Kenya Virtual Museum Records
Latest version published by FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology on Apr 19, 2025
This data-set contains Virtual Museum records for Kenya, it is part of the project "Prioritizing conservation management in an East African forest landscape" (Project ID BID-AF2017-0274-NAC).
The Virtual Museum (VM) is a database system and corresponding web front-end, it is a research tool with the following main objectives: (1) to provide a platform for citizen scientists to contribute to science-driven biodiversity projects; submitted records are identified and vetted online by a panel of experts; (2) to serve as a repository for the long term curation of distributional data sets; (3) to provide open access to distributional data in the form of maps and lists. The VM has been used as the platform for the Conservation Assessment of reptiles, butterflies, mammals and birds. Currently the VM hosts 17 biodiversity projects: BirdPix (bird pictures archive), BOP (odd plumages of birds), DungBeetleMAP (atlas of dung beetles, Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), EchinoMAP (atlas of African Echinoderma , sea stars, sea urchins and brittle stars), FishMAP (atlas of freshwater fish in southern and eastern Africa), FrogMAP (atlas of African frogs), LacewingMAP (atlas of African Neuroptera and Megaloptera), MushroomMAP (atlas of South African Mushrooms), OdonataMAP (atlas of African Odonata), OrchidMAP (atlas of African Orchids), PHOWN (photos of weaver nests), LepiMAP (atlas of African Lepidoptera), ReptileMAP (atlas of African Reptiles), ScorpionMAP (atlas of African Scorpions), SpiderMAP (atlas of African Spiders), MammalMAP (atlas of African Mammals), TreeMAP (atlas of South African trees).
Downloads
Download the latest version of the resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:
| Data as a DwC-A file | download 14046 records in English (608 KB) - Update frequency: monthly |
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| Metadata as an EML file | download in English (17 KB) |
| Metadata as an RTF file | download in English (12 KB) |
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 999d8fed-d06d-48d8-87ee-cc36e6c8456c. FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by South African Biodiversity Information Facility.
Keywords
Occurrence; temporal; spatial; genus; species; citizen science; volunteer; Birds; Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae); Echinoderma (sea stars; sea urchins and brittle stars); Freshwater fish; Frogs; Lacewings (Neuroptera and Megaloptera); Mushrooms; Odonata; Orchids; Lepidoptera; Reptiles; Scorpions; Spidera; Mammals; Trees.; Observation
Contacts
Who created the resource:
Who can answer questions about the resource:
Who filled in the metadata:
Who else was associated with the resource:
Geographic Coverage
This resource covers Virtual Museum records throughout Kenya.
| Bounding Coordinates | -5.39, 4.95 / 33.51, 42.61 (min, max Latitude / min, max Longitude) |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Most occurrence correspond to photographic records identified to species level by an appointed panel of taxonomic experts in each major taxa covered by the data set.
| Phylum | Echinodermata (sea stars, sea urchins and brittle stars) |
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| Class | Aves (Birds), Osteichthyes (fishes), Amphibia (Frogs), Reptilia (reptiles), Mammalia (Mammals) |
| Order | Neuroptera (Lacewings, Ant lions), Megaloptera (Alderflies, Dobsonflies), Lepidoptera (Butterflies, Moths), Scorpiones (Scorpions), Araneae (Spiders) |
| Family | Scarabaeidae (Dung Beetles) |
Project Data
This Checklist lists the 88 species of reptiles and 30 species of amphibians recorded within the boundary of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest on the north coast of Kenya. Arabuko-Sokoke is internationally known for its rich and threatened biodiversity and, in spite of being a ‘dry’ coastal forest, holds 33 species of frog. While the list represents studies carried out on the herps of the forest over a period of more than 80 years, relatively few experts have spent significant time in the forest and there are still species constantly being discovered in the forest. Broadley's Dwarf Gecko (Lygodactylus broadleyi) was discovered in 2018 and earlier Usambara Forest Gecko Cnemaspis africana together with two undescribed limbless skinks in the genera Scolecoseps and Melanoseps. The checklist uses the accepted scientific names of species as at date of publication including authorship with additional columns as per Darwin Core Standards. The records were collected primarily through sight observations and capture of individuals. The data were digitized by A Rocha Kenya and verified by other lead authors.
| Title | A checklist of the reptiles and amphibians of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya, 2018 |
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| Identifier | BID-AF2017-0274-NAC |
| Funding | European Union through GBIF: https://www.gbif.org/project/7EOzw96rgAoSKKUgYaoaCe/prioritizing-conservation-management-in-an-east-african-forest-landscape |
| Study Area Description | Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining patch of indigenous coastal forest in East Africa. It is located just south of Malindi at 03° 20’ S, 39° 50’ E. It predominantly consists of three distinct forest habitat types: Cynometra Forest (c. 23,500 ha) which is dominated by Cynometra webberi and Manilkara sulcata; it used also to be dominated by Brachylaena huilliensis but this has been largely selectively removed; Brachystegia Woodland (c. 7,700 ha), dominated by Brachystegia spiciformis on white sandy soil; and Mixed Forest (c.7,000 ha) which occurs on the eastern side and has a diverse tree flora including Afzelia quanzensis (formerly dominant), Hymenaea verrucosa, Combretum schumannii and Manilkara sansibarensis and the cycad Encephalartos hildebrandtii. A series of seasonal wetlands run north-south along the length of the forest where the more clay-rich red soils of the Cynometra underlie the permeable white sandy soil of the Brachystegia. Plantations of exotic trees exist mostly around the Gede and Jilore forest stations in the north with one smaller plantation along the southern boundary. The forest now fully isolated as a habitat being surrounded by low grade farmland with all forest cover removed. |
| Design Description | This checklist contains records of reptiles and amphibians found in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. It is based on a list first compiled by James Ashe in 1999 and added to and edited by the other lead authors. The records are from confirmed observations, identifiable photographs and trapped animals. The checklist was digitised and prepared for publishing through GBIF by A Rocha Kenya. |
The personnel involved in the project:
Sampling Methods
The Virtual Museum consists of photographic records submitted by citizen scientists, the data includes locality description and precise point-location data. However, the coordinates of the data presented here are given as the center-point of a 15x15 minute grid. The VM system can also include other type of data: sighting data, museum (specimen) records, camera-trap records, and literature records.
| Study Extent | Virtual Museum data consist mostly of photographic records submitted by citizen scientists across Africa. |
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| Quality Control | Identification of photographic records is done by an appointed panel of taxonomic experts in the respective taxa that the various projects hosted by the Virtual Museum system. |
| Step Description 1 | The Virtual Museum consists of photographic records submitted by citizen scientists, the data includes locality description and precise point-location data. |
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 999d8fed-d06d-48d8-87ee-cc36e6c8456c |
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| http://aduipt.uct.ac.za:8080/ipt-2.3.2/resource?r=kenya_virtual_museum_records |