The Race: GG IV – Return to Paradise

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, biogeography, centipedes, fish, flowers, frogs, invertebrates, principe, shrews
Date: February 3rd 2010
By: islandbiodiversityrace

Having just returned from Ethiopia, I am now “gearing up” for GG IV.  If all goes well, we will be returning to the islands on the 19th of February for a month, thanks especially to continuing logistical support from our partner, Africa’s Eden (SCD), and the generosity of friends (see Partners below).

GG IV will be one of the smaller expeditions (four of us), due in part to financial constraints, but also because I have a particular, non-exploration focus in mind.  But first the GG IV players:

Dr. Tom Daniel, is returning with us; as I mentioned in the last blog, he has just published a major paper on the island shrimp plants (his specialty) and along with more botanical exploring will be doing some technical pollination studies this time.

Dr. Tom Daniel on Sao Tome. RCD phot, GG III

Among our plans is a survey of the top of Pico do São Tomé which is at about 2000 m.  None our previous expedition members has ever sampled the Pico so everything will be of interest, but our one of our special goals is to collect examples of Afrocarpus mannii, which is endemic to this mountain.

Afrocarpus mannii  WWW. photo

This tree is a member of the yellow wood family (Podocarpaceae), and it is thought that all of its nearest relatives are found thousands of kilometers away in the East African highlands.

Distribution of Afrocarpus relatives. RCD construct.

This strange distribution pattern is showing up rather frequently in the various sorts of organisms we study (for instance, my frogs and reptiles) so we are always interested in testing these relationships using DNA technology; i.e., if these species are really closest relatives, what are they doing thousands of kilometers apart?

Dr. Shevock in Yunnan, China. Phot. D. Long – 2007

This is Dr. Jim Shevock, who recently joined the Academy faculty.  Jim is one of the world’s foremost authorities on mosses. His latest book came out only a few weeks ago.

California Mosses. 2009. Micro-optics, New Zealand

Jim will be conducting the first comprehensive moss survey of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Dr. Shevock drying moss specimens.  Phot. A. Colwell, 2009

Recall that when our expeditions began back in 2001, there were only four species of mushrooms known from the islands; as a result of GG II and III, Drs. Desjardin and Perry have identified some 225 species, including new ones.  Phallus drewesii, an endemic to São Tomé, was just described in August.  I have a strong suspicion that Jim Shevock is going to come up with similar surprises.

The other critter work will include hooking up with Jose Lima to obtain more shrew specimens and to find and identify the mysterious Charroco, the fish we missed on earlier expeditions and which is thus absent from the islands  list.  Jose is doing the research for his PhD with the University of Lancaster. Jose “rediscovered” the supposedly rare, possibly endemic São Tomé shrew, Crocidura thomensis.  It is certainly not rare; as so often is the case, one just has to know where to look. Ricardo does.  We have permission to collect a few and test their tissues to see if they are in fact true endemics, or whether they were brought to the islands via human activity.

“Cobra bobo” endemic to São Tomé.  Phot. J. Juste

You will recognize this as the flamboyant caecilian, Schistometopum thomense or “cobra bobo,” known only from São Tomé.  The photo was taken many years ago by my friend and colleague, Dr. Javier Juste of the Doñana Institute in Seville in Spain. Javier thinks he may actually have taken this photo on São Tomé, but he is sure that he has seen caecilians on Príncipe Id!  This would be most exciting, and of course we will be looking for it.

And now that we have found a myriapod (millipede) expert, Dr. Rowland Shelley of the North Carolina State Museum (see November post), we will be collecting these critters as well, and I have no doubt that this group will turn out to be as poorly known as the others…. More surprises in store.

A myriapod (millipede). www phot.

Now for the special focus.  I have long thought that the citizens of the Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe need to be aware how absolutely unique and special their islands really are.  My groups of scientists and I can continue to explore and conduct research and make neat scientific discoveries.  We can continue to publish scientific papers, and we even add Portuguese abstracts.  But while this is great for “Science”, the majority of Tomeans will never see these papers. This popular blog has been an attempt to “spread the word”, but the vast majority of the people there do not read English, and most certainly do not have computers.  What good does all of our work and discoveries do if the citizens who live there are remain unaware of how special their islands are?  For example, Martim Melo, an outstanding ornithologist and expert on the birds fauna of the islands has just established the fact that the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, together, have the highest concentration of endemic bird species in the world!  I doubt if anyone on the islands knows this fact, and think of what such a statement might mean to tourism!  The people should know and be proud of the unique nature of their nation, especially because they will have hard decisions to make in the future, if and when the oil revenues come… that is why this blog is called the Island Biodiversity Race (go back to the first two postings, if you need to) – there is a real urgency to what we are doing.

So above and beyond our usual critter searches, I am going to spend a significant part of our time during GG IV meeting with various people who are involved in appropriate government ministries, education, tourism and the environment,  in order to come up with ideas for a multi-level educational program.  We hope to learn what the citizens want and need in this regard.  This is where the fourth member of GG IV comes in: Mrs. Roberta Ayres.

Roberta Ayres (left) in the Naturalist Center, CAS.  RCD phot. 2010

Roberta is Manager and Senior Educator of the Naturalist Center, which is a major part of the Koret-Taub Education Center of the Academy.  Roberta has a Master’s degree in science education and, having been born in Brazil, speaks fluent Portuguese.  Together, Roberta and I hope to learn how we can raise biodiversity awareness on the islands through our meetings and interviews with its citizens.

