MARQUES ET AL.; AMPHIBIANS AND TERRESTRIAL REPTILES OF ANGOLA 
25 
specimens for Lisbon and provide the basis for the 
knowledge of the Angolan flora and vegetation. This 
botanical expedition was carried out between 1853 and 
1860 and also resulted in the collection of zoological 
specimens. Divided into three main areas, Welwitsch’s 
expedition explored areas around Luanda, from 
Quicembo (Zaire Province) to the Kwanza River mouth 
(currently Luanda and Bengo provinces), areas around 
Golungo Alto and Pungo Andongo and adjacent rivers 
(currently Kwanza Norte and Malanje provinces), and 
finally areas in the southwestern part of the country, 
from the Benguela area to Mogamedes, Baia dos Tigres 
and as far as inland as the Huila Plateau (currently, 
Benguela, Namibe and Huila provinces). Despite the 
agreement and obligations derived from his contract 
with the Portuguese government that mandated that all 
collected material would be deposited in Portugal, 
Welwitsch offered a considerable part of the collected 
material to the British Museum, especially the zoologi¬ 
cal specimens (Gomes 1876; Gunther 1876a; Bocage 
1876). The small herpetological collection offered by 
Welwitsch to the British Museum was studied by Albert 
Gunther (I830-I9I4) and John Edward Gray (1800- 
1875), who described three new species of reptiles from 
it: Dendraspis welwitschii Gunther, 1865, currently 
considered a synonym of Dendroaspis jamesoni (Trail, 
1843); Dalophia (currently Monopeltis) welwitschii 
Gray 1865; and Psammophis (curvQntly Psammophylax) 
acutus Gunther, 1888. 
A more systematic study of Angolan herpetofauna 
was initiated by the Portuguese zoologist Jose Vicente 
Barbosa du Bocage (1823-1907; Fig. 18). Bocage was 
appointed director of the zoological section of the 
National Museum of Lisbon in 1858, a position he kept 
until his death, and coordinated an important network of 
collaborators and explorers who sent him many speci¬ 
mens from Angola. 
Among the most important collaborators and 
explorers were the Portuguese captain Francisco 
Antonio Pinheiro Bayao (1833-1883), established in 
Malanje Province between 1863 and 1866, and the 
Portuguese explorer Jose Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta 
(1832-1897; Fig. 19), who explored Angola from 1866 
to 1897 without interruption, during which time he 
collected specimens exclusively for the Lisbon Museum 
and largely contributed to the knowledge of the Angolan 
herpetofauna. P inh eiro Bayao was initially based in 
Figure 18. Portrait of Barbosa du Bocage, 
from around the 1860s (source Arquivo Histdrico 
Museu Bocage). 
Figure 19. Portrait of Jose Alberto de Oliveira 
Anchieta (source Arquivo Histdrico Museu 
Bocage). 
