Great Southern Bioblitz Region Report: Africa

Africa made a substantial contribution to the Great Southern BioBlitz 2025, recording 122,752 observations, 15,106 unique taxa, and 2,154 observers, with an average of 7.01 taxa per observer. These results highlight both the continent’s exceptional biodiversity and the strong engagement of participants across multiple taxonomic groups.

Participation and biodiversity documentation in Africa have shown a consistent and sustained increase since 2020. Observations rose steadily from 16,626 in 2020 to 122,752 in 2025, while unique taxa more than tripled over the same period. Although taxa per observer declined from 15.90 in 2020 to 7.01 in 2025, this trend reflects rapid growth in participation rather than reduced biodiversity yield, indicating a broadening community of contributors alongside continued taxonomic discovery.

Table 1. Summary of the GSB in Africa across all years

Year	Observations	Unique taxa	Observers	Taxa per observer
2020	16626	4611	290	15.90
2021	56317	9232	937	9.85
2022	92179	12550	1523	8.24
2023	96342	13084	1549	8.45
2024	107917	13799	1999	6.90
2025	122752	15106	2154	7.01

The African BioBlitz community included several highly active contributors. The top observers collectively contributed many thousands of records, led by craigpeter and tonyrebelo, each exceeding 4,400 observations. In terms of taxonomic breadth, “species chasers” such as adele84, lindelani_gama, and jandrevanzyl documented exceptionally high numbers of unique taxa, demonstrating the important role of dedicated, taxonomically focused participants in expanding biodiversity coverage.

Top 10 observers from Africa (GSB 2025)

Username	Observations
craigpeter	4487
tonyrebelo	4422
adele84	2148
jandrevanzyl	2133
lindelani_gama	1416
jeanelz	1387
zimrim	1361
kyle_campbell1	1241
moira_fitzpatrick	1215
bruno_yolande_zanette	1050

Top 10 species chasers from Africa (GSB 2025)

Username	Unique taxa
adele84	866
lindelani_gama	815
jandrevanzyl	745
tonyrebelo	728
moira_fitzpatrick	665
craigpeter	643
bruno_yolande_zanette	575
grantforbes	514
jeanelz	490
glennstockil	485

Kingdom-Level Patterns

At the kingdom level, Plantae dominated African observations, accounting for 86,402 records and 8,294 unique taxa, reflecting both the botanical richness of the continent and the accessibility of plant observation. Animalia formed the second-largest kingdom, with 34,002 observations and 6,361 unique taxa, supported by a large observer base. Fungi were recorded at lower levels (1,679 observations), consistent with global BioBlitz patterns, while Chromista, Bacteria, and Protozoa were sparsely represented, reflecting identification challenges and specialised sampling requirements.

Kingdom statistics of Africa (GSB 2025)

Kingdom	Observations	Unique taxa	Observers	Taxa per observer
Animalia	34002	6361	1634	3.89
Bacteria	33	8	27	0.30
Chromista	89	25	42	0.60
Fungi	1679	406	396	1.03
Plantae	86402	8294	1583	5.24
Protozoa	16	11	14	0.79

Vertebrates (Chordata)

Vertebrate observations in Africa were led by Aves, which contributed 7,853 observations and 854 unique taxa, underscoring both Africa’s avian diversity and the popularity of birding. Mammalia and Reptilia also contributed strongly, with over 2,000 and 1,200 observations respectively, supported by large observer communities but lower taxa-per-observer ratios, indicating widespread engagement with common or charismatic species. Amphibia yielded moderate observation totals but comparatively low taxa per observer, likely reflecting detectability and seasonal factors. Aquatic groups such as Actinopterygii and Chondrichthyes, along with tunicates, were less frequently recorded but added important representation of aquatic vertebrate diversity.

Invertebrates (Arthropoda)

Invertebrates formed the most taxonomically diverse component of African records. Insecta dominated this group, with 16,874 observations and 3,476 unique taxa, reflecting both high diversity and strong observer engagement. Arachnida were the second most prominent group, contributing 1,873 observations and 438 unique taxa. Other arthropod classes, including Malacostraca, Diplopoda, and Hexanauplia, expanded the ecological breadth of the dataset, particularly in freshwater, soil, and coastal habitats, while smaller groups such as Ostracoda and Pycnogonida were recorded only rarely.

