Fauna of Africa
The fauna of Africa are all the animals living in Africa and its surrounding seas and islands. The more characteristic African fauna are found in the Afro-tropical realm. Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and stretching equally north and south of the equator creates favorable conditions for variety and abundance of wildlife. Africa is home to many of the world's most recognizable fauna such as lions‚ rhinoceroses‚ cheetahs‚ giraffes‚ antelope, hippopotamuses, leopards, zebras‚ and elephants, among many others.
Origins and history of African fauna
Whereas the earliest traces of life in fossil record of Africa date back to the earliest times, the formation of African fauna as we know it today, began with the splitting up of the Gondwana supercontinent in the mid-Mesozoic era.After that, four to six faunal assemblages, the so-called African Faunal Strata can be distinguished. The isolation of Africa was broken intermittently by discontinuous "filter routes" that linked it to some other Gondwanan continents, but mainly to Laurasia. Interchanges with Gondwana were rare and mainly "out-of-Africa" dispersals, whereas interchanges with Laurasia were numerous and bidirectional, although mainly from Laurasia to Africa. Despite these connections, isolation resulted in remarkable absences, poor diversity, and emergence of endemic taxa in Africa. Madagascar separated from continental Africa during the break-up of Gondwanaland early in the Cretaceous, but was probably connected to the mainland again in the Eocene.
The first Neogene faunal interchange took place in the Middle Miocene. A major terrestrial faunal exchange between North Africa and Europe began at about 6.1 Ma, some 0.4 Myr before the beginning of the Messinian salinity crisis.
During the early Tertiary, Africa was covered by a vast evergreen forest inhabited by an endemic forest fauna with many types common to southern Asia. In the Pliocene the climate became dry and most of the forest was destroyed, the forest animals taking refuge in the remaining forest islands. At the same time a broad land-bridge connected Africa with Asia and there was a great invasion of animals of the steppe fauna into Africa. At the beginning of the Pleistocene a moist period set in and much of the forest was renewed while the grassland fauna was divided and isolated, as the forest fauna had previously been. The present forest fauna is therefore of double origin, partly descended of the endemic fauna and partly from steppe forms that adapted themselves to forest life, while the present savanna fauna is similarly explained. The isolation in past times has resulted in the presence of closely related subspecies in widely separated regions Africa, where humans originated, shows much less evidence of loss in the Pleistocene megafaunal extinction, perhaps because co-evolution of large animals alongside early humans provided enough time for them to develop effective defenses. Its situation in the tropics spared it also from Pleistocene glaciations and the climate has not changed much.
Invertebrates
There are large gaps in human knowledge about African invertebrates. East Africa has a rich coral fauna with about 400 known species. More than 400 species of echinoderms and 500 species of Bryozoa live there too, as well as one Cubozoan species. Of nematodes, the Onchocerca volvulus, Necator americanus, Wuchereria bancrofti and Dracunculus medinensis are human parasites. Some of important plant-parasitic nematodes of crops include Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus, Hirschmanniella, Radopholus, Scutellonema and Helicotylenchus. Of the few Onychophorans, Peripatopsis and Opisthopatus live in Africa. Greatest diversity of freshwater mollusks is found in East African lakes. Of marine snails, less diversity is present in Atlantic coast, more in tropical Western Indian Ocean region. Cowry shells have been used as a money by native Africans. The land snail fauna is especially rich in Afromontane regions, and there are some endemic families in Africa but other tropical families are common too.156 tardigrade species have been found, and about 8,000 species of arachnids. The African millipede Archispirostreptus gigas is one of the largest in the world. 20 genera of freshwater crabs are present.
The soil animal communities tropical Africa are poorly known. A few ecological studies have been undertaken on macrofauna, mainly in West Africa. Earthworms are being extensively studied in West and South Africa.
Insects
Approximately 100,000 species of insects have been described from Sub-Saharan Africa, but there are very few overviews of the fauna as a whole. The only endemic African insect order is Mantophasmatodea.About 875 African species of dragonflies have been recorded.
The migratory locust and desert locust have been serious threats to African economies and human welfare.
Africa has the biggest number of termite genera of all continents, and over 1,000 termite species.
Of Diptera, the number of described African species is about 17,000. Natalimyzidae, a new family of acalyptrate flies has been recently described from South Africa. Anopheles gambiae, Aedes aegypti and tsetse fly are important vectors of diseases. 1600 species of bees and 2,000 species of ants among other Hymenopterans are known from Africa.
