REPUBLIC OF CONGO
November to December 2006
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REPUBLIC OF CONGO November to December 2006 |
I spent the rainy season of 2005 camped in the swamp forest of northern Congo, collecting amphibians and reptiles. My goal was to document what species live there, since mine would be the first study of the herpetofauna of the region (see 2005 expedition). A year later I returned to continue the job. My ambition for the expedition was a modest one. I hoped that fewer things would go wrong than went wrong last year. And overall, in spite of unanticipated conditions and unexpected results, I got my wish.
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| This year I had the permit I needed to allow me to work within the Lac Tele Community Reserve. The black arrow points to my 2005 camp, the blue arrow to the 2006 camp. | ||
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| Lise-Bethy MAVOUNGOU | Ange-Gislain ZASSI-BOULOU | Kate and Lise skinning a dead Forest Cobra (Naja melanoleuca) |
The best change this year was that as I had hoped, I was able to bring Congolese graduate students with me. The Congo needs its own herpetologists rather than rely on foreigners like me to survey their impressive amphibian and reptile fauna. Ange Zassi-Boulou and Lise Mavoungou of Brazzaville's Marien-Ngouabi University were eager to be the first. We flew into Impfondo, proceeded by truck to the Wildlife Conservation Society base at Epena, and then traveled down the Likouala aux Herbes River to the small village of Impongui, a more remote location than the 2005 site. We camped close to the village, hired two guides, Romuald Essihe and Charles Dikassana, and (with a lot of generous help from the villagers!) set to work.
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| Arriving by pirogue at the village of Impongui (population 250) | The water level was much higher in 2006 than it had been in 2005. This is Romuald on the overflowing Likouala aux Herbes River. | The water in the flooded forest was much deeper. No checking nets on foot! I went for a refreshing swim with the water snakes several times a day. |
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| The toad, Bufo regularis, was very common in the village. We collected large numbers of them both during the day and at night. Bufo regularis is supposed to be a savannah species so it was surprising to find them so abundant in the Likouala Forest. | |
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| This year's pitfall traps worked! | By contrast we collected only two individuals of the smaller, forest species, Bufo camerunensis. Both specimens were caught in pitfall traps in the forest. |
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Brick piles are often good places for finding reptiles and amphibians, and there were several good brick piles in the village. There were an awful lot of bricks to move, the whole pile was swarming with biting ants and centipedes, but everyone pitched in to help. Here are some of our brick pile specimens: The gecko to the left is Hemidactylus fasciatus. The row of snakes along the bottom are, from left to right, Lamprohis fuliginosus (harmless House Snake), Naja melanoleuca (Forest Cobra), and Mehelya poensis (harmless). |
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We spent four weeks camped in the forest near Impongui, collecting amphibians and reptiles (Note that pythons and crocodiles were observed but not collected as these are protected species). Below are some specimens from our collection and our complete species list to add to the species recorded last year.
As before all specimens were formalin-fixed, with tissue samples extracted first, fixed in 90% ethanol for DNA extraction. Most specimens were deposited in the herpetology collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, where whole specimens and tissues are available on loan (see link below). This year, however, some specimens were kept in Brazzaville to lay the foundations of a national herpetological collection for the Congo.
We thank the experts who helped with the identification of the frogs and lizards, by examining specimens or by pointing us toward the relevant literature. We are particularly grateful to Manfred Beier, David Blackburn, Isabelle Mady-Goma, Adam Leache, and Andreas Schmitz. Any mistakes are ours not theirs.
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Species we found at Impongui: Bufo camerunensis Hemidactylus fasciatus Bitis arietans Osteolaemus tetraspis |
| Cryptothylax greshoffi USNM FS-246374 | Lygosoma fernandi USNM FS-246376 | |
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| Natriciteres olivacea USNM FS-246394 | Trachylepis affinis USNM FS-246350 | |
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| Xenopus fraseri USNM FS-246370 | Psammophis phillipsii USNM FS-246424 |
Future plans
A third expedition to the Likouala Region is planned for 2008 to continue our work toward a herpetofaunal inventory of the area. The 2008 expedition will be carried out during the dry season, whereas both the 2005 and 2006 expeditions took place during the rainy season. It will be interesting to see if this makes a difference to which species are active.
In the meantime, a herpetology study group has been established in Brazzaville, at GERDIB (Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche en Diversite Biologique). If you are interested in Central African amphibians and reptiles, we'd be glad to hear from you.
The following organisations provided financial and/ or logistical support:
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| And a big THANK YOU to the people of Impongui! | |