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THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCESGULF OF GUINEA EXPEDITIONS
The Academy The California Academy of Sciences is the oldest scientific institution in the western United States and holds in excess of 20 million scientific specimens from all over the world.These collections are available to scientists world-wide.The Academy faculty is made up of PhD researchers, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students in eight departments: Ornithology and Mammalogy, Herpetology, Aquatic Biology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology and Geology, Anthropology, Entomology and Botany. The Academy has a rich tradition of multidisciplinary field research that dates back over 100 years and has included fundamental work in the Galapagos Islands, Baja California, Mexico, Africa and Asia. Concurrent with the Gulf of Guinea work detailed below, there are multidisciplinary projects being carried out in Yunnan (China), Madagascar and Myanmar. The educational and academic activities, scientific collections and history of the California Academy of Sciences may be viewed on www.calacademy.org. The Gulf of Guinea Islands Project The Academy of Sciences' involvement in the islands began with herpetologist Dr. Robert C. Drewes and his interest in the origins of the unique amphibian fauna of the islands.Dr. Drewes has organized and led each of the Gulf of Guinea expeditions with the help and assistance of ECOFAC, the several ministries involved with the environment and two island non-governmental organizations, STeP-UP and ECO-ST. Drewes has invited scientists who represent disciplines that are poorly known on the islands to each expedition, While scientists have known for some time that the fauna and flora of São Tomé and Príncipe are special, this knowledge is based on very old work done at the end of the 19th Century; moreover, much of the material supporting this early work was destroyed in a fire at the natural history museum in Lisbon.Although the bird fauna is relatively well-documented, and a flora exists describing the major elements of the island botany, many important groups have gone completely unstudied by scientists. Our goals are to document, analyze and describe the unique endemic fauna and flora of the oceanic islands of São Tomé and Príncipe with emphasis on poorly studied groups. We are fully cognizant of the changes that will come to the islands with the arrival of oil revenues and aware that what remains of the natural environment will likely be impacted negatively.We feel that the citizens of the Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, along with the rest of the world, must be made fully aware of the unique biological nature of their islands so that informed decisions on future development plans can be made. BIOKOIn 1998, a preliminary Gulf of Guinea expedition spanning seven weeks was mounted to explore the higher elevations of the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. The field party included three herpetologists and two entomologists. Preliminary results confirm the continental nature of the fauna of Bioko; spider samples are still being analyzed, as are what appear to be two undescribed frog species.Collections of reptiles and amphibians made much earlier are housed in the collections of Do–ana in Seville, Spain. These have never been scientifically examined and must be analyzed before the fauna and flora of the island are well-understood. It has become clear, however, that Bioko is biogeographically entirely different from São Tomé and Principe, which are oceanic in nature. In fact, the Gulf of Guinea Islands represent the only island archipelago in the world that contains both continental and oceanic islands.
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE2001 The first Academy expedition to São Tomé and Príncipe took place over a two-month period in 2001 and included work on both islands.It was funded by the Academy (G. Lindsay Field Research Fund) and included, at various times, 11 scientists and graduate students representing the fields of herpetology (reptiles and amphibians), ichthyology (fish), entomology (insects), botany (diatoms and algae), arachnology (spiders) and mammalogy (bats).In addition to the field work, excellent images of specimens produced by the Academy photographer as well as a short video of the expedition were made and are on display in the public area of our museum.
2006 The second expedition to São Tomé and Príncipe was also two-months in duration and included 11 scientists and graduate students arriving at different times.Three herpetologists returned, an entomologist specializing in beetles, three marine scientists working on sea urchins and sand dollars, barnacles and corals, two ichthyologists, and a mycologist (fungi, mushrooms). Again, the expedition was documented by our photographer.
