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Introduction
Evolutionary Biology. African Reptiles and Amphibians. Osteology. CT-scan.
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Publications
Publications (38)
The global environmental crisis has reinforced the importance of improving the documentation of the geographical distributions of extant species. To this aim, species inventories of specific locations or regions are a high priority, especially so in poorly explored areas. Cabinda Province, an Angolan enclave located between the Republic of Congo an...
Lygodactylus geckos represent a well-documented radiation of miniaturized lizards with diverse life-history traits
that are widely distributed in Africa, Madagascar, and South America. The group has diversified into numerous
species with high levels of morphological similarity. The evolutionary processes underlying such diversification
remain enigm...
The genus Lygodactylus Gray is a species-rich group of small, diurnal geckos distributed in Africa, Madagascar, and South America. The genus is divided into several species groups based on morphological characters, biogeographical affinities and/or phylogenetic investigations. To date, some of these groups still contain candidate species. One of th...
Nine species of African flat geckos (Afroedura) are known to be associated with the highlands and escarpments of Angola and Namibia (HEAN). Among these, the Afroedura bogerti group is the most speciose (with seven species) and endemic to the HEAN. Phylogenetically, it constitutes a young species group that speciated during the early Pleistocene (~1...
The pygmy toad genus Poyntonophrynus is endemic to southern Africa. The morphology of these small toads is conserved. They are usually dully colored, and are predominately adapted to arid conditions. During recent surveys in Angola we found Poyntonophrynus specimens that were not assignable to known species. Using an integrative approach, based on...
Using an integrative taxonomic approach including genetic and morphological data, we formally describe a new microendemic gecko species belonging to the Paroedura bastar-di clade, previously referred to as P. bastardi D. We name this taxon currently known from Anja Reserve and Tsaranoro Valley Forest (south-central Madagascar), as P. manongava-to s...
Lygodactylus is the most speciose gekkonid group in Africa, with several additional, candidate species already identified from previous studies. However, in mainland Africa, several groups remain only partially resolved, and there are several taxonomic inconsistencies. Lygodactylus gutturalis was described from Guinea-Bissau in the 1870s and since...
Cordylus angolensis (Bocage, 1895) was described 128 years ago on the basis of a single specimen collected at Caconda in the west-central highlands of Angola. Additional specimens referred to this species were collected at ‘Mombolo’ (also in the central highlands) during the Vernay Angola Expedition in 1925. As the holotype was apparently destroyed...
Pablo García Antón, Alberto Sánchez Vialas, Javier Lobón-Rovira, Fernando Iglesias &Teodoro Abbad (2023): Scincopus fasciatus (Peters, 1864). En: Martínez, G., León, R., Jiménez-Robles, O., González De la Vega, J. P., Gabari, V., Rebollo, B., Sánchez-Tójar, A., Fernández-Cardenete, J. R., Gállego, J. (Eds.). Moroccoherps. Anfibios y Reptiles de Mar...
Newly collected material from northern Namibia’s Otjihipa Mountains and west-central Angola allowed us to revisit the Afroedura bogerti Loveridge, 1944 group. The employment of additional gene markers, including nuclear markers, allowed us to identify two new species in the group and infer species boundaries and potential speciation events in Afroe...
We here describe a new species of feather-tailed leaf-toed gecko, Kolekanos, from southern Benguela Province, Angola, based on morphological and osteological evidence, supported by phylogenetic analy- sis of mitochondrial data. The new species adds to the rapidly growing and newly-recognised endemic biodiversity of Angola, doubling the number of Ko...
African Shovel-snout snakes ( Prosymna Gray, 1849) are small, semi-fossorial snakes with a unique compressed and beak-like snout. Prosymna occur mainly in the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 16 currently recognised species, four occur in Angola: Prosymna ambigua Bocage, 1873, P. angolensis Boulenger, 1915, P. frontalis (Peters, 1867), and P....
Urocotyledon inexpectata, a small gecko endemic to the granitic islands of the Seychelles, has previously been demonstrated to comprise two highly distinct clades based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, with one lineage exclusive to a northern group of islands, and the second lineage exclusive to the more southerly islands. Here we comple...
Here we provide the first phylogenetic analysis that include Afrogecko ansorgii and a detailed morphological comparison with other species of leaf-toed geckos. For this purpose, we used two mitochondrial (16S, ND2) and four nuclear (RAG1, RAG2, CMOS, PDC) genes to produce a robust phylogenetic reconstruction. This allowed us to show that A. ansorgi...
