: genus
62. Sclerophrys regularis
    rank: species
63. Sclerophrys sp.
    rank: species
64. Geotrypetes seraphini
    rank: species
65. Hoplobatrachus occipitalis
    rank: species
66. Hyperolius concolor
    rank: species
67. Hyperolius sp.
    rank: species
68. Xenopus tropicalis
    rank: species
69. Ptychadena bibronii
    rank: species
70. Ptychadena mascareniensis
    rank: species
71. Ptychadena ansorgii
    rank: species
72. Amnirana galamensis
    rank: species
73. Hemidactylus angulatus
    rank: species
74. Boaedon sp.
    rank: species
75. Boaedon fuliginosus
    rank: species
76. Psammophis sp.
    rank: species
77. Agama picticauda
    rank: species
78. Agama sp.
    rank: species
79. Agama boensis
    rank: species
80. Afrotyphlops punctatus
    rank: species
81. Atractaspis aterrima
    rank: species
82. Causus maculatus
    rank: species
83. Bitis arietans
    rank: species
84. Chamaeleo senegalensis
    rank: species
85. Chamaeleo gracilis
    rank: species
86. Crocodylus suchus
    rank: species
87. Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia
    rank: species
88. Cynisca feae
    rank: species
89. Dasypeltis confusa
    rank: species
90. Dasypeltis gansi
    rank: species
91. Dispholidus typus
    rank: species
92. Grayia smithi
    rank: species
93. Limaformosa crossi
    rank: species
94. Lycophidion albomaculatum
    rank: species
95. Lycophidion irroratum
    rank: species
96. Mochlus guineensis
    rank: species
97. Myriopholis nasirostris
    rank: species
98. Naja haje
    rank: species
99. Philothamnus irregularis
    rank: species
100. Psammophis irregularis
     rank: species
101. Psammophis elegans
     rank: species
102. Psammophis lineatus
     rank: species
103. Psammophis sibilans
     rank: species
104. Python sebae
     rank: species
105. Toxicodryas blandingii
     rank: species
106. Trachylepis affinis
     rank: species
107. Trachylepis perroteti
     rank: species
108. Varanus exanthematicus
     rank: species
109. Varanus niloticus
     rank: species
110. Tarentola ephippiata senegambiae
     rank: subspecies

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau