Danny Meirte

The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation

The distributions of amphibians, birds and mammals have underpinned global and local conservation priorities, and have been fundamental to our understanding of the determinants of global biodiversity. In contrast, the global distributions of reptiles, representing a third of terrestrial vertebrate diversity, have been unavailable. This prevented the incorporation of reptiles into conservation planning and biased our understanding of the underlying processes governing global vertebrate biodiversity. Here, we present and analyse the global distribution of 10,064 reptile species (99% of extant terrestrial species). We show that richness patterns of the other three tetrapod classes are good spatial surrogates for species richness of all reptiles combined and of snakes, but characterize diversity patterns of lizards and turtles poorly. Hotspots of total and endemic lizard richness overlap very little with those of other taxa. Moreover, existing protected areas, sites of biodiversity significance and global conservation schemes represent birds and mammals better than reptiles. We show that additional conservation actions are needed to effectively protect reptiles, particularly lizards and turtles. Adding reptile knowledge to a global complementarity conservation priority scheme identifies many locations that consequently become important. Notably, investing resources in some of the world’s arid, grassland and savannah habitats might be necessary to represent all terrestrial vertebrates efficiently.The global distribution of nearly all extant reptile species reveals richness patterns that differ spatially from that of other taxa. Conservation prioritization should specifically consider reptile distributions, particularly lizards and turtles.

Assessing the Threat of Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in the Albertine Rift: Past, Present and Future

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the cause of chytridiomycosis, is a pathogenic fungus that is found worldwide and is a major contributor to amphibian declines and extinctions. We report results of a comprehensive effort to assess the distribution and threat of Bd in one of the Earth’s most important biodiversity hotspots, the Albertine Rift in central Africa. In herpetological surveys conducted between 2010 and 2014, 1018 skin swabs from 17 amphibian genera in 39 sites across the Albertine Rift were tested for Bd by PCR. Overall, 19.5% of amphibians tested positive from all sites combined. Skin tissue samples from 163 amphibians were examined histologically; of these two had superficial epidermal intracorneal fungal colonization and lesions consistent with the disease chytridiomycosis. One amphibian was found dead during the surveys, and all others encountered appeared healthy. We found no evidence for Bd-induced mortality events, a finding consistent with other studies. To gain a historical perspective about Bd in the Albertine Rift, skin swabs from 232 museum-archived amphibians collected as voucher specimens from 1925–1994 were tested for Bd. Of these, one sample was positive; an Itombwe River frog (Phrynobatrachus asper) collected in 1950 in the Itombwe highlands. This finding represents the earliest record of Bd in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We modeled the distribution of Bd in the Albertine Rift using MaxEnt software, and trained our model for improved predictability. Our model predicts that Bd is currently widespread across the Albertine Rift, with moderate habitat suitability extending into the lowlands. Under climatic modeling scenarios our model predicts that optimal habitat suitability of Bd will decrease causing a major range contraction of the fungus by 2080. Our baseline data and modeling predictions are important for comparative studies, especially if significant changes in amphibian health status or climactic conditions are encountered in the future.

Checklist of the lizards of Togo (West Africa), with comments on systematics, distribution, ecology, and conservation

ABSTRACT The lizard fauna of Togo, a country situated within a natural gap in the rainforest zone of West Africa, is reviewed and updated. In this article, we summarize all available data on the distribution, ecology, and conservation status of the 43 lizard species of Togo. Species richness is uneven between vegetation zones. The submontane forest (ecological zone IV), despite being the smallest, houses the greatest number of species (n = 27), followed by dry forest (ecological zone II, n = 21). Currently none of the Togolese lizard species appears to be immediately threatened. However, several species are subjected to exploitation for the international pet trade and in-country use (bush-meat, fetish market), and could become threatened in the next decades. The intensity of this trade should be carefully monitored in the years to come.

Author Correction: The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation

In the version of this Article originally published, grant no. 2015/20215-7 for C.N. was omitted from the Acknowledgements section. This has now been corrected in all versions of the Article.

The distribution of the Bururi Long-fingered Frog (Cardioglossa cyaneospila, family Arthroleptidae), a poorly known Albertine Rift endemic

The species diversity of the frog genus Cardioglossa (family Arthroleptidae) is concentrated in the Lower Guinean Forest Zone of Central Africa with most of the 19 species occurring in Cameroon and neighboring countries (Amiet 1972a,b; Blackburn 2008; Hirschfeld et al. 2015). These small leaf-litter frogs are typically found in primary or secondary forest, have shrill whistling calls, are characterized by a variety of color patterns, and lay terrestrial eggs that hatch and develop into elongate, stream-adapted tadpoles (Amiet 1972a,b, 1973; Rödel et al. 2001; Hirschfeld et al. 2012). One of the most poorly known species-the Bururi Long-fingered Frog Cardioglossa cyaneospila Laurent, 1950-is also among the most geographically peripheral to the rest of the species diversity. To date, it is known only from two locations in Burundi and four in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, regions in which armed conflicts have long hampered scientific research. In this short contribution, we (1) document both new and long unpublished records of C. cyaneospila, associate these with known museum records, and extend its geographic range, (2) highlight fruitful areas for future field surveys based on predicting an environmental envelope for this species, and (3) summarize what little is known of its natural history.

New data on the morphology and distribution of the enigmatic Schouteden's sun snake, Helophis schoutedeni (de Witte, 1922) from the Congo Basin

The Schouteden’s sun snake is the sole representative of its genus, and was originally described by the Belgian herpetologist Gaston-Francois de Witte as a colubrid, Pelophis schoutedeni (de Witte 1922). Twenty years later, the new generic name Helophis was established by de Witte & Laurent (1942) because the generic name Pelophis was preoccupied by Pelophis Fitzinger, 1843 [type species: Brachyorrhos (now Enhydris ) alternans Reuss, 1834]. De Witte (1922) and de Witte & Laurent (1942) gave data on two syntypes (Fig. 1), which are preserved in the herpetological collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. One, RMCA R.2468, was found in Tondu (at Lac Tumba, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo = DRC), while the other, RMCA R.2469, was collected in Kwamouth (“Moyen-Congo”, now Bandundu Province, DRC). Both were collected by Henri Schouteden in 1921. In the original description, no information was given about the sex of the syntypes. De Witte & Laurent (1942) reported a third specimen (RMCA R.11551) from Leopoldville (today Kinshasa), which was collected in 1937 by Henrard. Since then, this snake species was almost forgotten, and the genus has remained monotypic. To our knowledge, no photographs of living specimens of this species have been published so far. In general, very little is known about the distribution, biology, conservation status or even the phylogenetic relationships of this vividly colored snake species. Although several works listed Helophis schoutedeni as being part of the Congo Basin (DRC) snake fauna (e.g. Kusamba 1990; Meirte 1992; Trape & Roux-Esteve 1995; Broadley 1998) sometimes including a basic identification key, no new information was given. Moreover, no recent field guides of the Central African region (e.g., Chippaux 2006) include this snake species. Regarding its classification, Broadley (1998) considered it as a natricine species (Natricinae) while in The Reptile Database (Uetz & Hosek 2013) it is listed as Colubridae incertae sedis , similarly like in Pyron et al. (2013), where Helophis was missing from their phylogenetic meta-analysis.