Angola has experienced an incredible increase of the knowledge of its herpetofauna over the past decade. However, accurate biodiversity inventories remain deficient for certain regions of particular conservation interest. We therefore provide an updated checklist of Iona National Park’s herpetofauna, with 75 recorded species, including five amphibi...
The Lygodactylus genus is one of the most species-rich genera of gekkonid lizards in Africa. It is one of relatively few exclusively diurnal geckos’ lineages and its members include some of the smallest gekkonids. Osteological features within Lygodactylus have never been addressed in detail. We here provide a detailed bone-by-bone skull description...
This work provides an updated distribution for K. plumicaudus within Namibe Province, the known range now spanning ~240 km from north of the city of Moçamedes southwards to the margins of the Cunene River on the Namibian border. Furthermore, using the GeoCAT IUCN tool (following Bachman et al., 2011) we update the EOO to 11,333 km2, which almost tr...
The taxonomy of Angolan Hemidactylus has recently been revised. However, the lack of fresh material for some groups and regions, has led to the misidentification of some taxa and an underestimation of actual diversity in others. To shed light on the evolutionary history and systematics of Angolan Hemidactylus, we generated a new phylogenetic hypoth...
Here we provide an updated distribution of Rhamnophis aethiopissa in Angola. These records suggest that the species is likely widespread, and well-adapted to the Congolese Forest Biome across northern Angola, despite the few existing records. We expect that the species might occur in remnant forest blocks along the Angolan western escarpment, where...
The taxonomy of Angolan Hemidactylus has recently been revised. However, the lack of fresh material for some groups and regions, has led to the misidentification of some taxa and an underestimation of actual diversity in others. To shed light on the evolutionary history and systematics of Angolan Hemidactylus , we generated a new phylogenetic hypot...
Madagascar has historically suffered from high fragmentation of forested habitats, often leading to biodiversity loss. Neverthless, forest fragments still retain high levels of biological diversity. The Haute Matsiatra Region (south-eastern Madagascar) hosts the renowned Andringitra National Park and several surrounding isolated forest fragments em...
Four new species of flat geckos in the Afroedura bogerti Loveridge, 1944 group are described from south-western and west-central Angola. The description of these new species significantly restricts the distribution range of typical A. bogerti , a morphologically very similar species, from which they differ genetically by 5.9–12% divergence for the...
Kassinula is a monotypic genus of small frog in the family Hyperoliidae, only represented by Kassinula wittei. This species morphologically resembles both Kassina Girard, 1853 and Afrixalus Laurent, 1944, and its taxonomic status has been debated for decades. It has previously been subsumed within Kassina, and is currently placed as a sister genus...
Regarding amphibians, Costa Rica exhibits the greatest species richness per unit area in Middle America, with a total of 215 species reported to date. However, this number is likely an underestimate due to the presence of many unexplored areas that are difficult to access. Between 2012 and 2017, a monitoring survey of amphibians was conducted in th...
Iberian lynx distribution is currently restricted to the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, there is evidence
of the presence of several small groups in the peninsular centre that have been forgotten by management and conservation ac-
tions. In this research, we gathered evidences of Iberian lynx presence along 21 transects located in t...
Madagascar is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots, with amphibians and reptiles showing exceptional levels of diversity and endemism. A great portion of this herpetological diversity has been discovered and formally described in the last three decades, following a period of intensified fieldwork research in combination with the emergence and u...
The single lynx species present in the Iberian Peninsula—Lynx pardinus (Temmink, 1827)—is one of the most threatened felines in the world so, any biological indication of its presence is significant. However, it is a very elusive species and physical evidence through direct visualization or camera trapping is difficult to obtain. Genetic noninvasiv...
PCR anidada doble específica y detección de SNPs diagnóstico para la identificación de especie en muestras fecales de lince
Se presentan los nuevos resultados de 2015 y 2016 de los trabajos de seguimiento de la especie LInce Ibérico en la mitad oeste de la Comunidad de Madrid
The Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) is one of the most threatened felines in the planet and at least since the beginning of the XXIth century, considered extinted in the CAM. Nevertheless, recurrent information on its occurrence in this region accumulate over time. The objectives of this study were firstly, to assess the occurrence of L. pardinus in t...
