Occurrence

Mozambique Herpetological Collection - IICT

Latest version published by Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical on 20 December 2018 Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical
Publication date:
20 December 2018
License:
CC-BY-NC 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 1,121 records in English (44 KB) - Update frequency: as needed
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Description

The Mozambique herpetological collections of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), currently housed in the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (MUHNAC) are part of the scientific collections of the Universidade de Lisboa (UL), Portugal. This set comprises a total of 1121 records (1121 specimens), representing 94 taxa (15 amphibians and 70 reptiles). These were collected between 1948 and 1971, either by targeted surveys promoted by the IICT or by fortuitous collections and donations by private individuals and researchers.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 1,121 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Ceriaco LMP, Marques MP (2018): Mozambique Herpetological Collection - IICT. v1. Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical. Dataset/Occurrence. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=mozambique_herpetological_collection_iict&v=1.0

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 3c66c8f5-a981-46ea-8b0f-6ae44f799220.  Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Portugal.

Keywords

Mozambique; Amphibia; Reptilia; Specimens; Museums; Types; Portuguese collections; Specimen

Contacts

Luis Ceriaco
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Curator ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Curator
Museu de Historia Natural e da Ciencia da Universidade do Porto
Praça Gomes Teixeira
4099-002 Porto
Porto
PT
963125545
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0591-9978
Mariana Marques
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Curator ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Associated Curator
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência - Universidade de Lisboa
Rua da Escola Politécnica 58
1250-102 Lisboa
Lisboa
PT
964295925
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1712-2632
Leonor Soares
  • Point Of Contact
Research fellowship
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência - Universidade de Lisboa
Rua da Escola Politécnica 58
1250-102 Lisboa
Lisboa
PT

Geographic Coverage

The Republic of Mozambique

Bounding Coordinates South West [-27.839, 29.707], North East [-10.055, 41.309]

Taxonomic Coverage

The dataset comprises representatives of 26 families, 55 genus, 90 species and 4 subpsecies of Amphibians and Reptiles.

Class Amphibia, Reptilia
Order Anura, Squamata, Crocodylia
Family Pyxicephalidae, Ranidae, Brevicipitidae, Rhacophoridae, Hyperoliidae, Hemisotidae, Mycrohylidae, Phrynobatrachidae, Ptychadenidae, Bufonidae, Pipidae, Agamidae, Scincidae, Gekkonidae, Typhlopidae, Lamprophiidae, Elapidae, Chamaeleonidae, Crocodylidae, Colubridae, Gerrhosauridae, Lacertidae, Amphisbaenidae, Cordylidae, Varanidae
Genus Amietia, Amnirana, Breviceps, Cacosternum, Chiromantis, Hemisus, Hyperolius, Phrynobatrachus, Phrynomantis, Ptychadena, Pyxicephalus, Schismaderma, Sclerophrys, Strongylopus, Xenopus, Acanthocercus, Acontias, Afroedura, Afrotyphlops, Agama, Amblyodipsas, Aparallactus, Aspidelaps, Atractaspis, Bitis, Boaedon, Causus, Chamaeleo, Chondrodactylus, Crocodylus, Crotaphopeltis, Dasypeltis, Dendroaspis, Dipsadoboa, Dispholidus, Elapsoidea, Gerrhosaurus, Heliobolus, Hemidactylus, Homopholis, Leptotyphlops, Limaformosa, Lycophidion, Lygodactylus, Matobosaurus, Mochlus, Monopeltis, Naja, Natriciteres, Nucras, Panaspis, Philothamnus, Platysaurus, Psammophis, Psammophylax, Rhampholeon, Scelotes, Smaug, Telescopus, Tetradactylus, Thelotornis, Trachylepis, Varanus, Xenocalamus, Zygaspis
Species Amietia angolensis, Amnirana darlingi, Breviceps mossambicus, Cacosternum boettgeri, Cacosternum nanum, Chiromantis xerampelina, Hemisus marmoratus, Hyperolius marmoratus, Hyperolius sp., Hyperolius tuberilinguis, Phrynobatrachus mababiensis, Phrynobatrachus natalensis, Phrynomantis bifasciatus, Ptychadena guibei, Ptychadena oxyrhynchus, Ptychadena mascareniensis, Pyxicephalus edulis, Schismaderma carens, Sclerophrys garmani, Sclerophrys gutturalis, Sclerophrys pusilla, Sclerophrys sp., Strongylopus rhodesianus, Xenopus muelleri, Acanthocercus atricollis, Acontias aurantiacus, Afroedura loveridgei, Afrotyphlops fornasinii, Afrotyphlops schlegelii, Agama armata, Agama mossambica, Agama kirkii, Amblyodipsas microphthalma, Amblyodipsas polylepis, Aparallactus capensis, Aparallactus lunulatus, Aspidelaps scutatus, Atractaspis bibronii, Bitis arietans, Boaedon capensis, Boaedon sp., Causus rhombeatus, Causus defilippii, Chamaeleo dilepis, Chondrodactylus turneri, Crocodylus niloticus, Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, Dasypeltis scabra, Dendroaspis angusticeps, Dendroaspis polylepis, Dipsadoboa aulica, Dispholidus typus, Elapsoidea boulengeri, Elapsoidea sundevallii, Gerrhosaurus flavigularis, Heliobolus lugubris, Hemidactylus mabouia, Homopholis wahlbergii, Leptotyphlops incongnitus, Limaformosa capensis, Lycophidion capense, Lygodactylus capensis, Matobosaurus validus, Mochlus sundevalli, Monopeltis sphenorhynchus, Naja annulifera, Naja mossambica, Natriciteres olivacea, Nucras holubi, Panaspis wahlbergii, Philothamnus angolensis, Philothamnus hoplogaster, Philothamnus semivariegatus, Psammophis mossambicus, Psammophis orientalis, Psammophylax tritaeniatus, Rhampholeon gorongosae, Scelotes arenicola, Smaug mossambicus, Telescopus semiannulatus, Tetradactylus ellenbergeri, Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis boulengeri, Trachylepis depressa, Trachylepis margaritifera, Trachylepis sp., Trachylepis striata, Trachylepis varia, Varanus exanthematicus, Zygaspis violacea
Subspecies Platysaurus intermedius wilhelmi, Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda, Platysaurus maculatus maculatus, Xenocalamus bicolor lineatus

