Herpetological Review 45(4), 2014 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 667 Herpetological Review, 2014, 45(4), 667–674. © 2014 by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles The Herpetofauna of the Capanda Dam Region, Malanje, Angola Knowledge of Angolan biodiversity, and especially amphib- ian and reptile diversity, remains highly incomplete. The first comprehensive works on the Angolan herpetofauna were made during the 19 th century by J. V. Barbosa du Bocage, who published a series of short papers on the country’s amphibians and reptiles, culminating in his magnum opus “Herpétologie d’Angola et du Congo” (Bocage 1895). Following Bocage, Ferreira conducted a number of studies of the Angolan herpetofauna (Ferreira 1897a, 1897b, 1900, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906) as did Boulenger (1905, 1907, 1915), Angel (1921), Parker (1936), and Mertens (1938). While the majority of these publications were short and descrip- tive, Albert Monard contributed more methodical and detailed studies of both Angolan amphibians (Monard 1938) and rep- tiles (Monard 1937). Subsequent contributions include those of the Pulitzer Expedition to Angola (Boulton 1931; Schmidt 1933, 1936), Bogert (1940) and Loveridge (1944) on the herpetological material of the Vernay Expedition, as well as Hellmich (1957a, b) and Fitzsimons (1959). The most extensive recent data are pre- sented in a series of publications by Raymond Laurent (1950, 1954, 1964) based on the rich collections of the Museu do Dundo in northern Angola. Contributions during the late Portuguese co- lonial period and post-independence have been limited. These include papers by Horton (1972) and Gans (1976) and recent post-civil war contributions from several South African and Eu- ropean herpetologists (Haacke 2008; Conradie et al. 2012, 2013; Ernst et al. 2013). Frétey et al. (2011) recently published a list of Angolan amphibians, but based largely on previously published data. The general lack of recent work is due in part to the violent civil war that devastated the country for decades. New studies on the diversity, distribution, and ecology of Angolan amphibians and reptiles are urgently needed especially for conservation as- sessments. As part of a broader program to review existing knowledge of the herpetofauna of Angola, we visited the Museu Nacional de História Natural in Luanda (MNHN), Angola, in December 2012 and December 2013 to study its herpetological collections. The museum’s scientific (i.e., non-exhibit) collections are dominated by a single large collection of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and some mammals made by one of us (A. Lavres), a biologist from the Museum, from January to April 2003 during the construction of a dam in the Capanda region, Malanje Province, as already noted by Kuedikuenda and Xavier (2009). The amphibians and reptiles of this area have not been explored previously and, due to the flooding of the area, the collection constitutes an interest- ing source of information about this area’s herpetofauna prior to this major disturbance. Further, due to the extended period dur- ing which the collection was assembled and to the large numbers of specimens collected, the data from this collection may provide important baseline data to understand the impacts of the dam on the fauna in this northern region of the country. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MUSEU NACIONAL DE HISTÓRIA NATURAL AND ITS COLLECTIONS The MNHN is a museological descendant of the Angolan Mu- seum, founded in Luanda in 1938 and established in São Miguel Fort in the Luanda Bay area. The first plan for the creation of the Angolan Museum was published by Fernando Mouta (1936). Mouta, a Portuguese engineer based in Luanda at that time, had been contacted by Swiss zoologist Albert Monard (1886–1952) who had explored Angola on two different occasions: first be- tween July 1928 and February 1929, and second between April 1932 and October 1933. Based largely on the latter expedition, Monard published extensively about Angolan amphibians and reptiles (Monard 1937, 1938), birds (Monard 1934), and mammals (Monard 1935). Inspired by the rich and unexplored biodiversity of the country, Monard devised and presented a plan to erect a Natural History Museum in the region, and offered to direct and manage the museum himself. Mouta (1936) promoted the idea of Monard becoming the director of such an institution, but for unknown reasons this did not happen. In 1938 the Angolan Mu- seum opened to the public in São Miguel Fort. The institution was not exclusively dedicated to natural history; it contained ar- cheological collections, weaponry, religious art, a small ethno- graphic collection, and a large library with rare books and his- torical documentation, as well as the nucleus of a natural history collection (Anonymous 1950). These last collections were trans- ferred during the mid-1940s to the Liceu (public high school) of Luanda due to a lack of space and appropriate facilities to main- tain it, and also to meet the educational need for a collection for use in classes (Anonymous 1950). Only in 1956 did the colonial government decide to build a new museum in Luanda dedicated exclusively to Natural History. There is relatively little published or archival information available about this new building and museum, and its history is yet to be written. What is known from the personal communication of people who knew the museum in that time is that its collections were prepared mostly by a taxi- dermist from the Museu de História Natural Álvaro de Castro Museum in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique. The museum was designed as a typical twentieth century museum, with the majority of the specimens presented in large, colorful, and well prepared dioramas. Since its inception, the MNHN has LUIS M. P. CERÍACO* Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, California 94118, USA; and Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Rua da Escola Politécnica 56, 1250-102 Lisboa, Portugal AARON M. BAUER Department of Biology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085, USA DAVID C. BLACKBURN Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, California 94118, USA ANA C. F. C. LAVRES Museu Nacional de História Natural, Largo do Kinaxixi, Rua da Muxima, Luanda, Angola *Corresponding author; e-mail: luisceriaco@netcabo.pt