New reptile records from Franceville, southeastern Gabon

OLIVIER S.G. PAUWELS, JEAN-LOUIS ALBERT, GAËL VANDE
DIETER GRAMENTZ
WEGHE
and
New reptile records from Franceville, southeastern Gabon
The Haut-Ogooué Province in southeastern Gabon is herpetologically
the least known among all provinces of the country. A small
collection of reptile pictures presented below allows to add eight
species to the provincial list.
The Haut-Ogooué Province (capital city Franceville), bordering Congo, is so
far known to be home to 17 reptile species: the chelonians Pelusios carinatus, P.
chapini and P. gabonensis (Pelomedusidae), Kinixys erosa (Testudinidae), Trionyx
triunguis (Trionychidae) (see, a.o., MARAN & PAUWELS, 2005) and the snakes
Typhlops angolensis (Typhlopidae), Python sebae (Pythonidae), Boiga blandingii,
Hapsidophrys lineatus (Colubridae), Elapsoidea semiannulata moebiusi, Naja
annulata annulata (Elapidae), Polemon fulvicollis, Lamprophis fuliginosus
(Lamprophiidae), Natriciteres fuliginoides and N. olivaceus (Natricidae), Causus
maculatus and Atheris squamigera (Viperidae) (see, a.o., BROADLEY, 1971;
MOCQUARD, 1887; ROUX-ESTÈVE, 1974). The unvouchered record of the viper Bitis
arietans from the province is still to be confirmed (PAUWELS et al., 2006a). No
crocodilian, lacertilian nor amphisbaenian species was thus recorded from the HautOgooué to date. The records existing so far were mostly based on only two
expeditions: those of the explorer JACQUES SAVORGNAN DE BRAZZA in the late 19th
Century and of the naturalist JÉRÔME MARAN a few years ago, the latter having
focused exclusively on chelonians.
One of us (JLA), working at the CIRMF medical research center in
Franceville, situated along the M’Passa River, Plateaux Department, has
opportunistically photographed reptiles occurring in the center’s compounds (Figure
1). These pictures unambiguously represent the agamid Agama agama (Fig. 2), the
chamaeleon Chamaeleo owenii (Fig. 3), the boid Calabaria reinhardtii (Fig. 5), the
colubrids Hapsidophrys smaragdinus (Fig. 6), Philothamnus carinatus (Fig. 7) and
Thelotornis kirtlandii (Fig. 8), and the elapid Naja melanoleuca (Fig. 9). All these
species are typical of mainly degraded and open areas and are widely distributed in
Gabon, but had never been recorded from Haut-Ogooué Province. The least common
among them is Chamaeleo owenii, previously recorded from only four Gabonese
provinces (PAUWELS et al., 2006b).
Moreover, one of us (GVW) photographed two subadult Varanus ornatus at a
few hundreds meters south of Mbie Camp (S 2º11.499’ E 14º01.757’), along Mpassa
River, ca. 60 airline km SE of Franceville. Figure 4 clearly shows 5 transversal bands
of yellow ocellae between the fore and hind legs (both specimens had 5 bands), and
this character precludes an identification as Varanus niloticus, a species not
documented so far from Gabon, but whose presence in the southeastern savannas of
the country might however be possible. Varanus ornatus is ubiquitous in Gabon, and
its record from Haut-Ogooué Province was expected.
The present additions raise to 25 the reptile species list for the Haut-Ogooué
Province. The actual list of species occurring in the province is undoubtedly much
higher. Not a single reptile record is for instance currently available for the province’s
protected area, Bateke Plateaux National Park (PAUWELS et al., 2006a). Within the
province, the inventory of the park should have priority, and field work will
undoubtedly bring a number of new records.
This note is contribution XX of the Smithsonian Institution/Monitoring and
Assessment of Biodiversity Program for Gabon.
Literature cited
BROADLEY, D. G. (1971): A revision of the African snake genus Elapsoidea Bocage
(Elapidae). Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Rhodesia, 4(32B):
577-626.
MARAN, J. & O. S. G. PAUWELS (2005): Etat des connaissances sur les tortues
continentales du Gabon: distribution, écologie et conservation. Bulletin de
l’Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Biologie, 75: 47-60.
MOCQUARD, F. (1887): Sur les ophidiens rapportés du Congo par la mission de
Brazza. Bulletin de la Société philomatique de Paris, 11: 62-92.
PAUWELS, O. S. G., P. CHRISTY & A. HONOREZ (2006a): Reptiles and national parks in
Gabon, western central Africa. Hamadryad, 30(1-2): 181-196.
PAUWELS, O. S. G., J. L. C. H. VAN VALKENBURG & W. BÖHME (2006b): Owens
Chamäleon, Chamaeleo owenii Gray, 1831, in Gabun. Elaphe, 14(4): 53-54.
ROUX-ESTÈVE, R. (1974): Révision systématique des Typhlopidae d’Afrique.
Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, Série A, Zoologie, 87: 1313.
Authors
OLIVIER S.G. PAUWELS
Département des Vertébrés Récents
Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique
Rue Vautier 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium; and
Smithsonian Institution
Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program
1
BP 48, Gamba, Gabon
E-mail: [email protected]
JEAN-LOUIS ALBERT
Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville
CIRMF – Service Biomédical
B.P. 8507, Libreville
Gabon; E-mail: [email protected]
GAËL VANDE WEGHE
Wildlife Conservation Society
BP 7847, Libreville
Gabon; E-mail: [email protected]
DIETER GRAMENTZ
Földerichstraße 7
D-13595 Berlin
Germany; E-mail: [email protected]
1
Not to use for postal mail
Figure captions:
Figure 1. CIRMF medical research center compounds, Franceville. (CIRMF
7IMG_5906WTMK)
Figure
2.
Adult
male
Agama
agama,
CIRMF,
Franceville.
(LezardRedIMG_7504WTMK, cf message 09/05)
Figure 3. Adult Chamaeleo owenii, CIRMF, Franceville. (IMG_4484WTMK)
Figure 4. Subadult Varanus ornatus, near Mbie Camp. (Varan-Batéké_1, cf
message 29/05)
Figure 5. Adult Calabaria reinhardtii, CIRMF, Franceville. (IMG_3962WTMK)
Figure 6. Adult Hapsidophrys smaragdinus, CIRMF, Franceville.
(IMG_1545WTMK)
Figure 7. Philothamnus carinatus, CIRMF, Franceville. (Serpent 07wtmk; choisir
profil)
Figure 8. Adult Thelotornis kirtlandii, CIRMF, Franceville. (IMG_0801WTMK)
Figure 9. Naja melanoleuca, CIRMF, Franceville. (IMG_2518WTMK)