Collection Manager, Amphibians and Reptiles
Biography
Mariana Marques is the Collection Manager for the Section of Amphibians and Reptiles at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Mariana is a herpetologist dedicated to the management of natural history collections and to the study of the diversity of African amphibians and reptiles. Her research is focused on two main topics: 1) best practices of care and management of natural history collections to maximize the useful lifetime of specimen(s) while promoting specimen-based research, and 2) integrative taxonomy and the evolutionary processes responsible for the diversity and distribution patterns of amphibians and reptiles in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mariana has a B.Sc. in Biology, an M.Sc. in Conservation Biology (both from the University of Évora, Portugal), and a Ph.D. in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (University of Porto, Portugal). Before her position at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Mariana was the Assistant Curator for Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History in Lisbon, Portugal, where she was responsible for the growth, management, and care of the herpetological collection, implementing and updating its curatorial practices. As part of her curatorial activities, she prioritized the recovery of specimens in poor conditions, the taxonomic revision of the collection, and its accessibility through online data portals.
Her herpetological research projects led her to the African countries of Angola and São Tomé & Príncipe, where she has been focused on cataloguing the countries’ rich but still poorly known herpetofauna. She has authored important textbooks, such as the first Atlas of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Angola (2018) and a field guide for the venomous snakes of Angola (2021). She participated in the description of several new vertebrate species, including one mammal, 24 reptiles, and two amphibians. She has been working together with colleagues in Angolan and Zimbabwean museums on collections management and curatorial practices.
Mariana is a member of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), and the Herpetological Association of Africa (HAA).
Publications
Marques, M.P., Parrinha, D., Tiutenko, A., Lopes-Lima, M., Bauer, A.M., Luis M. P. Ceríaco (2023) A new species of African legless skink, genus Acontias Cuvier, 1816 “1817” (Squamata: Scincidae) from Serra da Neve inselberg, south-western Angola. African Journal of Herpetology, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2023.2246487
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Sousa, A.C.A., Veríssimo, J., Beja, P., Ferreira, S. (2023) Illustrated keys and a DNA barcode reference library of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles (Amphibia, Reptilia) of São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea, West Africa). ZooKeys 1168: 41-75. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1168.101334
Marques, M.P., Parrinha D., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Brennan, I.G., Heinicke, M.P., Bauer, A.M. (2023) A new species of thick-toed gecko (Pachydactylus) from Serra da Neve and surrounding rocky areas of southwestern Angola. Vertebrate Zoology, 73: 325-343. DOI: 10.3897/vz.73.e101329
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Heinicke, M.P., Chehouri, R.M., Conradie, W., Tolley, K.A. & Bauer, A.M. (2022) The Angolan Bushveld Lizards, genus Heliobolus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Lacertidae): integrative taxonomy and the description of two new species. Vertebrate Zoology, 72: 745-769. DOI: 10.3897/vz.72.e85269
Marques, M.P., Wagner, P., Buttler, B.O. & Bauer, A.M. (2022). All in all it’s just another branch in the tree: A new species of Acanthocercus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Agamidae), from Angola. Zootaxa, 5099 (2): 221-243. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5099.2.4
Engel, M.S. et al. (82 signatories). The taxonomic impediment: a shortage of taxonomists, not the lack of technical approaches. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 193: 381-387.
