Ants represent a crucial component of terrestrial ecosystems owing to their roles in nutrient cycling, soil aeration and predation. However, myrmecological studies are relatively rare in the Afrotropics, including Rwanda. This study reveals high ant diversity within Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda, an ecologically rich area comprising savannas, woodlands and wetlands. A nonsystematic sampling scheme was used across different habitats within the park, implementing various sampling techniques, namely pitfall traps, leaf litter sifting, Winkler leaf litter extraction, vegetation sweeping and hand collection from rocks, rotten wood and dead trees. The findings indicate a high diversity of ant species, with six subfamilies comprising 41 genera including 119 named species and 68 morphospecies. A minimum of 17 of these morphospecies represent undescribed species. Of the collected species, 149 were recorded for the first time in Rwanda. These findings highlight the status of Akagera National Park as a biodiversity hotspot. They also provide a baseline inventory for future entomological, ecological and conservation efforts in Akagera National Park. We recommend additional studies to formally describe the morphospecies currently confirmed as undescribed and to further investigate the status of the remaining unidentified morphospecies
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RBINS Staff Publications 2026
The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpetological fauna including snakes, lizards and amphibians, but strangely, lizards are only represented by Acrodonta. Here we describe the acrodontan assemblage based on numerous, diverse and well-preserved dentaries, premaxillae, and maxillae. Among the five taxa described one new genus and species characterised by a short splenial represents the youngest occurrence of the extinct family Priscagamidae. The other four taxa belong to the extant family Agamidae. Two of them previously known, Vastanagama susanae and Tinosaurus indicus, are here revised. The two other taxa are new. The first one, Suratagama neeraae gen. and sp. nov., is characterised by the presence of six small pleurodont teeth with a nearly cylindrical shaft and an obtusely pointed apex. The second one, Indiagama gujarata gen. and sp. nov., has rectangular teeth in lateral view, unicuspid crowns forming a nearly horizontal cutting edge, and wear facets on both the lingual and labial sides of the dentary. Our results confirm that Acrodonta is the only lizard group present in Vastan, whereas many other groups are already present from the beginning of the Early Eocene on the other continents. The diversity of the agamids in Vastan and the absence of non-acrodontan lizard in India tentatively support the Out-of-India hypothesis for agamids.
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