The amphibians of the highlands and escarpments of Angola and Namibia

Authors

  • FS Becker National Museum of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia; School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; South African National Biodiversity Institute, Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa
  • NL Baptista CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal; Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED-Huíla), Lubango, Angola; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany
  • P Vaz Pinto CIBIO (Centro de Investigaçao em Biodiversidadee Recursos Genéticos), Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal; Fundaçao Kissama, Luanda, Angola
  • R Ernst Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Faculty of Biology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
  • W Conradie Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld), Humewood, South Africa; Department of Nature Conservation Management, Natural Resource Science and Management Cluster, Faculty of Science, George Campus, Nelson Mandela University, George, South Africa

Keywords:

amphibians, Angola, distribution patterns, endemism, escarpments, highlands, Namibia

Abstract

The amphibians of the highlands and escarpments of Angola and Namibia are a diverse group containing fifteen highland endemic or associated species. Both species richness and endemism are highest in the central and northern highlands of Angola, corresponding with higher rainfall. The Angolan highlands contain seven highland endemics, while the arid Namibian highlands contain only one. Few baseline data are available for much of the highlands, leading to an inadequate understanding of species occurrence patterns, population trends and conservation status. Recent surveys and phylogenetic revisions have led to the discovery of several previously undescribed species, and new species descriptions are still in progress. Both the species richness and endemism reported here are probably underestimates.

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Published

2023-12-16

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