The California Academy of Sciences Naturalist Center. RCD phot. 2010

Barring technical or other problems, I plan to keep blogging from the islands.

The parting shot:

“Island Tranquility”- Laguna Azul, on Sao Tome. D. Lin phot. GGII

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) and Africa’s Eden for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Barbero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami, Hon. Richard C. Livermore, Prof. & Mrs. Evan C. Evans III and Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Taylor for helping make these expeditions possible.

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The Race: On Tiny Skinks and Contemplating GG IV

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, biogeography, invertebrates, lizards, principe, snakes
Date: December 30th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

It is the holiday season in this part of the world, and the California Academy of Sciences (where most of us island biologists work) is absolutely packed.  I thought I would share a few images of our public floors.  We scientists and our collections and laboratories are behind the scenes in an off-limits wing, and I would bet that a lot of our public visitors still do not realize we do science here; last year we had 2.3 million of them from all over the world.

Visitors waiting at the front entrance, (12:30 PM, Dec. 30th, 2009- RCD)

The Rainforest exhibit – RCD photo.

Waiting to enter the Rainforest RCD-photo.

Our albino alligator Claude’s swamp,  central courtyard. RCD phot.

So if it is the holiday season, why am I here in the lab?  Part of the answer is that I am planning our next expedition, GG IV. A small group of us are going back to the islands in February with several rather specific missions… I will describe our plans in the next blog.  Meantime, here are some updates:

Dr. Tom Daniel’s publication with Estrela Figueirido on the Acanth flowers of São Tomé and Príncipe was just published today, and we are taking copies over to islands with us.  As usual, we have provided an abstract in Portuguese.

Figure 3  from the new paper (T. Daniel composite).

Afroablepharis on Sao Tome – D Lin phot-GG II

Above is a leaf litter skink called Afroablepharis. Until we started working on the island fauna, both islands were thought to be inhabited by the same species (then called Panaspis africanus).  We provided tissue samples of some of our GGI material from both islands to colleagues at the University of Madeira. Dr. Jose Jesus and his colleagues found that the two populations were genetically distinct and that each island had its own, separate species.

On-going island projects (RCD construct)

Unfortunately, all of the original specimens from which tissues were taken were subsequently lost in the international mail and were never returned to the Academy.  Since we still have additional preserved skinks from the same localities on both islands, my Research Assistant, Lauren Scheinberg (left, above), is carefully examining all of them to find the physical differences we would usually (but not always) expect to find in two species distinct from one another. We are now formally collaborating with Dr. Jesus and his Madeira team.

Above, on the right, is Lisette, who is still working on the jita snakes (earlier blogs), and this has also expanded into a much larger project with several international collaborators and samples from mainland Africa.  The shrew comparison on the lower left is one of our goals for GG IV. We will meet up with Ricardo Lima on São Tomé, the man who rediscovered this unlikely creature.

More detail on GG IV when I return from Ethiopia.

Here’s the parting shot:

Principe Golden Weaver, Ploceus princeps.  Weckerphoto – GG III

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) and Africa’s Eden for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Barbero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami, Hon. Richard C. Livermore and Prof. & Mrs. Evan C. Evans III for helping make these expeditions possible.

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The Race: Critter and People Updates

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, barnacles, centipedes, coral, invertebrates, principe, snakes
Date: November 20th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

It has been a busy couple of months, hence no posts on THE RACE.  In my last one, I hope I made it clear that scientists have senses of humor (my favorite ones do, anyway).  Here’s another fact you might not know; regardless of what he or she studies, there is probably not a single field biologist anywhere who does not have a secret dislike or even fear of one sort of critter or another.  With me, it has always been centipedes– even when I was a child.  I can’t bear the things!  And, naturally, there are some real monsters common on São Tomé.  The creatures in the shots below are about 10 inches long, sometimes they get larger!

Scolopendra subspinipes. D. Lin phot. GG II

S. subspinipes – Weckerphoto, GG III

These arthropods are more properly known as scolopendras, and they are voracious predators; the upper one is devouring a slug.  The two above are Scolopendra subspinipes, are native to Southeast Asia and thought to have been brought to the islands accidentally.  The Academy was just visited by Dr. Rowland Shelley, a specialist on millipedes from the North Carolina State Museum, who had a look at some of our critters.  He and his colleague, Dr. John Lewis of the UK identified these but, more exciting, the one pictured below.

Otostigmus productus DLin phot- GG II

This is a different species that was originally described from São Tomé over 120 years ago.  It is thought to also occur in West Africa; if this is the case, O. productus  is not an endemic species but it is probably naturally occurring.

Photo shoot on Sao Tome. Dong Lin, Fabio Penny and Ricka Stoelting -RCD GGI

Ricka Stoelting (above at right), my grad student and GG I participant, is putting the finishing touches on her manuscript on the fabulous São Tomé, “cobra bobo.” After submitting it for publication, she will pursue her PhD at the University of Wisconsin.

Schistometopum thomense – Weckerphoto, GG III

Ricka’s research has shown that this remarkable legless amphibian, Schistometopum thomense is indeed a true endemic species, having gotten to the island by natural means.  By studying the genetics of these bright yellow burrowers, she has learned that there are two different genetic groupings of the caecilian on the island and this is possibly related to volcanic activity within the last million years.

Principe Jita. Lamprophis sp. Weckerphoto GG III

Our snake project on “cobra jita” (Lamprophis - see earlier blogs) is ongoing; my intern, Lisette Arellano (below) has returned from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is working down in our molecular lab as I write.  Last summer we learned that although they are very similar in appearance, the snakes on São Tomé and Príncipe are genetically distinct from one another based on Lisette’s analysis of the cytochrome b gene.  We think that analysis of an additional nuclear gene will be useful.

Lisette Arellano at the Academy.  RCD

The big issue lies with the status of jita’s relatives on the mainland.  While we are now reasonably sure that the two island populations are separate species, we do not know what their relationships are to the at least 12 species of Lamprophis distributed widely in Africa; it is possible that either or both of our island snakes could belong to one these mainland species. Unfortunately  the relationships (systematics) of this whole group in Africa are poorly understood.  Dr. Chris Kelly of Rhodes University who is working on the entire complex has kindly sent us a number of tissue samples of Lamprophis from some West African localities, and these are what Lisette is analyzing now.  In June, Lisette is off to the University of Colorado to pursue her PhD.  Hopefully, we will have figured out our island snakes by then.

Dana Carrison off Principe.  Pola-Perez phot.  GG III B

Dana Carrison is an MSc candidate at San Francisco State University and was part of marine phase of GG III (see Send In the Marines).  She is the graduate student of Dr. Bob Van Syoc, a participant of both GG II and III marine expeditions.  Dana is nearing completion of her research on the barnacles she and Bob study and has this to say:

“The Gulf of Guinea II and III expeditions have led to the discovery of two new species of symbiotic barnacle of the genus, Conopea, originally described from the Straits of Gibraltar by Ellis in 1758. I have been using molecular and morphological methods to describe these new species and compare them with their closest barnacle relatives. I have also been comparing species of gorgonian coral with species of barnacle to see if there’s any sort of settling preference. So far I think that one of the new species of barnacle is found only on a singe species of gorgonian and the other is not.”

I should mention that the gorgonians to which Dana refers are studied by Dr. Gary Williams, also a Gulf of Guinea veteran of two expeditions.  Here are Dana’s new species:

Conopea new species #1   phot. D. Carrison

Conopea new species #2  D. Carrison phot

More anon and before our return to the islands.

Here’s the parting shot:

Chaplin, Executive Director, BomBom Island, Principe. Weckerphoto GG III

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.

 

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The Race: New Species or What’s in a Name?

Category: Biodiversity, Sao Tome, frogs, mushrooms, shrews
Date: August 18th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

Ever wonder why biologists use weird, hard-to-pronounce names for animal and plant species?  Well, it all started with Carl Linnaeus, the famous Swedish 18th Century botanist pictured below.

In the 10th edition of his great work, Systema Naturae (1758), Linnaeus established a system  wherein  every living species is given but a single scientific name made up of two parts: the Genus (always capitalized) and the species (always lower case and both are always italicized).  Among animals, no two species ever have the same name, and this is true among plants, as well.  Thus we modern humans are scientifically referred to only as Homo sapiens.  In Linnaeus’s day, most scientists wrote in Latin or Greek, thus it was an early tradition to establish these names in those ancient languages.  Now, naming of new species is tightly regulated by The International Congress of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN; the botanists have the ICBN).  A specific scientific name avoids confusion… here is an example:

The common English name of the critter above is red rattlesnake, or red diamondback rattlesnake; some locals might call it a “red buzzworm!”  In French it would be called un serpent á  sonnettes rouge;  in German: eine rote klapperschlange and if an East African ever saw one, he might call it nyoka sumu nyukundu.  See the problem?  Not only different base languages, but regional differences in common names serve to muddy the waters.  However, the scientific name of this critter is Crotalus ruber, and regardless of their native languages, scientists will always know exactly what species is being discussed.  Taxonomists usually try to come up with a name that is descriptive of the species; in this case, Crotalus ruber translates roughly from the Latin as “red bell-ringer,” an obvious reference to its color and the sound made by the rattle.

The Sao Tome shrew: Crocidura thomensis (R. Lima phot, 2009)

Here is another example– the supposedly endemic shrew we are just beginning to study is called Crocidura thomensis, which means “yellow-tail from Thomas [=São Tomé]”.  Probably the first species described in the genus Crocidura had a yellowish tail, although C. thomensis clearly does not.

The Oceanic Treefrog, Hyperolius molleri (Weckerphoto GG III)

Scientists may also name species in honor of the person who first collected the specimen; such is the case with the Oceanic treefrog, Hyperolius molleri, found on both São Tomé and Príncipe, M.A.F. Moller was the late 19th Century explorer who first collected the frogs and brought them to Portugal where the species was named in his honor at the University of Coimbra.

Sao Tome puddlefrog, Phrynobatrachus leveleve  (Weckerphoto GG III0

Taxonomists have a fair amount of latitude in the choice of words and meanings for scientific names although they are usually Latinized.  As an example, Josef Uyeda, Breda Zimkus and I chose Phrynobatrachus leveleve as the new name for one of our own new species of frogs from São Tomé.  Phrynobatrachus is an old generic name and actually means “toad-frog;” as to the meaning of leveleve, here is a quote from our paper:  The phrase, “leve leve,” generally meaning “easy, easy” or “lightly, lightly” has also been translated by Henrique Pinto da Costa, former Minister of Agriculture, as “calmly, surely.” In our opinion, all three definitions describe the delightful, easy-going demeanor of the citizens of The Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe….it is with the hope that the citizens of this tiny African nation will maintain their ecological heritage and cheerful outlook on life that we name this diminutive endemic anuran. Thus, we named the new species in honor of the attitude of the island citizens.

