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Henk
J. Beentje
Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, England, UK
h.beentje@rbgkew.org.uk
Frank
M. Mbago
Herbarium, Botany Department, University of Dar es Salaam
P.O.Box 30560, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
mbago@udsm.ac.tz
An
overview is given of the vegetation of the Gombe and Mahale National
Parks in western Tanzania. The paper then focuses on the 24 fig
trees of this area and after a brief overview of the natural history,
keys are provided to identify the species. Each species is briefly
treated with a short description, local names, habitat and specimen
citations, as well as conservation assessments.
Keywords:
Ficus, natural history, identification, vegetation
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Tamás Pócs
Department of Botany ,Eszterházy College
P.O. Box 43, Eger, H 330l, Hungary
colura@chello.hu
Quentin
Luke
East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya
P.O. Box 40658, Nairobi, Kenya,
Centre for Tropical Plant Conservation, Fairchild Tropical Botanic
Garden
11935 Old Cutler Road, Coral Gables, FL 33156-4242 USA
quentin.luke@swiftkenya.com
The authors
made the first comprehensive bryological collection on the forest
covered Chyulu Range in south-eastern Kenya. Although these hills
are of young volcanic origin and do not belong to the so called
“Eastern Arc” mountains, they offer a high diversity
of habitats from dry Acacia-Commiphora bushland to montane mist
forest and thus a relatively rich bryophyte flora: from the 79 species
recently recorded, 13 are new to the flora of Kenya. The new combination
Plagiochila kiaeri var. myriocarpa is made.
Keywords: Mosses,
Liverworts, Nanobryum, Ptychanthus, East Africa.
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William
T. Stanley, Mary Anne Rogers
Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History
1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
bstanley@fieldmuseum.org; marogers@fieldmuseum.org
R.
B. M. Senzota, Fatina A. Mturi, Philip M. Kihaule
Department of Zoology, University of Dar es Salaam
P.O. Box 35064, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
zoology@udsm.ac.tz
Patricia
D. Moehlman
Wildlife Trust Alliance; Box 2031, Arusha, Tanzania
PDMBHF@aol.com
Barry
M. OConnor
Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan
1109 Geddes Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
bmoc@umich.edu
Small
mammals were sampled in Tarangire National Park between 1994 and
1996. Twenty-six species of small mammals, including four species
of Soricomorpha, seven species of Chiroptera and 15 species of Rodentia
were documented, with some records being the first for the park.
Identifications and natural history data (including a list of associated
arthropods) are presented for each of the 26 species.
Key
Words: Tarangire, mammals, Tanzania, rodents, bats, shrews
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Johanna
P.E.C. Darlington
Zoology Department, University of Cambridge
Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
jpecd2@cam.ac.uk
Parts
of the Masai Mara area are characterised by oval, flat, bare arenas.
These were found to be underlain by nests of the fungus-growing
termite Odontotermes fulleri (Isoptera, Termitidae, Macrotermitinae).
The structure of the nests and the fungus combs are described and
illustrated. Dry weights of the different castes of the termites
from a series of nests are reported. Possible functions of the arena
are briefly discussed.
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Adrian C. Pont
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
pont.muscidae@btinternet.com.
Katherine
C. R. Baldock
Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh
Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK
K.Baldock@ed.ac.uk.
Two
new species of Muscidae (Diptera) are described from Kenya: Pyrellia
acaciae sp.n. and Hydrotaea cilitibia sp.n. P. acaciae appears to
be not uncommon and was found almost exclusively on flowers of species
of Acacia (Fabaceae) (A. brevispica, A. etbaica, A. gerrardii, A.
nilotica and A. tortilis), and its activities may contribute towards
the pollination of these species. H. cilitibia was much more rarely
encountered and, with one exception, was found only on flowers of
Balanites species (Balanitaceae).
Keywords:
Pyrellia, Hydrotaea, new species, Kenya, Acacia
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Robert S. Copeland
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
P. O. Box 30, Mbita 40305, Kenya
rcopeland@mbita.mimcom.net
Identification
of specimens from Malaise trap collections and rearings of tephritids
from native and cereal grasses confirm the presence in Kenya of
Bistrispinaria magniceps, B. fortis, and B. woodi, of which the
latter two species are recorded for the first time. Including an
earlier, but uncertain, record of B. atlas, all four species of
Bistrispinaria, the only genus of Tephritidae in the Afrotropical
region known to breed in grass stems, have now been recorded from
Kenya. Information is provided on the hosts of B. fortis and B.
magniceps. Neither the spatial nor temporal distribution of B. magniceps
in its primary host, Panicum maximum, was uniform. Bistripinaria
species were collected in about 50% of Malaise trap samples from
grassland and relict woodland habitats. Malaise traps were a cost
effective and logistically simple way to survey for the presence
of this uncommon genus.
An overlooked literature record of B. magniceps adds another species
to the tephritid fauna of the Kakamega Forest, Kenya, reported previously,
and brings the total to 136.
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Charles N. Lange
Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museums of Kenya
P.O. Box 40658, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya.
Nzavi2001@yahoo.com
Anthony
Kuria
Nature Kenya/Tropical Biology Association
P.O. Box 44486, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
tba-africa@tropical-biology.org
Paul
K. Ndang’ang’a
Birdlife International Africa Partnership Secretariat
P. O. Box 3502, Nairobi, Kenya
Paul.Ndanganga@Birdlife.or.ke
After a survey
of Ndere Island National Park between October and November 2004,
we recorded 18 species of butterflies and 3 species of land snails.
Eurema brigitta brigitta was the most abundant butterfly whereas
Thapsia karamwegasensis was the most abundant land snail. Majority
of the butterfly species are found in open formations and about
50 % of them have a widespread distribution in Africa, while the
land snails were forest species known only from Eastern Africa.
Ndere island appears to support low levels of biodiversity although
further monitoring is necessary.
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