Biogeographic analysis of the composition of the mammalian fauna of Togo (West Africa)

The Dahomey Gap in West Africa is a human-derived savannah-likevegetation zone interspersed by patches of moist forest, with large rainforest blocksat both West (Upper Guinean Forest) and East (Lower Guinean Forest) of its limits.Togo is a tiny country situated in the middle of the Dahomey Gap. In this paper, abiogeographic analysis of the composition of the mammalian fauna of Togo ispresented, by classifying each species on the basis of five distinct ecologicaldistribution patterns. The greatest proportion of species were Pan-African (88.0%).Excluding the Pan-African species from the analysis, the mammalian fauna appearedto be affiliated similarly to both Upper Guinean and Lower Guinean Forest blocks.Only three endemic species were observed, all of them being rodents: Cryptomys zechi(Batyergidae), Funisciurus substriatus (Sciuridae), and Leimacomys buettneri(Muridae). Considering only the multispecies genera, the great majority did not showany barrier effect by the Dahomey Gap on their own species, as all of them did occuron both sides of Togo. A barrier effect by the Dahomey Gap was uncovered in 8genera; overall, the Dahomey Gap apparently showed a barrier effect on 28.6% of themultispecies genera. It is emphasized that the full understanding of the role of theDahomey Gap as a biogeographic barrier and of its island forests as centers ofendemism is impeded by the lack of biogeographic reviews and meta-analyses on thecomposition of faunal and floral groups of the entire region.