Luis Moreira da Costa

Royal Museum for Central Africa · Department of Biology

3.1 Overview of the regional fauna Thieme et al. (2005) listed the ecoregions of Africa, the reasons for their consideration as distinct entities, and described each ecoregion. The southern African regioncovered in this report contains 22 of the defined ecoregions (see Chapter 1: Figure 1.1 and Table 1.2). In terms of the fish fauna, however, ther...

We developed a species-by-species approach for selecting protected areas for conservation of native freshwater fishes in semiarid regions, with catchment as the fundamental landscape unit for conservation efforts. Input data were composed of occurrences of freshwater fishes and landscape variables, and general quantification of occurrence, abundanc...

Intra- and inrerspecific genome size variations of all the cyprinid taxa of Portuguese fresh waters belonging to distinct karyotype groups - diploid (2n=50), triploid (3n=75) and telraploid (2n=100) - were compared. Nuclear DNA content measurements by flow cytometry gave identical magnitudes of genome size variation within and among populations of...

The effects of an extreme flash flood on the native fish assemblages across a Mediterranean catchment in Southwest Portugal were investigated. The fish community structure and habitat were surveyed at 10 sites pre- and post-flood. Overall species richness and rank abundances changed little after the flood, despite there being a consistent decline i...

The status of the distribution and abundance of the endangered stream fish Anaecypris hispanica in Portugal is presented. A highly discontinuous and fragmented pattern was observed, mainly caused by water resource development schemes, habitat degradation and introduction of exotic fish species. This reinforces the urgent need for a targeted rehabil...

Two new African minnow species, Enteromius cerinus sp. nov. and Enteromius ruforum sp. nov., are described for science from the Angadiko River, a left‐bank sub‐affluent of first order of the Nepoko River, draining the north‐eastern part of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (OWR). Both new species belong to the group of Enteromius for which the last unbran...

Recent collecting efforts in the upper Malagarazi basin (2013–2022) allowed for an integrative study based on qualitative (colour), quantitative (meristic and metric), and barcoding gene [mtDNA, cytochrome c oxidase (COI)] data of specimens similar to Enteromius sp. ‘ascutelatus’, being a previously identified, potentially, new species. Based on th...

The upper Malagarazi (uM) Basin is situated in Southeastern Burundi and Northwestern Tanzania, and partially covered by the Malagarazi Nature Reserve (MNR). A checklist of fishes from the uM, in Burundi, is presented based on a literature review, a re-examination of historical collections, and a study of new collections (2013–2022). A total of 74 n...

The fundamental value of universal nomenclatural systems in biology is that they enable unambiguous scientific communication. However, the stability of these systems is threatened by recent discussions asking for a fairer nomenclature, raising the possibility of bulk revision processes for "inappropriate" names. It is evident that such proposals co...

The rheophilic catfishes of the Amphilius uranoscopus group (AUG) from the Congo Basin remain poorly studied. Of the 16 known species in this Amphilius group, to date, only three are described from the Congo Basin. In total 129 specimens of the AUG of the rivers of the Kundelungu Plateau and its surroundings were studied using an integrative approa...

This chapter reviews the current knowledge of the marine (including deep-sea species) and freshwater fishes of the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands. Some biogeographic and conservation considerations are also presented. A total of 1045 species are likely present in the region, including 107 Elasmobranchii (37 confirmed , 65 potential, and 5 erroneous...

This chapter reviews the current knowledge of the marine (including deep-sea species) and freshwater fishes of the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands. Some biogeographic and conservation considerations are also presented. A total of 1045 species are likely present in the region, including 107 Elasmobranchii (37 con- firmed, 65 potential, and 5 erroneou...

Updating information on the distribution of recently introduced and other poorly known non-natives is essential to prevent and control their spread and better address biological invasions. Here, we combine scientific and citizen science data to update the distribution of five recently arrived (i.e., < 25 years), non-native fish species (Alburnus al...