Illustration by H. Heatwole, 1970

Scientists are also known to inject humor into scientific names, on occasion. The image above is a composite plate from a scientific publication.  By way of explanation, many American scientists receive support for their work from our National Science foundation, known universally to us over here as “NSF”.  Look at the upper-most image of a frog known scientifically as Physalaemus enesefae… if you are an English speaker, pronounce the species name slowly and you’ll get the humor.

Now for the fun stuff: here is a photo of our latest new species from São Tomé, a mushroom we discovered on the trail up to Lagoa Ameliaduring GG II in 2006.  It was formally described just last month in the journal MYCOLOGIA,  and Drs Dennis Desjardin and Brian Perry named it after me.   It is called Phallus drewesi meaning (literally) Drewes’s penis!

Phallus drewesi Desjardin & Perry 2009 (B. Perry phot. GG III)

As you can see, these fungi are shaped very much like a mammalian penis… they usually grow upright from the forest floor, smell terrible and attract flies! The flies act as vectors disperse the fungus’s spores!

Dr. Brian Perry with a Principe Phallus  (RCD phot. GG III)

Members of the genus Phallus can grow quite large. Above is an image of Dr. Brian Perry, one of the describers, holding an example of Phallus atrovolvatus from Príncipe –a rather average sized Phallus.

The author with Phallus drewesi on Sao Tome  (Weckerphoto, GG III)

Above is a picture of me holding a couple of examples of Phallus drewesi in 2008, and as you can see, they are quite small!  Not only that, but so far as is known P. drewesi is the second smallest species in the world!  And, it grows limp! Not proudly erect from the forest floor!

It has been hard for some of my non-scientists to understand what an incredible honor this is.  Dennis, Brian and I are good friends and colleagues; in fact, Dennis and I play jazz together as often as we can and serve on the same university faculty.

The author and Dr. Desjardin at Praia Francesa. (Weckerphoto GG III)

It is a great honor because having a species named for you confers a form of immortality. Regardless of what the species is, the scientific name lives on as long as there is science. This is even the case even if decades from now, another scientist learns that this species already has a name – Phallus drewesi lives on in the botanical literature as a synonym. Scientists keep track of all names formally ascribed to a species, whether valid or not.  So, yes, it is a wonderful thing to have something named after you, whatever it may be!

Here’s the parting shot:

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.

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The Race: New Fish Excitement

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, fish, principe
Date: July 9th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

Our colleague, Ricardo Lima, currently working on São Tomé has sent us another exciting photo; not of another São Tomé shrew this time, but of a large fish that we somehow missed during the island river surveys of GG I and GG II.

Led by Dr. Tomio Iwamoto, we surveyed all of the major rivers on both São Tomé and Príncipe in 2001 and 2006.  As a result, Drs. Iwamoto and Petzold published a paper on the freshwater gobies of the islands, and later Dr. Iwamoto was one of the authors of the updated Checklist of Coastal Fishes of São Tomé and Príncipe Islands. This checklist is based on a great deal of our expedition material.  Regardless, the fish that Ricardo has photographed was not included in either work and at the moment we have no idea to which species it belongs.

“Charroco“  R. Lima phot.  2009.

Quintino Quade  and Dr. Iwamoto on Sao Tome. D. Lin phot.  GG I 

It is a fairly large fish and well-known by the local Sao Tomeans as “charroco ”  Ricardo tells us, “I was told by an old man that lives in S. Jose (Binda), that he used to fish these upstream. But this photo is from the other [east] side of the island, near EMOLVE, the big oil palm plantation! I’m not sure where they got the animal, but I think it’s widespread, and according to the people who fish them, it lives in holes under the rocks. The specimen I photographed is not very big for the species. According to them, it can get much bigger, but they eat even the small ones, deep fried!”

Tomio and Drewes on Principe.  D. Lin phot. GGI

Dr. Iwamoto has sent Ricardo’s photo to two other experts, Dr. Lynne Parenti of the US National Museum and Dr. David Greenfield of Monterey, California, and both agree that  this is probably a member of the Family Eleotridae, or “sleeper gobies”.  During our surveys, we caught other species of this family, one of which is pictured below; but at the moment, we seem to have another unidentified species from the Gulf of Guinea and will have to work to obtain more material and identify it.

A Sao Tome eleotrid fish. RCD phot. GG I

The Parting Shot:

A beach on north Principe. R. Wenk phot. GG III

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.

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The Race: Taming of the Shrew (and updates)

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, biogeography, flowers, mushrooms, principe, shrews
Date: June 24th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

Things have been very busy.

Our flower people, Dr. Tom Daniel and Rebecca Wenk have been very active. Rebecca successfully completed her M.Sc . degree at San Francisco State University, based in part on plants she collected in the islands during GG III (A). She then published her research, with Tom, in the latest Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences; the publication includes a special treatment of the genus Elytraria – E. mariginata is the little flower that Rebecca finally found high up on Pico Papagaio on Príncipe that was so exciting and which we reported last May. (See “News from the Flower people”).

Rebecca among the giant Begonias. Lagoa Amelia. Wenk camera: GG III.

