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.R.W. Crosskey, G.B. White, The Afrotropical Region. A recommended term in zoogeography, Journal of Natural History, Vol.11, 5 (1977) 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,F. Westall et al., Implications of a 3.472-3.333Gyr-old subaerial microbial mat from the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa for the UV environmental conditions on the early Earth, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B, Vol.361, No.1474 (2006) 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 (AFSs) can be distinguished. The isolation of Africa was broken intermittently by discontinuous "filter routes" that linked it to some other Gondwanan continents (Madagascar, South America, and perhaps India), 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.E. Gheerbrant, J.-C. Rage, Paleobiogeography of Africa: How distinct from Gondwana and Laurasia?. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol 241, 9 Nov. 2006 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.R. McCall, Implications of recent geological investigations of the Mozambique Channel for the mammalian colonization of Madagascar, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (1997) 264
The first Neogene faunal interchange took place in the Middle Miocene (the introduction of Myocricetodontinae, Democricetodontinae, and Dendromurinae).A. J. Winkler, Neogene paleobiogeography and East African paleoenvironments: contributions from the Tugen Hills rodents and lagomorphs. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol 42, January 2002 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 crisisM. Benammi et al., Magnetostratigraphy and paleontology of Aït Kandoula basin (High Atlas, Morocco) and the African-European late Miocene terrestrial fauna exchanges. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol 145, Dec 1996(for example introduction of Murinae, immigrants from southern Asia).A. J. Winkler, Neogene paleobiogeography and East African paleoenvironments: contributions from the Tugen Hills rodents and lagomorphs. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol 42, January 2002
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 regionsE. Lönnberg, The Development and Distribution of the African Fauna in Connection with and Depending upon Climatic Changes. Arkiv for Zoologi, Band 21 A. No.4.1929. pp. 1-33.J. Fjeldsaå and J.C. Lovett, Geographical patterns of old and young species in African forest biota: the significance of specific montane areas as evolutionary centres. Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol 6, No 3 March 1997 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.Owen-Smith, N. Pleistocene extinctions; the pivotal role of megaherbivores. Paleobiology; July 1987; v. 13; no. 3; p. 351-362 Its situation in the tropics spared it also from Pleistocene glaciations and the climate has not changed much.P. Brinck. The Relations between the South African Fauna and the Terrestrial and Limnic Animal Life of the Southern Cold Temperate Zone. Proc. Royal Soc. of London. Series B, Vol. 152, No. 949 (1960)
Invertebrates
There are large gaps in human knowledge about African invertebrates. East Africa has a rich coral faunaM.H. Schleyer&L.Celliers. Modelling reef zonation in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, South Africa. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Vol. 63, May 2005 with about 400 known species. More than 400 species of echinoderms and 500 species of Bryozoa live there too,Richmond, M. D., 2001. The marine biodiversity of the western Indian Ocean and its biogeography. How much do we know? In: Marine Science Development in Eastern Africa. Proc. of the 20th Anniversary Conference on Marine Science in Tanzania. Institute of Marine Sciences/WIOMSA, Zanzibar as well as one Cubozoan species (Carybdea alata). 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.M. Luc et al. (Esd.), Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture. CABI Publishing, 2005Fourie, H et al. Plant-parasitic nematodes in field crops in South Africa. 6. Soybean. Nematology, vol. 3, 5 (2001)J. Bridge, Nematodes of Bananas and Plantains in Africa, ISHS Acta Horticulturae 540Marais, M., Swart, A. Plant nematodes in South Africa. 6. Tzaneen area, Limpopo Province, African Plant Protection, 2003 (Vol. 9) (No. 2) 99-107 Of the few Onychophorans, Peripatopsis and Opisthopatus live in Africa.R.C. Brusca and G.J. Brusca, Invertebrates, Sinauer Associates; 2 ed.(2003) 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 (over 3,000 species of gastropods with 81 endemic species).S.M. Goodman et al. (eds.) The Natural History of Madagascar, University Of Chicago Press, 2007Kilburn, R.N. 2009. Genus Kermia (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Conoidea: Conidae: Raphitominae) in South African waters, with observations on the identities of related extralimital species. African Invertebrates 50 (2): 217-236. 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 (e.g. Achatinidae, Chlamydephoridae) but other tropical families are common too (Charopidae, Streptaxidae, Cyclophoridae, Subulinidae, Rhytididae). 156 tardigrade species have been found,A. Jörgensen, Graphical Presentation from the African Tardigrade FaunaUsing GIS with the Description of Isohypsibius malawiensis sp. n. (Eutardigrada: Hypsibiidae) from Lake Malawi, Zoologischer Anzeiger Vol 240, 2001Meyer, H.A. & Hinton, J.G. 2009. The Tardigrada of southern Africa, with the description of Minibiotus harrylewisi, a new species from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Eutardigrada: Macrobiotidae). African Invertebrates 50 (2): 255-268. 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.Cumberlidge, N. et al. 2008. A revision of the higher taxonomy of the Afrotropical freshwater crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) with a discussion of their biogeography. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 93: 399–413.
The soil animal communities of tropical Africa are poorly known. A few ecological studies have been undertaken on macrofauna, mainly in West Africa.Okwakol, M.J.N. & Sekamatte, M.B. 2007. Soil macrofauna research in ecosystems in Uganda. African Journal of Ecology 45 Suppl. 2. Earthworms are being extensively studied in West and South Africa.Plisko, J.D. 2006. The Oligochaeta type material housed at the Natal Museum, South Africa. African Invertebrates 47: 57-61.Plisko, J.D. 2009. Pre-testical spermathecal pores and unusual setal arrangement in the South African endemic microchaetid earthworms of presumed Gondwanan origin (Oligochaeta: Microchaetidae). African Invertebrates 50 (2): 237-254.
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 wholeS.E. Miller, & L.M. Rogo, Challenges and opportunities in understanding and utilisation of African insect diversity. Cimbebasia 17: 197-218, 2001 (it has been estimated that the African insects make up about 10-20% of the global insect species richness,K.J. Gaston and E. Hudson, Regional patterns of diversity and estimates of global insect species richness. Biodiversity and Conservation 3,493-500 (1994) and about 15% of new species descriptions come from AfrotropicsGaston, K. J. 1991. The magnitude of global insect species richness. Conserv. Biol. 5:283-296.). 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,Eggleton, P., P. H. Williams, and K. J. Gaston. 1994. Explaining global termite diversity: productivity or history? Biodiversity and Conservation, 3: 318-330 and over 1,000 termite species.
Of Diptera, the number of described African species is about 17,000.Crosskey, R.W.(Ed.) Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region. London, British Museum, 1980 Natalimyzidae, a new family of acalyptrate flies has been recently described from South Africa.Barraclough, D. A. & McAlpine, D. K. Natalimyzidae, a new African family of acalyptrate flies (Diptera: Schizophora: Sciomyzoidea). African Invertebrates 47: 117-134. Anopheles gambiae, Aedes aegypti and tsetse fly are important vectors of diseases. 1600 species of beesEardley, C.D., Diversity and endemism of southern African bees. Plant Protection News 18: 1-2. (1989) and 2,000 species of antsThe Ants of Africa – 2005 among other Hymenopterans are known from Africa.
There live also 3,607 species of butterflies, being the best known group of insects.Ackery, P. R. et al., (eds.) 1995. Carcasson's African Butterflies. An Annotated Catalogue of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of the Afrotropical Region. CSIRO, Canberra 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