Table 13 Invertebrates (Arthropoda) from Africa

Class	Observations	Unique taxa	Observers	Taxa per observer
Arachnida	1873	438	505	0.87
Branchiopoda	1	1	1	1
Chilopoda	20	9	16	0.56
Diplopoda	463	43	256	0.17
Entognatha	19	10	5	2
Hexanauplia	53	15	32	0.47
Insecta	16874	3476	1236	2.81
Malacostraca	424	137	156	0.88
Ostracoda	1	1	1	1
Pycnogonida	1	1	1	1

Insects (Insecta)

Within insects, Lepidoptera dominated African records, with over 5,100 observations and 1,118 unique taxa, reflecting both their high diversity and strong observer interest. Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Hemiptera also contributed substantially, each recording hundreds to thousands of observations and high taxonomic richness. Orders such as Odonata, Orthoptera, and Blattodea showed moderate contributions, while less frequently observed groups, including Mecoptera, Embioptera, and Ephemeroptera, added important taxonomic depth despite low observation totals.

Table 14 Insects (Insecta) from Africa

Order	Observations	Unique taxa	Observers	Taxa per observer
Archaeognatha	5	2	5	0.4
Blattodea	415	61	214	0.29
Coleoptera	3192	740	648	1.14
Dermaptera	21	11	14	0.79
Diptera	1539	369	381	0.97
Embioptera	1	1	1	1
Ephemeroptera	12	6	9	0.67
Hemiptera	1506	416	416	1
Hymenoptera	1930	324	498	0.65
Lepidoptera	5146	1118	770	1.45
Mantodea	338	50	179	0.28
Mecoptera	1	1	1	1
Neuroptera	176	42	84	0.5
Odonata	1039	111	236	0.47
Orthoptera	1270	184	430	0.43
Phasmida	48	14	42	0.33
Psocodea	8	4	4	1
Thysanoptera	10	3	9	0.33
Trichoptera	19	11	12	0.92
Zygentoma	16	6	13	0.46

Table Flowering plants (Magnoliopsida) from Africa

Order	Observations	Unique taxa	Observers	Taxa per observer
Apiales	843	124	289	0.43
Aquifoliales	18	5	10	0.50
Asterales	12261	979	998	0.98
Berberidopsidales	2	1	2	0.50
Boraginales	369	63	209	0.30
Brassicales	757	102	244	0.42
Bruniales	720	34	135	0.25
Buxales	2	2	2	1.00
Canellales	8	4	8	0.50
Caryophyllales	3724	517	672	0.77
Celastrales	745	53	194	0.27
Ceratophyllales	1	1	1	1.00
Cornales	77	7	39	0.18
Crossosomatales	1	1	1	1.00
Cucurbitales	230	55	151	0.36
Dilleniales	12	3	9	0.33
Dipsacales	273	24	170	0.14
Ericales	4037	310	491	0.63
Escalloniales	2	2	2	1.00
Fabales	7188	744	869	0.86
Fagales	135	27	77	0.35
Gentianales	3752	382	629	0.61
Geraniales	1387	136	389	0.35
Gunnerales	37	2	24	0.08
Huerteales	3	1	3	0.33
Icacinales	5	4	5	0.80
Lamiales	5530	664	834	0.80
Laurales	140	18	85	0.21
Magnoliales	77	17	47	0.36
Malpighiales	2674	344	577	0.60
Malvales	2690	261	618	0.42
Metteniusales	43	4	27	0.15
Myrtales	1471	154	435	0.35
Nymphaeales	114	9	90	0.10
Oxalidales	253	45	162	0.28
Piperales	10	4	10	0.40
Proteales	3097	203	328	0.62
Ranunculales	392	45	216	0.21
Rosales	1826	206	476	0.43
Santalales	645	72	243	0.30
Sapindales	3105	251	583	0.43
Saxifragales	1539	168	415	0.40
Solanales	1414	149	462	0.32
Vahliales	6	1	4	0.25
Vitales	354	37	141	0.26
Zygophyllales	162	22	69	0.32

Flowering Plants (Magnoliopsida)

Flowering plants represented the single largest taxonomic component of African observations. Asterales clearly dominated, contributing over 12,000 observations and nearly 1,000 unique taxa, supported by almost 1,000 observers. Other highly represented orders included Fabales, Lamiales, Caryophyllales, Gentianales, Ericales, Malvales, and Malpighiales, each contributing thousands of observations and hundreds of taxa. Together, these orders formed the core of documented plant diversity across African habitats. Less frequently observed or highly specialised orders, such as Amborellales, Ceratophyllales, and Crossosomatales, were represented by very few records but added important phylogenetic breadth to the dataset.