Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections

Lack of country-wide systematic herpetology collections in Portugal jeopardizes future research and conservation

Natural History Collections (NHCs) represent the world's largest repositories of long-term biodiversity datasets. Specimen collection and voucher deposition has been the backbone of NHCs since their inception, but recent decades have seen a drastic decline in rates of growth via active collecting. Amphibians and reptiles are amongst the most threatened zoological groups on the planet and are historically underrepresented in most worldwide NHCs. As part of an ongoing project to review the Portuguese zoological collections in the country's NHCs, herpetological data from its three major museums and smaller collections was gathered and used to examine the coverage and representation of the different taxa extant in Portugal. These collections are not taxonomically, geographically, or temporally complete. Approximately 90% of the Portuguese herpetological taxa are represented in the country's NHCs, and around half of the taxa are represented by less than 50 specimens. Geographically, the collections cover less than 30% of the country's territory and almost all of the occurring taxa have less than 10% of their known distribution represented in the collections. A discussion on the implications for science of such incomplete collections and a review of the current status of Portuguese NHCs is presented.

Illustrated keys and a DNA barcode reference library of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles (Amphibia, Reptilia) of São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea, West Africa)

The herpetofauna of São Tomé and Príncipe consists of nine species of amphibians, all endemic, and 21 species of terrestrial reptiles, of which 17 are endemic. Our current knowledge regarding its natural history, ecology, and distribution is limited. Here two important tools are provided to support researchers, conservationists, and local authorities in the identification of the country's herpetofauna: an illustrated key to the herpetofauna of the two islands and surroundings islets and a DNA barcode reference library. The keys allow a rapid and unambiguous morphological identification of all occurring species. The DNA barcodes for the entire herpetofauna of the country were produced from 79 specimens, all of which are deposited in museum collections. The barcodes generated are available in online repositories and can be used to provide unambiguous molecular identification of most of the species. Future applications and use of these tools are briefly discussed.

BioNoMo: the Biodiversity Network of Mozambique

Mozambique biodiversity richness plays a pivotal role to achieve the sustainable development of the country. However, Mozambique’s flora and fauna diversity still remains broadly unknown and poorly documented. To properly address this issue, one of the strategic needs expressed by the Mozambican institutions was the development of a national biodiversity data repository to aggregate, manage and make data available online. Thus, a sustainable infrastructure for the standardisation, aggregation, organisation and sharing of primary biodiversity data was developed. Named the “Biodiversity Network of Mozambique” (BioNoMo), such a tool serves as a national repository of biodiversity data and aggregates occurrence records of plants and animals in the country obtained from floristic and faunistic observations and from specimens of biological collections. In this paper, the authors present the structure and data of BioNoMO, including software details, the process of data gathering and aggregation, the taxonomic coverage and the WebGIS development. Currently, aggregating a total of 273,172 records, including 85,092 occurrence records of plants and 188,080 occurrence records of animals (41.2% terrestrial, 58,8% aquatic), BioNoMo represents the largest aggregator of primary biodiversity data in Mozambique and it is planned to grow further by aggregating new datasets.

Taxonomical review of Prosymnaangolensis Boulenger, 1915 (Elapoidea, Prosymnidae) with the description of two new species

African Shovel-snout snakes (Prosymna Gray, 1849) are small, semi-fossorial snakes with a unique compressed and beak-like snout. Prosymna occur mainly in the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 16 currently recognised species, four occur in Angola: Prosymnaambigua Bocage, 1873, P.angolensis Boulenger, 1915, P.frontalis (Peters, 1867), and P.visseri FitzSimons, 1959. The taxonomical status and evolutionary relationships of P.angolensis have never been assessed due to the lack of genetic material. This species is known to occur from western Angola southwards to Namibia, and eastwards to Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The species shows considerable variation in dorsal colouration across its range, and with the lower ventral scales count, an 'eastern race' was suggested. In recent years, Prosymna material from different parts of Angola has been collected, and with phylogenetic analysis and High Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography, the taxonomic status of these populations can be reviewed. Strong phylogenetic evidence was found to include the angolensis subgroup as part of the larger sundevalli group, and the existence of three phylogenetic lineages within the angolensis subgroup were identified, which each exhibit clear morphological and colouration differences. One of these lineages is assigned to the nominotypical P.angolensis and the other two described as new species, one of which corroborates the distinct eastern population previously detected. These results reinforce that a considerable part of Angolan herpetological diversity is still to be described and the need for further studies.

Reconnecting research and natural history museums in Italy and the need of a national collection biorepository

In Italy, differently from other countries, a national museum of natural history is not present. This absence is due, among other reasons, to its historical political fragmentation up to 1870, which led to the establishment of medium-sized museums, mostly managed by local administrations or universities. Moreover, a change of paradigm in biological research, at the beginning of the 20^th century, contributed to privilege experimental studies in universities and facilitated the dismissal of descriptive and exploratory biology, which formed the basis of the taxonomic research carried out by natural history museums. Consequently, only a few museums have a provision of curatorial staff, space and material resources adequate to maintain their original mission of discovering the natural world, by conducting a regular research activity accompanied by field campaigns. The creation of a national research centre for the study of biodiversity, facilitating interconnections among the existing natural history museums could be a solution and is here supported, together with a centralised biorepository to host collections and vouchers, to the benefit of current and future taxonomic research and environmental conservation. Such an institution should find place and realisation within the recently proposed National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) planned within the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR). Pending upon the creation of this new national centre, a network among the existing museums should coordinate their activities.

A new species of red toad, Schismaderma Smith, 1849 (Anura: Bufonidae), from central Angola

A new species of red toad, from the previously monotypic genus Schismaderma, is described. The new species was found in Malanje Province, and seems endemic to central Angola, occurring approximately 500 km west of the closest known records of Schismaderma carens. Unusual adult colouration and geographical distance to remaining S. carens populations suggested specific differentiation. In an integrative approach, we compared the red toads from central Angola with S. carens from across the entire range, including molecular data, morphology of adults and tadpoles, and male advertisement calls. Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial (12S, 16S, COI) and nuclear (CXCR4, RAG1) markers, retrieved the Angolan clade as monophyletic, and revealed intra-specific substructuring among the remaining Schismaderma. Genetic distances supported specific differentiation of the central Angolan material compared with other S. carens. Adults from the new Angolan species have bolder ventral patterning and smaller body size than S. carens. No obvious differences were detected between the tadpoles and the advertisement calls of the two Schismaderma species. This discovery adds to the knowledge of the herpetofauna of the Angolan Miombo woodlands, a poorly understood ecoregion, and likely more biodiverse than previously assumed. The result of past river basin dynamics in central Angola likely led to the evolution of this new species of Schismaderma.