An annotated checklist of the mammals of the Chimanimani National Park, Mozambique

By

Mamba, Mnqobi L.
Da Conceição, Ana Gledis
Naskrecki, Piotr
Ngovene, Antonio
Dalton, Desiré Lee
Russo, Isa-Rita M.
Visser, Fleur
Monadjem, Ara

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024-10-29

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

20

Series / Issue

Issue: 5

Pages

1222--1258

Subjects

Afromontane , Biodiversity , cytochrome b , Eutheria , species inventory , Specimens

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/20.5.1222

 

Abstract

The Chimanimani Mountains of Mozambique and Zimbabwe harbour diverse and unique flora and fauna. Because of these unique floral characteristics, this region has received considerable attention by botanists. In contrast, the vertebrates occurring here have received little attention. The aim of this paper was to synthesise data collected on multiple recent surveys into the first annotated checklist of the mammals of the Mozambican side of the Chimanimani Mountains. We identified medium-sized and large mammals by exterior appearance, mostly as captured on camera traps. We combined morphological and molecular methods to identify small mammals, and we report on echolocation calls of some of the poorly known bat species. In total, we recorded 69 species, including 23 species of bats (Chiroptera), 15 species of rodents (Rodentia), 11 species of carnivores (Carnivora), nine species of ungulates (Cetartiodactyla), and the rest comprising Primates, Eulipotyphla, Lagomorpha, Proboscidea, and Pholidota. Of these, five species are listed as threatened, demonstrating the importance of the Chimanimani Mountains for mammalian biodiversity conservation in South Eastern Africa.