MARQUES ET AL.: AMPHIBIANS AND TERRESTRIAL REPTILES OF ANGOLA 
53 
of approximately 169,249 km^ 
(Table 5). Most of these eonser- 
vation areas were ereated during 
the first half of the twentieth een- 
tury as well in the 1950s, 1960s 
and 1970s, still during the Por¬ 
tuguese eolonial times. Many of 
these areas were mostly dedieat- 
ed to hunting and tourism, and 
their delimitation was almost 
exelusively deeided on the basis 
of the presenee of game speeies 
and ieonie fauna (see Frade 
1958, 1959), often to the detri¬ 
ment of other biologieal groups 
(e.g., plants, see Huntley and 
Matos 1994; or birds, see Dean 
2001). Angolan eonservation 
areas are failing to proteet sever¬ 
al floristie and faunistie groups 
and are highly biased towards 
eertain others (Romeiras et al. 
2014, Rouget et al. 2003, 
Rodrigues et al. 2004). Despite 
reeent fieldwork in some of the 
proteeted areas, there are still 
limited data on the amphibians 
and reptiles. Some Angolan pro¬ 
teeted areas are along trans- 
fontier eonservation zones: Mus- 
suma Conservation Transfontier 
Area, between Angola and Zambia; Maiombe Conservation Transfontier Area, between Angola 
(Cabinda Provinee) and the Demoeratie Republie of the Congo; Okavango/Zambezi Conservation 
Transfrontier Area, between Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia; and the lona- 
Skeleton Coast Conservation Transfontier Area, between Angola and Namibia. In reeent years, 
Angolan authorities have begun reviewing and reorganizing proteeted areas. The reorganization in 
2011 led to the ereation of a new national park in Cabinda Provinee and to the elevation of former 
reserves and eoutadas to National Parks in Cuando Cubango Provinee: the Parque Naeional de 
Mavinga and the Parque Naeional do Luenge-Luiana, eovering the former Reserva Pareial de 
Luiana and part of the Coutadas Publieas de Longa-Mavinga, Luengue, Luiana and Mueusso. With 
the objeetive of reaehing 15% proteeted areas in the eountry, the creation of new conservation areas 
around Lagoa Carumbo (Lunda Norte Province), Serra de Pingano (Uige Province), and in Kumbi- 
ra Forest (Kwanza Sul Province), as well as three other marine conservation areas along the 
Angolan coast, have been proposed. These new parks will cover important areas regarding the 
diversity of amphibians and reptiles that have not been protected so far, but are known to harbor 
high herpetological diversity (e.g., Ernst et al. 2014). Most of the protected areas still lack touris¬ 
tic and/or logistical infrastructure, but efforts are currently underway to overcome this. 
Figure 37. Products made from reptile leather being sold in Benfica mar¬ 
ket on December 2016. (Photo by Luis Ceriaco). Five different reptile taxa are 
represented:!) Python sebae in the belts and wallets in the top picture; 
2) Varanus albigularis angolensis in the top-left wallet in the bottom picture; 
3) Bitis arietans in the top-right wallet in bottom picture; 4) Crocodylus niloti- 
cus in the bottom-left wallet in the bottom picture; and 5) Naja melanoleuca 
in the bottom-right wallet in the bottom picture. 