Este “Guia de Peixes de Água Doce e Migradores de Portugal Continental” constitui a primeira obra completa, de âmbito nacional, sobre as espécies que ocorrem nos ecossistemas fluviais continentais. A maioria destas espécies é estritamente dulciaquícola, contudo, algumas são migradoras e frequentam também o meio marinho para efeitos de reprodução ou...

Freshwater ecosystems and their surroundings are not only a hotspot for biodiversity but have also been used by man since early human settlements. Thus, searching for historical information about freshwater fish species prior to most of the greatest impactful human undertakings could lead to an improvement of species ecology knowledge. For example,...

Chubbyhead minnows are small, cold water, endemic cyprinids occurring, against others, in the highland plateaus of the Southern Congo basin. During recent field expeditions (2012-2017) in the Kundelungu National Park (KNP) (Upper-Katanga, DR Congo), new chubbyhead minnows were collected. Preliminary identification of these showed them to be similar...

The insights that historical evidence of human presence and man-made documents provide are unique. For example, using historical data may be critical to adequately understand the ecological requirements of species. However, historical information about freshwater species distribution remains largely a knowledge gap. In this Data Descriptor, we pres...

Historical insight about ecosystems and species, and particularly about freshwater species remains essentially a knowledge gap. Despite the limitations and the need for careful considerations to avoid incorrect interpretations, historical data may be decisive to improve the knowledge about species ecology as it gives unique insights pre-major impac...

Freshwater ecosystems represent only 0.01% of the planet’s surface but are considered one of the most endangered ecosystems worldwide and home to about 9.5% of animal species. In the European continent, 13 native fish species have disappeared and 40% have experienced regional extinction. In the Iberian Peninsula, where numerous endemic and native s...

PHish database is a collection of historical data for freshwater fish species in Portuguese rivers and basins covering a time span of one millennium, from the 11th until the 20th century. To create this database 194 historical documents were scouted resulting in 2214 historical records for 25 different taxonomical groups.

National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi (Kenya)

National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi (Kenya)

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris

Seminário, Mestrado em Biologia da Conservação, Ce3C, FCUL, Lisbon (Portugal)

Seminário, Mestrado em Biologia da Conservação, Ce3C, FCUL, Lisbon (Portugal)

Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (MUHNAC), Lisbon (Portugal)

MUHNAC, Lisbon (Portugal)

MUHNAC, Lisbon (Portugal)

MUHNAC, Lisbon (Portugal)

MUHNAC, Lisbon (Portugal)

The South-east Asian cyprinid Barbonymus schwanenfeldii is recorded for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula from two specimens collected in the Guadiana River Basin in 2005. Their presence is probably due to release from aquaria.

O presente livro foi escrito com o objectivo primordial de dar a conhecer as comunidades piscícolas da Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Guadiana em Portugal. Com efeito, é a bacia que apresenta maior diversidade em território nacional e mais espécies com um estatuto de conservação elevado, actualmente confrontadas com inúmeros problemas gerados por acções...

Le barrage Alqueva a été opérationnel dès février 2002, créant ainsi un nouvel habitat approprié pour Ameiurus melas. Afin de confirmer et d’évaluer le degré d’établissement de ce poisson-chat, un échantillonnage a été réalisé dans 14 sites pendant les automnes 2003 et 2004. Au total, 303 et 18 spécimens furent capturés respectivement en 2003 et 20...

Samples of the Squalius alburnoides complex, a hybridogenetic Iberian minnow composed of diploid, triploid and, less commonly, tetraploid forms, were collected from a tributary of the Ardila River (Guadiana River basin) between February 1999 and January 2001. Seasonal variation in diet was evident, and was probably linked to prey availability. Dist...

The present work analysed composition and spatial organisation of the fish assemblages across the Arade basin, a small Mediterranean-type catchment in Southern Portugal. This basin is of high conservation priority because it hosts endemic cyprinid species with highly restricted distribution, namely Squalius aradensis, an undescribed new species of...

The Squalius alburnoides hybrid complex has diploid, triploid and some rare tetraploid male and female forms, with triploid females predominating in most populations. The reproductive traits of diploids and triploids from a population in a tributary of the Guadiana River, Portugal, were compared, during a two-years period. Few differences were foun...