Angola’s Remote Lisima Plateau Yields Dozens of Previously Unknown Insect and Spider Species After Decades of Inaccessibility

A crowned crab spider that glows vibrant blue under ultraviolet light was discovered in Angola’s Lisima plateau during a February survey by 16 scientists. The same expedition recorded eight undescribed dragonfly species, three new grasshopper species and about 60 moths and butterflies. The survey also documented several rare species never previously recorded in the region.

Researchers recorded 103 dragonfly and damselfly species, bringing the regional total to 163, with 34 species documented for the first time. Of the 47 grasshopper, katydid and cricket taxa collected, three are new to science. Over 1,000 butterflies and moths were collected, and biologists are now mapping their relationships with local plant families.

Preliminary estimates indicate up to 6 percent of the recorded moth species could be new to science. Results for beetles, spiders and scorpions remain under laboratory examination, though the ladybird orb-web spider, which mimics a ladybug, was also documented. The survey recorded 47 taxa of amphibians and reptiles, comprising 24 amphibians and 23 reptiles.

A highly diverse community of wetland frogs was observed in the plateau’s flooded forests and grassy wetlands. In local caves, researchers found Sundevall’s roundleaf bat and Rüppell’s horseshoe bat along with associated bat flies and ectoparasites. More than 320 plant collections were made across the plateau’s ecosystems.

The Lisima plateau feeds four of Africa’s largest river systems—the Congo, the Okavango, the Zambezi and the Cuanza—and supplies freshwater to communities and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Okavango Delta. The expedition builds on 10 years of baseline data collected by National Geographic researchers from the Okavango and Lungwebungu river systems.