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1948-01-01 / 1971-01-01

Sampling Methods

The majority of the records of this dataset result from the Missões Zoológicas de Moçambique carried out by the former Junta de Investigação do Ultramar, coordinated by Fernando Frade during the late semester of 1948 and during the year of 1955. Some of these specimens were previously studied and cited in Manaças (1950, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1961) and Broadley (1963, 1965). Other records result from intermittent donations of specimens to the Junta de Investigação Científica do Ultramar. The donations from 1956 result from the Missão de Combate às Tripanossomíases, carried out by Dr. Marques da Silva a former researcher at the Posto Zootécnico de Angónia. Some other specimens were donated by Dr. Donald Broadley, formerly at the Umtali Museum, Rhodesia, including part of the type series of Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda, Platysaurus maculatus maculatus, and Afroedura transvaalica loveridgei.

Study Extent The study covers 9 out of the 10 provinces of Mozambique (Gaza, Inhambane, Manica, Maputo, Nampula, Niassa, Sofala, Tete and Zambézia). The temporal distribution is mainly concentrated in the decade of late 1940’s to mid 1950s (especially in years 1948 and 1955).
Quality Control Information from each specimen was catalogued in an Excel spreadsheet, involving two steps: i) digitization of specimen records; and ii) taxonomic revision and data checking. Nomenclature was checked through available literature, The Reptile Database [http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/], and the Amphibia Species of the World v.6.0 [http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/]. Georeferencing followed the recommendations by Chapman and Wieczorek (2006), including the determination of uncertainty of coordinates, in particular when insufficient information was available from specimens' records and labels to attribute a specific locality (e.g. Mozambique, Centro Social, etc.).

Method step description:

  1. 1. The herpetological collections were catalogued using the software Microsoft Excel. We conducted extensive shelf surveys to locate all the remaining Mozambican specimens of amphibians and reptiles. After locating the specimens, basic curatorial procedures were taken. Each jar was cleaned, and ethanol or formalin was changed to 70% etanol gradually. In certain cases jars were substituted as they were cracked or were otherwise not reliably sealable. All the information linked to the survinving specimens and/or jars were collected, copied, and linked to the specimen. After completion of curatorial activities, each specimen was identified to the species and/or subspecies level. The identification of the specimens was accomplished by consulting the most updated available literature sources and followed the currently accepted nomenclature. Additionally, the specimens' original information was re-checked at this phase, comparing the label data with surviving original field books and catalgoues, in order to screen for any initial cataloguing errors. The collecting locality for each bibliographic reference was georeferenced following the GPS location available in newer publications, and then also converting to decimal degrees. When no data were available in Cabral & Mesquitela (1989) or in the recent publications, we used "GEOLocate online application" (http://www.museum.tulane.edu/geolocate/) for georeferencing the locality cited. The uncertainty of georeferenced localities was recorded whenever possible. For some records it was not possible to determine the coordinates due to insufficient location information. All coordinates are given in geographic format, decimal degrees, datum WGS 84.

Collection Data

Collection Name Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical
Specimen preservation methods Alcohol
Curatorial Units Count 1,121 +/- 0 specimens

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Manaças, S. (1950) Batráquios de Moçambique. Anais da Junta das Missões Geográficas e de Investigação Coloniais, Separata do Tomo 6, 5: 183-197.
  2. Manaças, S. (1952) Saúrios de Moçambique. Anais da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 7 (3): 131-159.
  3. Manaças, S. (1954) Contribuição para o estudo dos répteis (sáurios e leptotiflopídeos) de Moçambique. Anais da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 9 (3): 1-8.
  4. Manaças, S. (1959) Ofídeos de Moçambique. Estudos de Zoologia, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 8 (2): 133-160
  5. Manaças, S. (1961) Alguns Sáurios e Ofídeos de Moçambique. Memórias da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Lisboa, Segunda série, Estudos de Zoologia, 23: 143-163.
  6. Broadley, D.G. (1963) Three new lizards from south Nyassaland and Tete. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 13, 6: 285-288
  7. Broadley, D.G. (1965) A new species of Platysaurus from northern Mozambique. Arnoldia, 33 (1): 1-4