Issue Number 169 - Autumn 2024 | British Herpetological Society

pdf 01. Potential impacts of refugee camps on wetland herpetofauna in Uganda

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AUTHORS: MATHIAS BEHANGANA, RAYMOND KATUMBA, ANKE BARAHUKWA, JIMMY MUHEEBWA, ACHILLES BYARUHANGA, PEARSON MCGOVERN, DANIELE DENDI & LUCA LUISELLI

ABSTRACT: Wetlands are one of the world’s fastest shrinking ecosystems, yet they are home to roughly 43% of all reptile and amphibian species. Sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest growing human population on the planet while also experiencing significant internal migrations of displaced peoples who settle in refugee camps. These camps are often in remote and previously undisturbed areas where interactions with wildlife are common. Reptiles and amphibians can be used to assess the health and resilience of habitats as a result of their sensitivity to environmental conditions. We sampled the herpetofauna of five wetlands located around two major refugee camps in Uganda using time-constrained visual encounter surveys during both nighttime and daytime. We provide baseline data on these wetland populations and compared them using alpha and beta diversity indices. These are the first data for refugee camp herpetofaunal communities, allowing for future comparisons of the effects of increased human pressure within these camps as well as the ability to better incorporate education and management to help conserve these wetlands and the species that inhabit them.

pdf 02. New distribution records, morphology and natural history notes of the endemic Colombian lizard Anolis limon

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AUTHORS: DUVAN F. ZAMBRANO, WILMER GUTIERREZ, JORGE ZUÑIGA-BAOS, KATHERINE CANO, RONALD M. PARRA & MANUEL H. BERNAL

ABSTRACT: Anolis limon is a species endemic to the inter-Andean valley of the Magdalena River, Colombia. We report three new localities for A. limon in the department of Tolima, Colombia, and provide data on its morphology, natural history and behaviour. Specimens were collected during field surveys of the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera in the Colombian Andes and their external features (scales) and internal characteristics (hemipenes) were compared with literature descriptions. We detected some variation in body size and meristic data between populations of A. limon. Furthermore, the distribution of A. limon was limited to the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera, located in the middle of the Magdalena region. This zone is highly fragmented and degraded, which may affect A. limon populations, as other animal species from these localities have disappeared in the last decade. Consequently, an evaluation of the conservation status of A. limon is needed.

pdf 03. How many Data Deficient amphibians are threatened? IUCN Red List assessments for amphibian species previously classed as Data Deficient

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AUTHORS: HABEEBAH R. ISA, BENJAMIN TAPLEY & CHRISTOPHER J. MICHAELS

ABSTRACT: At the time of our research in 2022, 16.4% of amphibian species on the IUCN Red List were assessed as Data Deficient (DD). There is minimal funding allocated to the research and reassessment of DD taxa, this prevents them from being prioritised for conservation. We identified 656 non-DD amphibian species that were previously assessed as DD and used their subsequent assessment trajectories to predict the extinction risk of remaining DD taxa. Assuming similarity of the distribution of these taxa between extinction risk categories to those of currently DD species, we compared this dataset with the risk category distribution of assessed amphibians that had never been assessed as DD. Previously DD amphibians, when compared to those that were never DD, were found to be more threatened (52.1% vs. 39.6%) and less likely to be non-threatened (22.4% vs. 60.0%). When explored further at the level of Order, more previously DD amphibians in the Order Gymnophiona were reassessed as ‘Near Threatened’, more Caudata ‘Critically Endangered’ with fewer ‘Least Concern’, and more Anura ‘Vulnerable’ and ‘Endangered’ with fewer ‘Least Concern’ than counterparts that were never assessed as DD. Based on these previously-DD amphibian data, we estimated that around half (49.6%, n = 592) of currently DD amphibians are likely threatened by extinction. Our approach arrives at similar conclusions to authors using other approaches and bolsters the argument that conservationists and funding organisations should implement recommendations to address concerns for DD amphibians, especially DD Caudata.