Tom is nearing completion of his monograph on the acanthus (shrimp) flowers of São Tomé and Pr<!–[if gte msEquation 12]>í<![endif]–>ncipe. He is now collaborating with Estrela Figueiredo, a Portuguese botanist who has been on the islands many times and has added much to our knowledge of the botany of the Gulf of Guinea as a whole There are several species of the Acanthaceae found only on São Tomé and Príncipe and one (Heteradelphia paulowilhelmia) which may be endemic at the genus-level. We found this beautiful flower in the middle of Lagoa Amelia at 1400 m. during GG III.

Heteradelphia paulowilhelmia. Lagoa Amelia. Weckerphoto: GG III

Wes Eckerman (photographer) Rebecca and Tom at Lagoa Amelia. RCD phot: GGIII

Another species in Tom’s group that is of particular interest to me personally is an acanth called Justicia thomeensis. This flower is known only from São Tomé and has not been collected since the late 19th Century – the original collector did not provide detailed locality data, and we have not found it on the islands yet. We hope it is not extinct, or that it was not actually collected somewhere else. Tom has examined the original dried specimens in Coimbra; it is perfectly valid, and he is re-describing the species. Another botanist named Hedrén examined this material, and in a 1989 study found that J. thomeensis is more closely related to a group of species in East Africa than to any in nearby West Africa. I am finding the same strange disparate distribution patterns among my island frogs.

Justicia relationships. RCD

On the crustacean front, Alex Kim, our freshwater shrimp colleague (see January and March blogs) has decided to attend Harvard for his undergraduate studies, and this summer he is doing fieldwork on prawns in Puerto Rico. He tells us that the São Tomé specimens collected for him earlier this year by the marine group “..represent at least two species which, based on morphology, have clear affinities with New World forms. DNA analysis is still ongoing, but the geological youth of these prawns leads me to suspect that we will soon have genetic evidence of trans-Atlantic larval dispersal.” Pretty impressive stuff for an incoming freshman.

A New World prawn.  Alex Kim phot.

A few months ago I had an opportunity to lecture on some of the scientific results of our Gulf of Guinea Island expeditions to a group of biologists at international meetings in Sardinia; afterward in Spain, I met one of the foremost experts on bats, Javier Juste, of Institute Doñana in Seville who has also worked on the islands and has discovered some of the same strange evolutionary relationships that we have. We are about to send him bat tissues from our GGI collection for DNA extraction.

7th Congresso Nazionale, Societas Herpetologica Italica. Sardinia. C. Corti phot.

In earlier blogs, we discussed the fact that mammals make poor dispersers over saltwater barriers; except for some bats, mammals simply cannot survive long enough to colonize oceanic islands. This is because we mammals have to eat regularly in order to maintain constant body temperatures –without “stoking the furnace” by eating regularly, mammals quickly die of exposure. This is specially the case with shrews; because of the ratio of their tiny body masses to their surface area, shrews lose heat faster than any other mammal, and a shrew has eat almost constantly, or it dies of hypothermia. It is perhaps a testimony to the great geological age of São Tomé and Príncipe that shrews appear to have, nevertheless, successfully colonized both islands! If the two species are indeed valid and occur naturally (not brought to the islands accidentally through human agency), then these may be the only oceanic island shrews in the world.

The Sao Tome shrew (Crocidura thomensis). R. Lima phot. 2009

To our knowledge, the photographs above and below are the first ever published of the supposedly endemic São Tomé shrew, Crocidura thomensis. The photographs were taken by Ricardo Lima, a doctoral candidate at the University of Lancaster who is studying the environmental effects of various agro-forestry techniques on São Tomé. Ricardo tells us that the shrews are not at all rare; in spite of this, we don’t know much about this little critter, nor the one on Príncipe. The São Tomé species was first discovered in 1886 by the great Portuguese explorer, Francisco Newton and described in 1887.

C. thomensis. R. Lima phot. 2009.

The relationships of these small island insectivores were not assessed until nearly 100 years later by Heim de Balsac and Hutterer in 1982. These authors concluded (on morphological evidence) that the São Tomé shrew was a full endemic species, and that the Príncipe form was an endemic subspecies of Fraser’s musk shrew (C. poensis) which is widespread on mainland Africa.

Ricardo Lima and friends, crossing the Rio Lemba, Sao Tome.  2009.

Now, we are in the exciting position of being able to test these assumptions using modern genetic techniques; just how closely related are the two shrews, based on DNA sequence? Did these mammals arrive naturally by rafting, as we suggest for the amphibians? Perhaps millions of years ago? Or were they hitchhikers on an old Portuguese galleon a couple of hundred of years ago? We hope to find out.

Aspergillus dykowskii and Sarophorum palmicola on monkey pod cacao; Lagoa Amelia. D Lin phot. GG II

Finally, our mycologists have a huge job. As you know before our expeditions began back in 2001, there were only four species of mushrooms known from São Tomé, and Príncipe had never been sampled. Now, after Dr. Dennis Desjardin’s work on GG II (2006) and his subsequent return with Dr. Brian Perry during GG III last year, we now have 225 species (including 75 listed for the first time on Príncipe). Many of these are probably new to science and it will be a major effort to fully analyze the entire collection. But Dennis and Brian took the opportunity to describe one of the new species separately. It has just been formally published in the journal Mycologia, and they have named it after me! It is a weird looking thing, and I will describe the whole process (including the humor sometimes involved) in the next blog.

Here’s the parting shot:

“After the Race.”  Weckerphoto. GG III

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George G. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.