Parrinha, D., Marques, M.P., Heinicke, M.P., Khalid, F., Parker, K.L., Tolley, K.A., Childers, J.L., Conradie, W.C., Bauer, A.M., & Ceríaco, L.M.P. (2021) A revision of the genus Pedioplanis Fitzinger (Squamata: Lacertidae) from Angola, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 5032 (81): 001-0246. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5032.1.1
Santos, B.S., Marques, M.P., Bauer, A.M. & Ceríaco, L.M.P. (2021) Herpetological results of Francisco Newton’s Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903–1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection. Zootaxa, 5028 (1): 001-080. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5028.1.1
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Parrinha, D. & Marques, M.P. (2021) Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections. ZooKeys, 1052:85-156. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1052.64607.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Santos, B.S., Marques, M.P., Bauer, A.M. & Tiutenko, A. (2021) Citizen Science meets specimens in old formalin filled jars: a new species of Banded Rubber Frog, genus Phrynomantis (Anura, Phrynomeridae) from Angola. Alytes, 38 (1-4):18-48.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Arellano, A.L., Jadin, R.C., Marques, M.P., Parrinha, D., Hallermann, J. (2021) Taxonomic revision of the Jita snakes (Lamprophiidae: Boaedon) from São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea), with the description of a new species, African Journal of Herpetology, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2020.1832152
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., André, I., Afonso, E., Blackburn, D.C., Bauer, A.M. (2020) Illustrated type catalog of the “lost” herpetological collections of Museu do Dundo, Angola. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 162(7): 379-440. DOI: 10.3099/0027-4100-162.7.379
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Buehler, M.D., Bandeira, S.A., Janota, J., Bauer, A.M. (2020). A revision of the Dwarf Geckos, genus Lygodactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae), from Angola, with the description of three new species. Zootaxa, 4853(3): 301–352. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4853.3.1
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P. & Bauer, A.M. (2020) The Bush Vipers, genus Atheris Cope, 1862 (Squamata: Viperidae) of Bioko Island, Gulf of Guinea, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4838 (4): 581-593. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4838.4.9
Hallermann, J., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Schmitz, A., Ernst, R., Conradie, W., Vergburgt, L., Marques, M.P., Bauer, A.M. (2020) A review of the Angolan House snakes, genus Boaedon Duméril, Bibron and Duméril (1854) (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae), with description of three new species in the Boaedon fuliginiosus (Boie, 1827) species complex. African Journal of Herpetology, 69:1, 29-78. DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2020.1777470
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Heinicke, M.P., Parker, K.L., Marques, M.P., Bauer, A.M. (2020) A review of the African snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4747(1): 77–112. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4747.1.3
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Agarwal, I., Marques, M.P., Bauer, A.M. (2020) A review of the genus Hemidactylus Goldfuss, 1820 (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Angola, with the description of two new species. Zootaxa, 4746: 1–71. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4746.1.1
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.P.M., Stanley, E.L., Bandeira, S.A., Agarwal, I., Bauer, A.M. (2019) A new species of Girdled Lizard (Squamata: Cordylidae) from the Serra da Neve Inselberg, Namibe Province, southwestern Angola. Zootaxa, 4668 (4), 503-524. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4668.4.4
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Bandeira, S., Pauwels, O.S.G. & Bauer, A.M. (2019) Description of a new long-tailed skink (Scincidae: Trachylepis) from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zootaxa, 4568 (1), 051–068. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4568.1.3.
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Blackburn, D.C. & Bauer, A.M. (2018) Diversity and distribution of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles of Angola – Atlas of historical and bibliographic records (1840–2017). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, 65 (supplement 2), 1–501.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Bandeira, S., Agarwal, I., Stanley, E.L., Bauer, A.M., Heinicke, M.P. & Blackburn, D.C. (2018) A new earless species of Poyntonophrynus (Anura, Bufonidae) from the Serra da Neve Inselberg, Namibe Province, Angola. ZooKeys, 780, 109–136. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.780.25859
Soares, L.B., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Bastos-Silveira, C., Scheinberg, L.A., Harris, D.J., Brehm, A. & Jesus, J. (2018) Review of the leaf-litter skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands, with the description of a new species. African Journal of Herpetology, 67 (2), 132–159. DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2017.1413015.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Schmitz, A. & Bauer, A.M. (2017) The “Cobra-preta” of São Tomé Island, Gulf of Guinea, is a new species of Naja Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Elapidae). Zootaxa, 4324 (1), 121–141. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4324.1.7.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Guiterrez, E.E., Dubois, A. et al. (490 signatories) (2016) Photopgraphy-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences. Zootaxa, 4196 (3), 435–445. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4196.3.9.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P. & Bauer, A.M. (2016) A review of the genus Trachylepis (Sauria: Scincidae) from the Gulf of Guinea, with the descriptions of two new species in the Trachylepis maculilabris (Gray, 1845) species complex. Zootaxa, 4109 (3), 284–314. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4109.3.2.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Jacquet, F., Nicolas, V., Colyn, M., Denys, C., Sardinha, P.C., Bastos-Silveira, C. (2015) Description of Crocidura fingui, a new endemic shrew (Mammalia, Soricomorpha) from Príncipe Island (São Tomé
Príncipe, Gulf of Guinea). Mammalia. DOI: 10.1515/mammalia-2014-0056.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Blackburn, D.C., Marques, M.P. & Calado, F.M. (2014) Catalogue of the amphibian and reptile types specimens of the Natural History Museum of the University of Porto (MHNFCP) in Portugal, with some comments on problematic taxa. Alytes, 31, 13–36.
Ceríaco, L.M.P. & Marques, M.P. (2013) Deconstructing a Southern Portuguese Monster: The Effects of a Children’s Story on Children’s Perception of Geckos. Herpetological review, 44 (4), 590–594.
