Mariana P. Marques

Carnegie Museum Of Natural History · Section of Amphibians and Reptiles

Four species of the genus Panaspis-P. cabindae, P. wahlbergii, P. maculicollis and P. mocamedensis-are currently known from Angola. The analysis of recently collected specimens from Serra da Neve Inselberg, an isolated mountain located in northern Na-mibe Province, revealed unexpected taxonomic diversity in the group. Using an integrative taxonomy...

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 Serra da Neve inselberg in Namibe Province, southwestern Angola is the second highest peak of Angola with an elevation of 2489 m. It remains one of the least explored regions in the country, despite several endemic species having been recently described from this inselberg. Here we provide an inventory of the amphibian and reptile species ocurr...

Historical and recent arrivals of crocodilians to the Gulf of Guinean Oceanic Island of São Tomé have intrigued naturalists for several centuries. Here we present the revision of the historical records, and present data regarding the recent arrival of a single specimen in 2021. After being killed by the local authorities, the specimen was preserved...

Natural History Collections (NHCs) represent the world’s largest repositories of long-term biodiversity datasets. Specimen collection and voucher deposition has been the backbone of NHCs since their inception, but recent decades have seen a drastic decline in rates of growth via active collecting. Amphibians and reptiles are amongst the most threat...

The genus Trachylepis is currently represented by 21 species in Angola, most of them part of nomenclaturally and taxonomically challenging species complexes. In this study we present an integrative taxonomic revision of the genus in Angola and describe seven new species: Trachylepis attenboroughi, sp. nov., Trachylepis bouri, sp. nov., Trachylepis...

Approximately 238 species of reptiles are found in the highlands and escarpments of Angola and Namibia (HEAN). Of the 430 species present in the two countries in total, 46 are strictly endemic (or nearly so) to the HEAN and another 16 have extensive portions of their ranges in these areas. Geckos constitute the majority of HEAN endemics with 32 spe...

During a recent survey of the Serra da Neve inselberg in southwestern Angola, a population of legless skinks of the genus Acontias was found. Only three species of this genus have been recorded for the country so far – A. occidentalis, A. kgalagadi and A. jappi. Using an integrative approach and combining molecular and morphological data we found t...

The herpetofauna of São Tomé and Príncipe consists of nine species of amphibians, all endemic, and 21 species of terrestrial reptiles, of which 17 are endemic. Our current knowledge regarding its natural history, ecology, and distribution is limited. Here two important tools are provided to support researchers, conservationists, and local authoriti...

Several specimens of Pachydactylus angolensis, a poorly known Angolan endemic gecko, have recently been collected in southern Angola, considerably increasing its known distribution range. Previous observations led to the hypothesis that two different morphological forms exist in the country-a coastal form and an inland form. Based on the morphologi...

This chapter reviews current knowledge on the diversity of terrestrial reptiles in the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands and provides a brief history of research on this group of animals. A total of 29 species of terrestrial reptiles (representing 14 genera and seven families) are resident on the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands, of which 22 species are...

The genus Heliobolus comprises four recognized species, all endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, only Heliobolus lugubrisoccurs in southern Africa, its distribution extending from Angola in the west to Mozambique in the east and reaching as far south as parts of northern South Africa. Like many of the reptile species that occur in southern Afri...

Recent integrative taxonomic studies of the agamid genus Acanthocercus Fitzinger, 1843 have shown that Angola harbors three different taxa, all within the Acanthocercus atricollis (Smith, 1849) species complex—A. cyanocephalus (Falk, 1925) in the northeastern parts of the country, A. margaritae Wagner et al. 2021 in the southern regions, and an unn...

Segundo a Organização Mundial de Saúde, os acidentes com serpentes venenosas são um dos mais negligenciados problemas de saúde pública a nível global, e em particular nas regiões tropicais. Em Angola, um dos países mais biodiversos do continente africano, são conhecidas 140 espécies de serpentes, das quais 34 possuem venenos potencialmente nefastos...

The genus Pedioplanis reaches its northernmost limit in western Angola, where it is represented by three species, Pedioplanis benguelensis, P. haackei and P. huntleyi. The taxonomic status of P. benguelensis remains problematic, mainly due to the vague original escription and the loss of the original type material. Here we provide a revision of the...