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Within the House of Slytherin (II. some snakes)

Category: Biodiversity, Sao Tome, biogeography, snakes
Date: May 5th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

Snakes are not great over-ocean dispersers; they are certainly better than frogs or freshwater fish but not as successful as spiders, geckos and skinks. For instance there are no native snakes in the Hawaiian Islands although they do occur in the Galapagos, but these are much closer to a source continent. In spite of their small size and isolated nature, São Tomé and Príncipe have a rather surprising snake fauna; there are at least seven species, five of which we know to be endemic – they are found nowhere else. This group includes three species of “lower snakes” or scolecophidians; these are small, blind burrowing forms, two of which are endemic to São Tomé and one to Príncipe.

Rhinotyphlops newtonii, a burrowing scolecophidian from Sao Tome. (D. Lin phot. GG I)

The more advanced snakes (caenophidians) are represented by one endemic, diurnal (daytime) species on each island (belonging to two unrelated genera) and a nocturnal subspecies which is currently thought to be the same on both islands.

Hapsidophrys principis- (cobra sua sua:“snake fast”)- the endemic diurnal  species of Principe (D. Lin phot. GGI).

The nocturnal snakes are known as cobra jita (“snake slow”). I have mentioned these in earlier blogs, and my suspicions are that the two island populations are distinct endemics—we are beginning a molecular study this summer to test this hypothesis.

Cobra jita (”snake slow”), the nocturnal species from both islands?  (Weckerphoto. GG III)

But here I want to talk about the remaining snake found on São Tomé which the islanders call cobra preta (“snake black”); this is the only dangerous species on the islands, and it is a bit of a mystery to me.

The black and white, or Forest cobra – Naja melanoleuca. Ethnobiomed phot.

Widely distributed on the African mainland, this species is known as the forest cobra, or black and white cobra (Naja melanoleuca), and it is quite a venomous and formidable animal. In some parts of its range it can exceed 3 meters in length (10’).

Forest cobra distribution.  map by Nils Boyson

Head of Forest or Black and White cobra, Naja melanoleuca.

This snake, like most true cobras, displays a hood as part of its defense system, essentially making itself look larger in order to warn of its presence. Like all members of family Elapidae, cobra preta has erect front fangs that are hollow and syringe-like, and it injects prey animals with venom that attacks the nervous system (neurotoxin).

[l.]  C. melanoleuca fang showing aperture (Bruce Young) [r.] direction of venom injection (E. Jose)

All of the São Toméans know of cobra preta and fear it, although I have no idea how frequently citizens are bitten. Based  on a dead-on the-road specimen at nearly sea level in the south of the island, we know it occurs in lowlands, but I suspect it is more common in the mid-level forests; during GG I, we purchased a number of skins from farmers at Bombaim, which is at middle elevation.

Dead on the road, south Sao Tome. (RCD phot. GG recon 2000)

Joel Ledford with Bom Sucesso specimen. (J. Ledford phot. GG I)

The 2- meter specimen above was killed by locals near the Botanic Gardens and Herbarium of Bom Sucesso at about 1000 m, and we were able collect it during the GG I expedition.

During GG II in 2006, we encountered a very large specimen while collecting along an aquaduct in the Contador Valley on the west side of the island at 700 m; in fact, several of us nearly stepped on it before we were aware of its presence.

On our most recent foray, GG III A, we were again on the Contador Aquaduct when a middle-sized snake was killed by locals around a bend in the road, less than 100 m from where we were working.

Contador Valley specimen (Weckerphoto GG III)

Regrettably, they had beheaded the specimen, and so it was of no value as a voucher specimen; however, we were able to photo-document the animal and I removed some liver tissue for future analysis.

Liver tissue removal. (Weckerphoto. GG III)

The presence of the cobra on São Tomé Island is widely considered to be the result of human introduction, most likely accidental (it is hard to imagine an individual bringing a deadly snake on purpose!). Physically it appears to be identical to the widespread Naja melanoleuca of the mainland. Accidental introduction makes ecological sense to me as well because the species does not really fit into this old ecosystem as we are beginning to understand it. We know that the other higher snakes feed on endemic prey species such as frogs and lizards. But aside from some birds, there do not seem to be endemic prey species that are of sufficient size to sustain a large, heavy-bodied snake like cobra preta; on the other hand, plenty of rats, chickens, etc. have been brought over by humans since the 15th Century.

Two of the top African cobra experts are Drs Wolfang Wuster of the University of Wales and Donald Broadley of Zimbabwe. They are currently working on this species, and we have been sending them our tissue samples for DNA analysis. Soon, we should know whether or not this large cobra drifted out to the islands on its own and has since been genetically diverging, or whether it was brought to the island through human agency. Wuster and Broadley are currently describing a new species from Ghana that was long thought to be the species Naja melanoleuca.

Our parting shot:

Roadside enterprise on Principe(Weckerphoto GGIII)

PARTNERS

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George F. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.

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The Race: Bad News/Good News/Sigh of Relief

Category: Biodiversity, cacao, chocolate
Date: March 16th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

I have some bad news (maybe) and some good news:

The image below is what might be our bad news.  During GG III after the zoologists returned to Príncipe, our botanists and mycologists, Tom, Rebecca, Dennis and Brian did a little more work on the big island before flying home.  The photo below was taken by Dr. Brian Perry on one of their last days on the islands, and I just learned of this discovery. The first image is of pods on a cacao tree by the roadside near a place called Bombaim, in mountainous central São Tomé.  The cacao pods may be infested with a fungal pathogen known as frosty pod rot, Monilophthera roreri.  This is a tentative identification by Brian and Dennis.

