Serra Malagueta is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

located in the northern part of the island of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, Cape Verde. At 1064 m elevation, it is highest point of northern Santiago. The mountain range is protected as the Serra Malagueta Natural Park (''Parque Natural de Serra Malagueta''), that was established on February 24, 2005 and covers 774 hectares.Resolução nº 36/2016
Estratégia e Plano Nacional de Negócios das Áreas Protegidas The natural park is situated in the municipalities Tarrafal, São Miguel and Santa Catarina. The summit is in São Miguel, south of the Ribeira Principal valley. The Serra Malagueta formation is of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

origin, and was formed between 2.9 and 2.4 million years ago.

Flora

The park features about 124 species of plants, of which 28 are endemic species or subspecies. The endemic plants are threatened by invasive species from outside the park including ''

Lantana camara ''Lantana camara'' (common lantana) is a species of flowering plant within the verbena family ( Verbenaceae), native to the American tropics. It is a very adaptable species, which can inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems; once it has been introdu ...

'' (lantana) and '' Furcraea foetida'' (giant cabuya). ''

Limonium lobinii ''Limonium lobinii'' is a species of flowering plants of the family Plumbaginaceae. The species is endemic to Cape Verde.Oromí, Martín, Zurita & Cabrera, 2005 : Lista preliminar de especies silvestres de Cabo Verde: Hongos, Plantas y Animales ...

'' (carqueja de Santiago) is only found in this park. Tarrafal-Panorama (2)

Fauna

In the park there are 19 species of birds, of which eight are endemic. Many of these are endangered, including ''Ardea purpurea bournei'' (

Bourne's heron Bourne's heron (''Ardea purpurea bournei''), also known as the Cape Verde heron, Cape Verde purple heron or Santiago heron, or locally in Portuguese as the ''garça vermelha'', is an endangered subspecies of the purple heron that is endemic to ...

), ''Acrocephalus brevipennis'' (

Cape Verde warbler The Cape Verde warbler (''Acrocephalus brevipennis'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It is also known as the Cape Verde cane warbler or Cape Verde swamp warbler, and in Creole as ''tchota-de-cana'' or ''chincherote'' (als ...

) and

Cape Verde buzzard The Cape Verde buzzard (''Buteo bannermani'') is a medium to large bird of prey that is sometimes considered a subspecies of the widespread common buzzard (''Buteo buteo''). As its name implies, it is native to Cape Verde. Some taxonomists co ...

(''Buteo bannermani''). Four species of mammals are found, including one species of monkey. Six species of reptiles are found (four are endemic) and one endemic amphibian species. Invertebrates such as butterflies are found including ''

Acherontia atropos ''Acherontia atropos'', the African death's-head hawkmoth, is the most widely recognized of three species within the genus '' Acherontia'' (the other two being ''Acherontia lachesis'' and ''Acherontia styx''). It is most commonly identified by th ...

'' and ''

Papilio demodocus ''Papilio demodocus'', the citrus swallowtail or Christmas butterfly, is a swallowtail butterfly which commonly occurs over the entirety of sub-Saharan Africa, including Madagascar, besides the southern Arabian Peninsula. The caterpillars feed ...

''; one beetle is endangered: ''

Diplognatha gagates ''Diplognatha gagates'' is a species of beetle belonging to the family Scarabaeidae, Cetoniinae subfamily. Description ''Diplognatha gagates'' can reach a length of about . The thorax is very convex. The surface is shining black or reddish. La ...

''.

Notes

External links

Eco Serra Malagueta/Serra Malagueta Natural ParkSerra Malagueta
at the IUCN page {{Protected areas in Cape Verde Malagueta Geography of Santiago, Cape Verde Santa Catarina, Cape Verde São Miguel, Cape Verde

Flora

Fauna

See also

Notes

External links