Francisco Newton’s zoological expedition to Angola undertaken between 1903 and 1906 is one of the least studied of the naturalist’s life. Only three major papers regarding the herpetofauna collected in this expedition have been published, and a significant part of the specimens remains unstudied since the 1900’s. Here we review the extant herpetolo...

The herpetological collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon, are amongst the most important collections from the former Portuguese territories in Africa and Asia. The collection comprises more than 5000 preserved specimens, including type specimens of nine taxa, Trachylepis adamastor, Trachypelis thomensis, Panaspis...

Three species of Phrynomantis Peters, 1867, have been historically recorded for Angola: P. affinis, P. annectens and P. bifasciatus. As noted by all authors who have dealt with specimens of P. bifasciatus from the country, the Angolan population is characterized by an odd coloration pattern for the species, which led Boulenger to consider it a diff...

The taxonomic status of the São Tomé and Príncipe islands 'Cobras Jitas', genus Boaedon, has been a subject of confusion. Historically, these island populations have been referred to as part of either the Boaedon fuliginosus species complex or Boaedon capensis species complex, two of the most taxonomically challenging groups of African snakes, or c...

The herpetological collections of the Museu do Dundo in Lunda Norte Province, northeast Angola, are among the most important in southern Africa and represent one of the largest collections of Angolan amphibians and reptiles in the world. The collection comprises more than 2,750 preserved specimens, including type specimens of taxa described by Raym...

The reptile fauna of Tinhosa Grande islet, Gulf of Guinea, comprises an endemic skink, Trachylepis adamastor, and an unidentified species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus. Until recently, no molecular data were available for either species, impeding their phylogenetic placement. However, due to several synapomorphic characters, it was suggested t...

A correction to the recent revision of the genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 from Angola is presented. The previous revision assigned some historical specimens to H. bayonii and H. nzingae, with one specimen even being considered a paratype of the latter taxon. A review of the morphological data of all of the specimens used in the previous study fo...

At present the genus Lygodactylus is represented by three species in Angola confirmed by voucher specimens-L. angolensis, L. bradfieldi, and L. capensis-and two others believed to be present, but without specimens with precise localities, L. chobiensis and L. lawrencei. We present a detailed taxonomic revision of the group in Angola and describe th...

Two species of Bush Vipers, genus Atheris Cope, 1862, have been reported for the continental island of Bioko, Gulf of Guinea-Atheris squamigera and a putatively undescribed species, morphologically similar to Atheris chlorechis. The latter was only known from one specimen collected in the early 1900s and its taxonomic identity has never been fully...

An integrative taxonomic review of the genus Boaedon in Angola is provided. A molecular phylogeny, based on 99 genetic samples for which the mitochondrial markers 16S rRNA have been sequenced, reveals 23 monophyletic species-level groups in Africa and indicates the presence of nine species in Angola. Based on both phylogenetic and morphological dat...

The Angolan Adder, Bitis heraldica (Bocage, 1889), is endemic to the Angolan central plateau and is one of the most poorly known and rarely observed species of African snakes. The phylogenetic placement of B. heraldica within the four subgenera of the genus Bitis (Bitis, Macrocerastes, Calechidna, Keniabitis) has been problematic. The few recent ta...

The genus Panaspis in Angola is represented by four species, most of them part of taxonomically and nomenclaturally challenging species-complexes. We present a taxonomic revision of the group in the region and describe one new species, Panaspis mocamedensis sp. nov., endemic to the lowland areas of the Namibe province, southwestern Angola. Phylogen...

The genus Hemidactylus in Angola is represented by six species, all of them part of taxonomically and nomenclaturally challenging species complexes. We present a detailed taxonomic revision of the group in the region and describe two new species, Hemidactylus nzingae sp. nov. and Hemidactylus paivae sp. nov., both occuring in and potentially endemi...

A new species of rupicolous girdled lizard is described from Serra da Neve Inselberg, Namibe Province, southwestern Angola. We sequenced two mitochondrial gene regions (16S and ND2) for the new species and compared these data with those previously published for other Cordylus species. The new species is genetically divergent from the closely relate...

The herpetological collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (Lisbon, Portugal) are the largest and most diverse collections of amphibians and reptiles in the country. These were collected in the mid-twentieth century in the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia, and were the object of study of several naturalists tha...

Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are relatively unknown in terms of their herpetological diversity. Based on specimens collected in the Congolese region of the Katanga and the northeast of Angola during the first decades of the twentieth century, de Witte and Laurent independently suggested, based on morphological and coloration diff...

The present work constitutes an historical atlas of all known bibliographic records of amphibians and reptiles of Angola. It is the first attempt to compile in a single document all the records scattered through hundreds of publications, published from the first half of the nineteenth century to the present day, and provide a critical taxonomic rev...

African pygmy toads of the genus Poyntonophrynus are some of the least known species of African toads. The genus comprises ten recognized species endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, five of which are restricted to southwestern Africa. Recent field research in Angola provided new material for three species of Poyntonophrynus , including a morphologically...

Leaf-litter skinks of the genus Panaspis are currently represented in the oceanic islands of the Gulf of Guinea by two species, Panaspis africana and P. annobonensis. Here we describe a third species, Panaspis thomensis sp. nov., endemic to São Tomé Island. Data from previous studies and a new phylogenetic analysis using the mitochondrial 16S gene...

Five problematic cases regarding the presence of reptile taxa on the island of São Tomé (Gulf of Guinea) are reviewed. These cases deal with 1) the past presence of crocodilians in the island, 2) the putative type locality of Dipsas pulverulenta Fischer, 1856, 3) the dubious presence of a mamba (genus Dendroaspis) on the island, 4) an erroneous ref...

The Cobra-Preta (black snake in Portuguese) of Sao Tomé Island in the Gulf of Guinea has historically been referred to as Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca (Squamata: Elapidae). Its presence on the island has been traditionally explained as an introduction from the mainland by Portuguese settlers, supposedly to control the rat population. This explan...

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...

This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).

The scincid genus Trachylepis is represented in the oceanic islands of the Gulf of Guinea by four species, Trachylepis maculilabris, T. affinis, T. adamastor and T. ozorii. Here we describe two new species, Trachylepis thomensis sp. nov., endemic to São Tomé Island and Rolas Islet, and Trachylepis principensis sp. nov., endemic to Príncipe Island....

São Tomé and Príncipe are unique islands off the Gulf of Guinea on account of the high degree of end-emism in these areas due to isolation. These islands are known to harbor, among others, two species of shrews of the genus Crocidura: C. thomensis, endemic to São Tomé; and C. poensis, found on Príncipe and common in central Africa. Owing to the unc...

São Tomé and Príncipe are unique islands off the Gulf of Guinea on account of the high degree of endemism in these areas due to isolation. These islands are known to harbor, among others, two species of shrews of the genus Crocidura: C. thomensis, endemic to São Tomé; and C. poensis, found on Príncipe and common in central Africa. Owing to the unce...

Angola is one of the larger countries in Africa and, due to its great geographical and climatic variety, presents a diversity of biomes and habitats, representing an important puzzle piece for understanding biogeographic patterns across sub-Saharan Africa. Angola is one of few biodiverse countries in Africa that remains seriously lacking in surveys...

Catalogue of the amphibian and reptile type specimens of the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto in Portugal, with some comments on problematic taxa We present an annotated catalog of the type specimens of amphibians and reptiles in the collections of the Museu de História Natural da Universidade do Porto in Portugal. These specimens...

S ã o Tom é and Pr í ncipe are unique islands off the Gulf of Guinea on account of the high degree of end-emism in these areas due to isolation. These islands are known to harbor, among others, two species of shrews of the genus Crocidura : C. thomensis , endemic to S ã o Tom é ; and C. poensis , found on Pr í ncipe and common in central Africa. Ow...

Durante o século XVIII várias instruções eram dadas aos naturalistas sobre as técnicas e formas de remeter os espécimens naturais para os Museus. Muitas destas técnicas mantiveram-se praticamente inalteradas até aos dias de hoje, enquanto outras entraram em desuso, como foi o caso da “herborização” de peixes. Mundialmente conhecem-se muito poucos e...

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and folklore are repositories of large amounts of information about the natural world. Ideas, perceptions and empirical data held by human communities regarding local species are important sources which enable new scientific discoveries to be made, as well as offering the potential to solve a number of conserv...