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We conducted a year long survey of the fruit-feeding butterfly fauna of sacred forest groves and forest reserves of Ghana. About one-third of all fruit-feeding species recorded for Ghana were trapped, but our total sample had not yet reached the point of species saturation. Rarefied species richness was higher in the larger forest reserves than in the small sacred groves, as predicted by species-area relationship theory. and showed the greatest decline in species richness across sites, demonstrating that common, wide-spread species can be vulnerable to fragmentation.

In the Afrotropical region the sawfly fauna is, in comparison with other biogeographical regions, except Australia, very poor both in number of species and number of individuals. The Afromontane region is composed of a series of archipelago-like disjunctions. This is especially true for eastern and south-eastern Africa, where these consist of regional mountain systems with specific abiotic factors, and it seems that the mountain-specific sawfly diversity, with its many endemic species, is unique and dependent on the mountain systems’ genesis. Species of the -group are known only from the Afrotropical region. The species of this group seem to prefer the montane and sub-montane region and have more narrow ranges than previously thought. The sawfly diversities of different habitats of four mountain systems in the Drakensberg district, South Africa, were investigated over a two-year period. In total 27 species were recognized, including at least 13 species new to science. Furthermore, a minimum of seven species are endemic to vegetational types of the Drakensberg. Only very few species are widely distributed and can be regarded as eurytopic, because these species occur from the lowlands up to the mountains.

An analysis of southern African bee diversity patterns based on 420 species reveals a bipolar pattern with highest species diversity located in the arid west of South Africa and the relatively moist east of the country. A detailed investigation of the distributions of 59 species shows a congruence of distribution areas of most species with seasonality of precipitation, a pattern that can be assumed for the majority of bee species. A total of 32 (sub)genera with about 256 species is strictly endemic to southern Africa with an exceptionally high number of endemic species (95%) strictly confined to the winter rainfall area.

In Namaqualand, the north-western part of the Succulent Karoo of South Africa, a study was conducted to investigate the influence of livestock grazing on the abundance and diversity of bees (superfamily Apoidea). Bees were collected on adjacent rangeland sites which are characterized by a significant fence line contrast, one site showing effects of heavy grazing. Application of different sampling methods (Malaise and colour plate trapping) reveal different results, indicating that methodological influences are significant. Colour traps, in particular, may provide poor estimates of bee abundance due to their apparent sensitivity to competition from surrounding flowers for insect attraction.

Pholcids are among the dominant web-building spiders in many tropical and subtropical areas of the World. They occupy a wide variety of habitats ranging from leaf-litter to tree canopies, and several species occur in caves and in close proximity to humans. This chapter summarizes the present state of knowledge about pholcids in Africa. A total of 17 genera and 162 nominal species are currently described from Africa. High levels of diversity and endemism are recorded for Madagascar, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. A brief overview is given on those genera that have not been worked on for several decades and that are most in need of revision.

West African fish diversity was investigated in regard to distribution patterns and species composition of different ichthyofaunal provinces. The coastal rivers region covers only a fraction of West Africa, but harbour 322 of West African’s fish species, with 247 restricted to this area and 129 restricted even to small ranges (here: smaller than 40.000 km). The central rivers fauna, however, comprises 194 fish species, with 119 endemics and only 33 restricted to small areas. While habitat protection is of primary importance in the Guinea regions for preserving its fish diversity there, the actual threats in the Sahelo-Sudan region are different, where additional regulations on fishing techniques are necessary to conserve the diversity of the West African fishes.

We provide first data on the natural history of a poorly known species of frog from Madagascar, the black-eared Malagasy poison frog, . Although this species has been intensively collected for the pet trade, not even one precise locality was published until 2003. We here provide further distribution records north and south of the known locality Fierenana, but the encountered populations showed variable colour and patterns intermediate between and , thus supporting the hypothesis that these are conspecific colour morphs, and that might be a junior synonym of . Intensive fieldwork at one site next to Fierenana, in February 2003, yielded some data on population structure and density. Snout-vent lengths ranged from 16–24 mm, weights from 0.4–1.4 g in adults, with only few subadults and no juveniles found. The population density, estimated by mark-recapture, was about 470 individuals per ha, which is a quite high density, taking into consideration that this population had probably been under commercial exploitation in the past. We propose that some of the forests in the Fierenana area should be included in the planned extension of Madagascar’s network of protected areas, but a controlled and sustainable exploitation should be allowed in these reserves in order to gain the support of local communities.

The Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve is one of the largest forest patches within the Udzungwa Mountains of South-central Tanzania. It covers an area of about 200 km on the south eastern slopes of Udzungwa range. Since 1998 five sites in the southern part of the Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve, ranging from 400 to 1900 m a.s.l., have been surveyed and a list of Reptiles (33 species) and Amphibians (36 species) is given. Among them 21.7% and 53.6% of the species are endemic or near endemic to the Udzungwa Mountains and to the Eastern Arc Mountains respectively. Concern is raised for the preservation of this unique highland forest-dependent fauna in the light of continuing habitat alteration.

Since 1877 it has been assumed that human exploitation led to the extinction of all Indian Ocean giant tortoises except for the Aldabran . A taxonomic review in 1998 proposed that two further species survived in captivity. Some recent molecular studies question the validity of these taxa. All available evidence is re-examined in a discussion of the identity of the Seychelles giant tortoises.

Morphological data identifies three living morphotypes ( and ), data on wild and captive growth distinguishes these from the results of abnormal growth. Molecular data is less clear cut with conflicts between different studies. RAPDs identify the morphotypes although microsatellites identify very little population structuring. Different mtDNA genes conflict, with ND4 sequences relating to the different morphotypes but cytochrome failing to do so.

Phylogenetic relationships between African representatives of the Colubroidea have been relatively little investigated. In this paper, DNA sequences of three marker genes were used to identify phylogenetically relevant groups. Viperids represent a basal clade among Colubroidea. The two monophyletic families Elapidae and Atractaspididae are nested within the paraphyletic family Colubridae. African colubroid snakes are found within the cosmopolitan subfamilies Colubrinae and Natricinae, the mainly African subfamilies Lamprophiinae, Psammophiinae and Pseudoxyrhophiinae, and also within the families Elapidae and Atractaspididae. The clade comprising Lamprophiinae, Psammophiinae, Pseudoxyrhophiinae, Elapidae and Atractaspididae is likely to have an African origin, whereas the Colubroidea probably originated in Asia.