Lepidoptera Geometridae - São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobon

Thirty seven of the forty eight recorded Geometridae species in the oceanic Gulf of Guinea islands are endemics. Most of the endemics are found on single islands, with only six shared by two or more islands. The number of species and endemics (including sub-species) for each island is shown in Table I. It must be remembered that the figure here represent recorded species - others probably remain to be discovered. As with other species groups, it is surprising that the size of Príncipe's fauna is almost the same as that of São Tomé's. This fact may be explained by the fact that Príncipe was significantly larger when sealevels were lower during the last glaciation. Additionally, it must be noted that Príncipe has more non-endemic species than São Tomé, which might be due to its closer distance to the continent. Table II gives a listing of all reported Geometridae species.

Table I:

Table II:

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