Frosty Pod Rot near Bombaim, Sao Tome Island.  B. Perry phot - GG III

Cacao (or cocoa, the source of chocolate) is native to Central America and was brought first to Príncipe in the 1820’s by the Portuguese.  During the Portuguese era the cacao industry on the islands was the largest in the world; based largely on slave labor, the industry declined at the end of the slave trade, and new plantations were established in Ghana by Cadburys, the one of the main European buyers and producers of chocolate. While the industry is now much reduced, it is still important to the economy of the Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Healthy cacao pods on Sao Tome.  D. Lin Phot. GG II

Frosty pod rot has devastated the cocoa industry in Central America from Mexico to Panama for over 50 years causing up to 80% crop losses in some localities.  What we do not know is whether the growers of São Tomé and Príncipe know of the presence of this pathogen on the islands yet; we have just sent this picture together with the precise locality data to our friends in the Ministry of the Environment to alert them.  We are hoping the authorities are already aware of the threat and have taken steps to deal with it. The whole frosty pod rot story can be found here:

http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/info-center/documents/Phillips_Frosty_Pod_COPALPresentation.pdf.

(addendum 12/2009!)

A sigh of relief
… for São Tomé cocoa producers and chocolate lovers world-wide.  We have just learnt from Ulrike Krauss that the suspected frosty pod rot on the photo taken near Bombaim is almost certainly either cherelle wilt or a pod mummified by secondary invaders following black pod rot, caused by Phytophthora sp, but not frosty pod rot.  To date (December 2009), there is no confirmed record of the frosty pod rot pathogen, Moniliophthora roreri, in any of the cocoa-producing countries of the Old World.
Ulrike Krauss points out, however, that the threat of introduction is to be taken very seriously by authorities, as this pathogen is both highly invasive and extremely destructive.  Natural spread from the Americas to the Old World is unlikely.  Human vectoring, e.g. via cocoa germplasm, pods or beans, is the greatest risk, but the microscopic spores of the pathogen can also adhere to clothing and hair of anybody arriving from infested areas.

Alex Kim at Intel Awards – Media photo.

 The good news is that Alex Kim, our high school colleague in Virginia who has been working on freshwater shrimp took 7th place at the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search. This is a remarkable achievement as the finalists included 40 of the most highly talented kids in the country.  He is continuing his study of our São Tomé prawns and will keep us informed of his results; frankly I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot about this young man for years to come. Here is the url with descriptions of the projects, including Alex’s: http://sciserv.org/sts/68sts/winners.asp 

Snakes are next in a return to “Slytherin”

The parting shot.

PARTNERS We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement  (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George F. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murkami for helping make these expeditions possible.    

   

   

   

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The Race: Return of the Marines Redux!

Category: Biodiversity, Gulf of Guinea, Island endemics, Sao Tome, Uncategorized, barnacles, biogeography, coral, invertebrates, principe
Date: February 20th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

I have just heard that Alex Kim, the student at Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology in Virginia has received the new freshwater prawns GG III (B) collected for him and is in the process of extracting DNA from the fresh tissues. As I mentioned in the last couple of blogs, Alex is a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search, and we are very interested in his progress.  His results will add to our understanding of our own work and the biodiversity of these islands.  When Alex first contacted me, I had some concern that we might have neglected to bring prawns back with us from GG I and II.  We had, of course, and Alex has been studying some of the preserved specimens er brought to him in December.  Just yesterday I found an image of Dr. Tomio Iwamoto carefully processing these some of these same prawn specimens in 2006 on São Tomé (during GG II). This will give you an idea of the size of the critters Alex is studying (although there are two species on the islands – I am not sure which one this is!)

 

Tomio Iwamoto on Sao Tome.   RCD phot. GG II

The marine biologists of GG III (B) are busily sorting through their material, and I thought an early update was in order.   In the last blog I mentioned that the Dr. Williams had done very well with his octocorals (also known as gorgonians or sea fans), and so had Dr. Van Syoc and Dana Carrison with their barnacles. Dana is Bob Van Syoc’s graduate student at San Francisco State University.

 

Dana Carrison during a more northerly field trip. NOAA photo  

Bob Van Syoc found an undescribed barnacle species on São Tomé during GG II, and it appears that Dana has now confirmed this for Príncipe as well.  And there may well be other new barnacle species; it is just too soon to tell.  Dana is studying the relationship between these barnacles and Dr. Williams’ sea fans.  This is an obligate relationship – some species of sea fans are always found in association with certain species of barnacles.

 The barnacle Conopea calceola on a gorgonian.  D. Carrison phot. GG III

Note that the barnacle settles on the gorgonian, and the gorgonian’s tissue (red, in this case) grows up around it.  Along with describing new species and adding to our island biodiversity list, Dana is testing the hypothesis that the different species of barnacles have a preference for certain species of gorgonian upon which to settle. Dana got about 30 different Príncipe barnacles but has not yet begun identifying them or comparing them to the GG II barnacles collected in São Tomé.  Also included in her collections are at least three different gorgonians and their associated barnacles that were not collected previously by the Academy expeditions.