There live also 3,607 species of butterflies, being the best known group of insects. The caterpillars of mopani moth are part of the South African cuisine. Among the numerous species of African beetles are the famous sacred scarab, the centaurus beetle, manticora tiger beetles and enormous Goliath beetles.
Butterflies
for butterflies include the Congolian forests and the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic. Some butterflies are grassland or savannah specialists. Many of these have very large populations and a vast range. South Africa has one of the highest proportions of Lycaenid butterflies for any region in the world with many species restricted in range. North Africa is in the Palaearctic region and has a different species assemblage.Genera which are species rich in Africa include Charaxes, Acraea, Colotis and Papilio, most notably Papilio antimachus and Papilio zalmoxis. The tribe Liptenini is endemic to the Afrotropics and includes species rich genera such as Ornipholidotos, Liptenara, Pentila, Baliochila, Hypophytala, Teriomima, Deloneura and Mimacraea. The Miletinae are mostly African, notably Lachnocnema. Other endemic lycaenids include the genus Alaena. Endemic Nymphalidae include Euphaedra, Bebearia, Heteropsis, Precis, Pseudacraea, Bicyclus and Euxanthe. Endemic Pieridae include Pseudopontia paradoxa and Mylothris. Endemic skippers include Sarangesaand Kedestes. The highest species diversity is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, home to 2,040 species 181 of which are endemic.
Fish
Africa is the richest continent of freshwater fish, with about 3,000 species. The East African Great Lakes are the center of biodiversity of many fish, especially cichlids. The West African coastal rivers region covers only a fraction of West Africa, but harbours 322 of West Africa's fish species, with 247 being restricted to this area and 129 being restricted to even smaller ranges. The central river's fauna comprises 194 fish species, with 119 endemics and only 33 restricted to small areas. The marine diversity is greatest near the Indian Ocean shore with about 2,000 species.Characteristic to African fauna are Perciformes, Gonorhynchiformes, some lungfishes, many Characiformes, Osteoglossiformes, Siluriformes, Osmeriformes, Cyprinodontiformes and Cypriniformes.
Amphibians
Endemic to Africa are the families Arthroleptidae, Astylosternidae, Heleophrynidae, Hemisotidae, Hyperoliidae, Petropedetidae, Mantellidae. Also widespread are Bufonidae, Microhylidae, Rhacophoridae, Ranidae and Pipidae.The 2002–2004 'Global Amphibian Assessment' by IUCN, Conservation International and NatureServe revealed that for only about 50% of the Afrotropical amphibians, there is least concern about their conservation status; approximately 130 species are endangered, about one-fourth of which are at a critical stage. Almost all of the amphibians of Madagascar are endemic to that region. The West African goliath frog is the largest frog species in the world.
Reptiles
The center of chameleon diversity is Madagascar. Snakes found in Africa include atractaspidids, elapids, viperines,, colubrids, the pythonids, typhlopids and leptotyphlopids.Of the lizards, many species of geckos, Cordylidae, as well as Lacertidae, Agamas, skinks, plated lizards and some monitor lizards are common. There are 12 genera and 58 species of African amphisbaenians.
Several genera of tortoises , turtles, and 5-7 species of crocodiles are also present.
Birds
There live more than 2600 bird species in Africa. Some 114 of them are threatened species.The Afrotropic has various endemic bird families, including ostriches, mesites, sunbirds, secretary bird, guineafowl, and mousebirds. Also, several families of passerines are limited to the Afrotropics. These include rock-jumpers, bushshrikes, wattle-eyes, and rockfowl. Other common birds include parrots, various cranes, storks, herons, shoebill, bustards, sandgrouse, Coraciiformes. The woodpeckers and allies include honeyguides, African barbets, African piculet, ground woodpecker, Dendropicos and Campethera. The birds of prey include the buzzards, harriers, Old World vultures, bateleur, Circaetus, Melierax and others. Trogons are represented by one genus. African penguin is the only penguin species. Madagascar was once home to the now extinct elephant birds. Mauritius was once home to the now extinct endemic bird species, the being notably the Dodo bird and also the Mauritius blue pigeon.
Africa is home to numerous songbirds. The red-billed quelea is the most abundant bird species in the world.
Of the 589 species of birds that breed in the Palaearctic, 40% spend the winter elsewhere. Of those species that leave for the winter, 98% travel south to Africa.