The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa’s major land uses

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of an ‘intact’ reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region’s major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.) and intensities (e.g., large-scale vs smallholder cropland). This dataset was co-produced as part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project. Additional uses include assessing ecosystem condition; rectifying geographic/ taxonomic biases in global biodiversity indicators and maps; and informing the Red List of Ecosystems

Tadpoles of three western African frog genera: Astylosternus Werner, 1898, Nyctibates Boulenger, 1904, and Scotobleps Boulenger, 1900 (Amphibia, Anura, Arthroleptidae)

Herein, we describe the tadpoles of six Astylosternus species, A. fallax, A. cf. fallax, A. laurenti, A. montanus, A. perreti, A. ranoides, and Scotobleps gabonicus, and redescribe the tadpoles of A. batesi, A. diadematus, A. laticephalus, A. occidentalis, A. rheophilus, and Nyctibates corrugatus. All Astylosternus tadpoles are adapted to torrent currents and share a long, oval body, slightly flattened in lateral view, with very long muscular tails with narrow fins. The jaws are massive, serrated, and often show a tooth-like medial projection (fang) in the upper jaw. Body proportions of Astylosternus tadpoles are extremely similar. The best characters to distinguish species might be life coloration and potentially the shape of labial papillae. The tadpole of Scotobleps gabonicus is similar to Astylosternus and differs only slightly by a narrower body with a shorter and rounder head. The upper jaw of Scotobleps carries two or three lateral fangs instead of one medial one. The tadpole of Nyctibates corrugatus is easily distinguishable from the other two genera on the basis of their very long, eel-shaped body and tail and the bluish-black color

The tadpoles of nine Cameroonian Leptodactylodon species (Amphibia, Anura, Arthroleptidae)

Mapouyat, Lissa, Hirschfeld, Mareike, Rödel, Mark-Oliver, Liedtke, H. Christoph, Loader, Simon P., Gonwouo, L. Nono, Dahmen, Matthias, Doherty-Bone, Thomas M., Barej, Michael F. (2014): The tadpoles of nine Cameroonian Leptodactylodon species (Amphibia, Anura, Arthroleptidae). Zootaxa 3765 (1): 29-53, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3765.1.