A list of published scientific papers based wholly or in part on material from these expeditions is attached.This list also includes an illustrated popular article describing our research that was written after the expedition of 2001 (Drewes, 2002). All of our publications have been sent or hand-carried to the respective ministries of the São Tomé and Príncipe government and are also available on the Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group website: www.ggcg.st Publications based upon California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition materials and research. 1. Drewes, R. C.* 2002. Islands at the Center of the World. California Wild 55: 8-19. (Popular article) 
2. Drewes, R. C. and J. A. Wilkinson. 2004. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition (2001) I. The taxonomic status of the genus Nesionixalus Perret, 1976 (Anura: Hyperoliidae), treefrogs of São Tomé and Príncipe, with comments on the genus, Hyperolius. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55:395-407.
3. Drewes, R. C. and R. E. Stoelting. 2004. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition (2001). II. Additions and corrections to our knowledge of the endemic amphibians of São Tomé and Príncipe. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55:573-587.
4.. Kavanaugh, D. H. 2005. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition (2001) III. A new species of the endemic genus Straneoa Basilewsky, 1953, fromSão Tomé (Insecta: Coleoptera: Carabidae: Platynini). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56:275-283.
5. Penny, N. D. 2005. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition (2001). IV. The Neuroptera of São Tomé and Príncipe Islands. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56: 285-293. 
6. Pezold, F., T. Iwamoto and I. J. Harrison. 2006. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expedition (2001). V. Multivariate analysis of sicydiines of São Tomé and Príncipe with redescription of Sicydium brevifile and S. bustamantei (Teleostei: Gobiidae) and a key to West African sicydiines. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57:965-980.
7. Measey, J. G., M. Vences, R. C. Drewes, Y. Chiari, M. Melo and B. Bourles. 2007. Freshwater paths across the ocean: Molecular phylogeny of Ptychadena newtoni gives insights into amphibian colonization of oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography: 34:7-20.
8. Wirtz, P, C. E. L.,Ferreira, S. R. Floeter, R., Fricke, J. L. Gasparini, T. Iwamoto, L. Rocha, C. L. S. Sampaio and U. K. Schleiwen. 2007. Coastal fishes ofSão Tomé and Príncipe islands, Gulf of Guinea (Eastern Atlantic Ocean)—an update. Zootaxa 1523:1-48.
9. Uyeda, J. C., R. C. Drewes, and B. M. Zimkus.In press. The California Academy of Sciences Gulf of Guinea Expeditions (2001, 2006) VI. A new species of Phrynobatrachus from the Gulf of Guinea Islands and a reanalysis of Phrynobatrachus dispar and P. feae (Anura: Phrynobatrachidae). 2007. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 58: 367-385.
* past field team members are in bold. Much of our research is ongoing and will take some years to complete; some of the more exciting projects include the following: 1. Prior to the CAS 2001 there had been no studies of diatoms or algae on the islands. The collections made by Dr. Sarah Spaulding are currently being studied by Dr. Patrick Kociolek (CAS). Apparently these collections include many new taxa; in fact, the diatom fauna appears to be entirely different from what scientists would predict.
2.The large spider collections made by Dr. Charles Griswold and Joel Ledford are proving an enormous task to study and will be the subject of some effort in coming years. Along with new taxa, there are also specimens hitherto known only from single individuals collected over 100 years ago.
3. Work by Ricka Stoelting confirming the identity of Schistometopum thomense (the caecilian, "Cobra bobo") as a true endemic and ancient disperser is being prepared for publication.
4. Prior to our expeditions only four mushroom species had been described from São Tomé. During two weeks in 2006, Dr. Desjardin made 90 collections of over 80 species, many of them new taxa. Unfortunately, these collections were lost in air transit.It is our intention to duplicate the São Tomé collection on 2008 and to conduct the first mushroom survey of Príncipe.
5.Dr. Richard Mooi continues to work on the extremely rare Gulf of Guinea sand dollar and its relatives. He is attempting to extract DNA from one of the 2006 specimens.
6. Drs. Gary Williams and Robert Van Syoc are working on a new cryptic species of barnacle discovered during the 2006 expedition.Our plans are to sample similar marine organisms in Príncipe.
7. Dr. Drewes and colleagues have made the startling discovery that the endemic amphibians of São Tomé and Príncipe are genetically more closely related to East African species than to relatives in nearby West Africa.This, plus the relationships between the reptiles of the two islands continue to be on-going herpetological projects.
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