 

  Undescribed species of Conopea on a different species of gorgonian.  D. Carrison phot. GG III

New barnacle species or the relationships of freshwater prawns may not sound exciting to you.  In our biodiversity race, we are studying everything we can, as biodiversity is the sum of all living species in a given area; thus, everything is important as a measure of the uniqueness and past history of these ancient islands.  Think of our mushroom work: before we started, there were only four species known from São Tomé and none from Príncipe; now the people of the islands know that there are at least 220 species, many of them undescribed and unexpected.  The same is true for the ant lions I have documented earlier, and I fully expect similar results when analysis of our collections of diatoms and spiders are completed.  The story of biodiversity can never be told by the study of furred and feathers critters alone. 

Here’s the parting shot:  

 

Incipient Dr. Uyeda with collecting party, Nova Cuba, Principe. Weckerphoto GG III 

PARTNERS 

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement  (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George F. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murkami for helping make these expeditions possible.   

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The Race: Return of the Marines!

Category: Biodiversity, Sao Tome, Uncategorized, coral, fish, invertebrates, nudibrachs, principe
Date: February 10th 2009
By: islandbiodiversityrace

 This is a brief update on the return of our people last weekend from Gulf of Guinea III (B). They were the marine component of the 2008-2009 expeditions (see Send in the Marines).  The focus of four of the group was the waters of Príncipe, the much older of the two islands.  The two fish people, Dr. John McCosker and David Catania went a week earlier to dive in São Tomé; neither had been to the islands before, and much of our earlier fish work was freshwater in nature. After the second group of four arrived, the whole expedition flew to Príncipe courtesy of SCD, one of our main sponsors (see “Partners,” below).   

As I posted earlier, our first nudibranch (sea slugs) specialist, Dr. Marta Pola-Perez, was on the GG III (B) expedition.  Below are photos of a few of the critters she found.

A possible new species of Phidiana, Principe. Pola-Perez phot. GG III

Flabelina arveloi, Principe.  Pola-Perez phot. GG III

 

Hypselodoris bilineata, Principe. Pola-Perez phot. GG III

As I wrote before, Dr. Bob Van Syoc, his graduate student, Dana Carrison and Dr. Gary Williams are looking at corals and barnacles and the association between the two life forms.  Dana’s dissertation topic concerns the relationship between what we think is a new species of barnacle and one of Gary’s octocorals (sea fans). 

  

A Sao Tome sea fan (Eunicella). G. Williams phot. GG III

This group did quite well on Príncipe; Bob and Dana collected a barnacle species previously known only from the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, Megabalanus azoricus, thus adding to the island diversity list.  Gary thinks he has now collected more species of octocorals in São Tomé and Príncipe than are found on the Galapagos Islands. 

 

Grad student, Dana Carrison, with sea fan on Principe. B. Van Syoc phot. GG III

 Dana, Gary Williams and John McCosker, Principe. B. Van Syoc phot. GG III

Of particular interest is that Bob found a species of shore barnacle at Bom Bom on Príncipe otherwise known only from South Africa. He thinks it was probably brought in by barge carrying building supplies.  So far it seems to be confined to the vicinity of the Bom Bom pier. 

 

Bom Bom pier at night, Principe. Weckerphoto GGIII

John and Dave also well.  Although they said the diving was “spotty” they did manage to sample a bunch of neat stuff, including at least one definite new species. 

A new species of Serranus from both islands.  D. Catania phot. GG III 

Ichthyologists frequently find new species just by exploring fish markets.  Below is a pot of jacks for sale which John and Dave cannot identify to species.  They will need to compare the DNA of these fishmarket critters with other known species in the genus.

Unidentified species of Caranx in the fishmarket.  J. McCosker phot. GG III

As I have written before, another way for ichthyologists to sample the marine fauna is to get permission to buy odd specimens directly from beach seiners.

 

 Sao Tome beach seine. J. McCosker phot. GG III] 

This group was fishing in the bay near Omali Lodge (Marlin Beach Hotel), and like Dr. Iwamoto did during GG I,  John and Dave dealt directly with the seiners for unique specimens.  Detirmining the identity of all of this material takes a great deal of time, but for now it looks as though the Marines of GG III (B) did quite well. 

I received some great news while the group was gone. Recall that I mentioned the marine group was going to collect some freshwater prawns for DNA work in a project by high school student Alex Kim in Virginia.  Well, the group got the prawns and by now they are back east being investigated by Alex and his mentor from George Mason University, Prof. Patrick Gillevet.  But the great news is that Alex is one of 40 finalists in the INTEL SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH; his project and scholarship are obviously gaining recognition, and we at the Academy are proud to be able to help out.

Alex has his own website: http://amphidrome.wordpress.com/  

Here’s the parting shot:  

  

Growing up on Principe. R. Wenk photo. GG III 

PARTNERS We gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Lindsay Field Research Fund, Hagey Research Venture Fund of the California Academy of Sciences, the Société de Conservation et Développement  (SCD) for logistics, ground transportation and lodging, STePUP of Sao Tome http://www.stepup.st/, Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, Director General, and Victor Bomfim, Salvador Sousa Pontes and Danilo Bardero of the Ministry of Environment, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe for permission to export specimens for study, and the continued support of Bastien Loloumb of Monte Pico and Faustino Oliviera, Director of the botanical garden at Bom Sucesso. Special thanks for the generosity of private individuals, George F. Breed, Gerry F. Ohrstrom, Timothy M. Muller, Mrs. W. H. V. Brooke and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murakami for helping make these expeditions possible.        

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