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John, J.R., 2015. Checklist of Tanzanian Species, Version 1 Hulda Gideon, Philibert Nyinondi and Godfrey Oyema (eds), InterPress of Tanzania Ltd, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, Dar es Salaam (2012), 545 pp. ISBN: 978‐9987‐9485‐1‐2. African Journal of Ecology, 53(4), pp.616-616. |
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Tanzania is among the top biodiversity-rich countries inAfrica and a signatory to the Convention on BiologicalDiversity. Yet until recently, there has not been anycomprehensive documentation of the species of Tanzania.Before the production of the ‘Checklist of TanzanianSpecies’ by Gideon, Nyinondi and Oyema (2012), infor-mation was scattered in published and unpublished works,Web journals, and in the depositories of academic andresearch institution’s libraries, herbaria and museumswhere it was difficult to access. This book is an importantcontribution to the documentation of Tanzanian biodiver-sity.Species accounts in this book are arranged by taxon(species totals in brackets); marine algae (556), amphi-bians (197), terrestrial arthropods (867), birds (1148),cnidarians (365), echinoderms (144), fishes (1568), fungi(810), mammals (333), water molluscs (159), plants(7714 verified, 953 unresolved names), poriferans (120)and reptiles (355), with individual chapters co-authoredby experts from universities, research institutions andknowledgeable practitioners.Although most chapters are well written, some authorsdid not cross-check the species checklists with interna-tional databases, and hence, there are important omis-sions. Furthermore, the written accounts for several taxaalso do not relate closely to species checklist. For example,in the chapter on mammals, the authors discuss theedibility of species and whether a species is pest, but this isnot indicated in the species checklist. Similarly, in themammal and reptile chapters, the proportion of endemicand threatened species are cited, but no attempt is made toidentify the threatened or endemic status of individualspecies. In the mammal chapter, Equus burchelii is placed in |
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Checklist of Tanzanian Species, Version 1 HuldaGideon, PhilibertNyinondi and GodfreyOyema (eds), InterPress of Tanzania Ltd, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology, Dar es Salaam (2012), 545 pp. ISBN: 978-9987-9485-1-2 |
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