Civettictis civetta (Schreber, 1776) The African civet, Civettictis civetta is native to and widely distributed in Africa. It was probably introduced to Sao Tome & Principe with the weasel Mustela nivalis to control rodents. African civets occupy a range of habitats including secondary forest, woodland, bush habitats as well as aquatic habitats. They are not common in interior forest habitats but thrive in degraded and deforested areas. They have been recorded at altitudes up to 5000 m asl on Mt Kilimanjaro The Guinea Lidless Skink (Afroablepharus africana) is classified as ‘Vulnerable (VU)’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is restricted to three locations on the islands of Sâo Tomé, Principé, and Rolas in the Gulf of Guinea. The main threats to this species are suspected to be loss of habitat through deforestation and predation Photo credit: Brianna Hackler by introduced mammals. Introduced mammals on these islands include the African civet, Norway rat (Rattus bocagei); the Sao Tome Canary (Neospiza concolor) and the norvegicus) ship rat (Rattus rattus), House mouse (Mus Sao Tome Fiscal (Lanius newtoni) are under threat of loss musculus), Mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona) and of habitat and potential predation by introduced mammals weasel. that include the African civet, ship rat, house mouse, Mona Declining populations of three endemic and ‘Critically monkey and weasel. Feral pigs (Sus scrofa) are also present Endangered (CR)’ birds the Sao Tome Ibis (Bostrychia and could be a threat. References: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2 ISSG 2012. Global Invasive Species Database Click here to view archives of previous weeks’ species.