MARQUES ET AL.; AMPHIBIANS AND TERRESTRIAL REPTILES OF ANGOLA 
37 
herpetological specimens from Angola (and Namibia) scattered throughout world museums. 
As is evident in the above paragraphs, reports of amphibian and reptile taxa for Angola have 
been sporadic through time. This has resulted in an increase (and occasionally decrease due to the 
removal of erroneous taxa from the national list - see taxonomic accounts and Appendix Table A2) 
in the number of herpetological taxa added for the country, as summarized in Fig. 27. Approxi¬ 
mately half of the reports of taxa that were new to science and/or previously unknown for the coun¬ 
try were made during the second half of the nineteenth century, especially through the works of 
Bocage, Gunther, Gray, Boulenger and Peters. From 1900 to 2000, the number of known amphib¬ 
ian and reptile species for Angola almost doubled, as a result of the contributions of international 
expeditions, such as that of Monard, the Vemay Expedition, the Pulitzer Expedition, as well as the 
extremely important contributions made by Laurent based on the study of the Museu Dundo 
collections. The major slowdown in the discovery of new taxa or new occurrences for the country 
was the civil war. The effect of the war on the herpetological study of Angola is reflected in the 
limited increase of known species diversity during 1975-2002. However, since the restoration of 
peace, a higher pace of discovery is resuming with five new amphibian species (including the 
description of two new endemic species) and nine new reptile species (including the description of 
three new endemic species) being added recently. It is expected that these numbers will should 
increase significantly in the coming years. 
Diversity, Distribution And Endemism 
Thirteen families of amphibians comprising 25 different genera, all anurans, occur in Angola. 
Of these, the Hyperoliidae, Ptychadenidae, Bufonidae, and Arthroleptidae are the most diverse in 
the country (Table 1). These four families comprise almost three fourths of the amphibian taxa 
known for Angola. The remaining amphibian diversity is distributed across the families Pyxi- 
cephalidae, Pipidae, Phrynobatrachidae, Ranidae, Microhylidae, Dicroglossidae, Brevicipitidae, 
Hemisotidae, and Rhacophoridae (Table 1). 
The reptiles (excluding marine turtles), comprising chelonians, crocodilians, lizards and 
snakes represent 22 families and 101 genera. Turtles are divided into the families Pelomedusidae, 
Trionychidae, and Testudinidae and all three crocodilians belong to the family Crocodylidae (Table 
1). Among the squamates, the Lamprophiidae and Scincidae are the most species-rich families in 
Angola, with collectively more than one third of all the squamate species (Table 1). The families 
Gekkonidae, Colubridae, Lacertidae, Elapidae, Amphisbaenidae, and Viperidae then follow (Table 
1). The remaining families, Gerrhosauridae, Chamaleonidae, Typhlopidae, Agamidae, Cordylidae, 
Leptotyphlopidae, Natricidae, Pythonidae, Varanidae, and Boidae, cumulatively have less than one 
third of the remaining squamate species (Table 1). 
Comparing the diversity of the Angolan herpetofauna with that of the surrounding countries, 
Angola is one of the richest in terms of both amphibian and reptile diversity, as well in terms of 
endemics (Table 2). For amphibians, Angola is only surpassed by the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo and South Africa. Angola has a higher number of amphibians than either the Republic of 
the Congo or Zambia, but the more significant contrast between Angola and these two countries is 
Angola’s percentage of endemic amphibians — 15% against 5% for the Republic of the Congo and 
2% for Zambia. Not surprisingly, Angola has almost twice as many amphibian species as the neigh¬ 
boring and largely xeric Namibia, and almost four times more than Botswana. For reptiles. South 
Africa has the highest number of species for any country in Africa, with 421 species, of which 45% 
are endemics, followed by Tanzania (357) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (373), but 
Angola ranks among the top countries in Africa in terms of total reptile taxa. However, given the 
