DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx68
title: Kimboza, a small lowland forest with an outstanding herpetofauna diversity in East Africa

description: The Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) and Coastal forests of Tanzania are
 renowned for harboring large numbers of threatened and endemic vertebrate
 species, yet most of these areas have been partially studied. The Kimboza
 Nature Forest Reserve (KNFR) is a small forest which is in transition
 between the EAM and Coastal forests, and among the poorly surveyed areas
 for amphibians and reptiles. We conducted systematic surveys across the
 KNFR in 2012 and between 2020 and 2023 using a range of approaches with
 the aim of establishing a comprehensive and updated list of reptile and
 amphibian species and assessing the contribution of EAM and Coastal
 forests to the KNFR's herpetofauna. We identified 77 species, 29
 amphibians and 48 reptiles, substantially updating previous species lists.
 Three of these species (Kinyongia magomberae, Trachylepis
 boulengeri, and Philothamnus macrops) represent range
 extensions from previously known ranges. Fourteen species are endemic to
 East Africa, 11 of them being restricted to Tanzania. These results make
 the KNFR the richest forest reserve for herpetofauna per square km in
 Tanzania, and most similar in its composition to the Coastal, rather than
 Eastern Arc forests. With the caveats concerning taxonomic uncertainties
 and the inequalities of sampling intensity across the region, this study
 shows that the KNFR is an important area that deserves conservation
 attention. The KNFR, like other Coastal forests, is under significant
 pressure from anthropogenic activities which call for urgent action to
 protect this small but rich forest.
description: This study combines two short herpetofauna surveys (two nights,
 December 2012 and three nights, January 2023) with an intensive fieldwork
 of 11 months (December 2020 to June 2022). The 2012 and 2023 surveys used
 time constrained searching only, and the 2020–2022 involved time
 constrained searching in all months, and two lines of bucket pitfall
 trapping with a drift fence in May 2021. We also compiled information on
 other surveys conducted in the KNFR from the literature and biodiversity
 databases. We queried biodiversity databases (GBIF; www.gbif.org (https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.t26vw9, and https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.kth9yd), VertNet; www.vertnet.org, iNaturalist; www.inaturalist.org) and Google Scholar between March 10 and May 18 2024 using a combination of “Amphibia/Reptilia/Herpetofauna” and the reserve's boundary to find any record of these taxa from the forest reserve. We also queried the biodiversity database of the University of Dar es Salaam, and museum records of the Natural History Museum in London to access records of specimens deposited by previous researchers. All resulting species lists were curated to use the current nomenclature (Amphibians species of the world, Frost 2024 for amphibians and The reptile database, Uetz et al. 2023 for reptiles) and resolve species with uncertain identities, e.g., those which were not identified to species level, undergone taxonomic revisions or represent mis-identifications. To understand the position of the KNFR in terms of herpetofauna species when compared to other Coastal and Eastern Arc forests, we compare its species richness to records of amphibians and reptiles from Coastal forests of Tanzania and Eastern Arc Mountain blocks from Burgess and Clarke (2000) and Rovero et al. (2014). We supplemented these two sources by searching for other published and unpublished reports in Google scholar, and occurrence data from VertNet and GBIF between 10 March to 18 May 2024 using the name of each forest (see Burgess and Clarke (2000) and Rovero et al. (2014) for the list of forests used) together with the word amphibia/reptilia. The resulting species lists are listed in Excell with all the associated information.
description: # Kimboza, a small lowland forest with an outstanding herpetofauna
 diversity in East Africa
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx68](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n02v6wx68) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset is a compilation of all herpetological field surveys in Kimboza Forest Reserve from 1983 - 2023. A number of databases (GBIF; [www.gbif.org, ](http://www.gbif.org/)iNaturalist; [www.inaturalist.org](http://www.inaturalist.org/) and VertNet; [www.vertnet.org)](http://www.vertnet.org/) were also consulted to supplement the survey data. The dataset also contain Coastal and Eastern Arc Mountain forests' amphibian and reptile species which were obtained from literature and GBIF; [www.gbif.org, ](http://www.gbif.org/)iNaturalist; [www.inaturalist.org](http://www.inaturalist.org/) and VertNet; [www.vertnet.org](http://www.vertnet.org/). More details on how these data were compiled can be found in the manuscript [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70406](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70406)  ### Files and variables #### File: Supplementary\_Table\_1: Checklist of amphibians and reptiles of Kimboza Forest Reserve **Description:** An Excell file with checklist of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kimboza Forest Reserve obtained from intensive field surveys and compilation of all available records from literature and biodiversity databases. Data is arranged in a tabulated form, with the first column presenting taxa (families and species names grouped as per class (Amphibia on top and Reptilia below)). The next seven columns indicate species records (represented by x) across all known surveys (represented by survey year- the year in which the survey was conducted), followed by iNaturalist records, Habitat, % NCBI BLAST match, GenBank Sequence accession numbers and comment/notes. Note: EAM= Eastern Arc Mountains *= Tanzania (TZ) Endemic, ** = East Africa (EA) Endemic, § =Vulnerable (VU), †=Endangered (EN), ¤=Critically Endangered (CR), ¥=Data Deficient (DD). Blank cells indicate that no record for that species. ##### Variables * Species: The entry contain names species and families of amphibian and reptile species recorded in Kimboza Nature Forest Reserves across different sources (x indicates a species record).  Note; *= Tanzania (TZ) Endemic, ** = East Africa (EA) Endemic, § =Vulnerable (VU), †=Endangered (EN), ¤=Critically Endangered (CR), ¥=Data Deficient (DD).  * Survey Year:  A year in which a herpetofauna (amphibian or reptile) survey was conducted. * iNaturalist: records of amphibian and reptile species obtained from Kimboza Nature Forest Reserves obtained from iNaturalist between 2011 - Jan 2024) * Habitat: Species' habitats as documented from published sources. * % NCBI BLAST match: Results of NCBI BLAST for species that identification was supported with the aid of molecular barcodes * GenBank Sequence accession numbers: GeneBank accessions for sequences that were submitted in the database.  * Comment: Important species-specific issues to note #### File: Supplementary\_Table\_2:\_Forest area, bibliography and checklist of amphibians and reptiles of Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal forests of Mainland Tanzania. **Description:** An Excell file with three spreadsheets (Amphibians per forest, Reptiles per forest and references). The first two spreadsheets (Amphibians per forest, Reptiles per forest) Contain records of amphibian and reptiles across Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal forests of mainland Tanzania. They also contain total number of amphibians and reptile species per forest and forest area. The last spreadsheet contains list of references that were used to create the species lists. ##### Variables  * SN: Serial number * Family: Taxonomic family * Species: A scientific name of reptile/amphibian species. Note: x represents a species record.  * Forest: Forest name, each forest in its own column.  * Total: Total number of species per forest * Forest Area: Total area of forest in (KM2). N/A indicates no data available * References (list of references used to compile species list and forest sizes. This is placed in its own spreadsheet.