Maringma-tepui, also written Mount Maringma and historically known as Mount Marima, is a small

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

of the

Pacaraima Mountains The Pacaraima or Pakaraima Mountains (, ) are a mountain range primarily in southwestern Guyana, and into northern Brazil and eastern Venezuela. Geography The range extends from west to east for over . Its highest peak is Mount Roraima at above ...

Cuyuni-Mazaruni Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region 7) is a region of Guyana. Its capital is Bartica, with villages including Issano, Kartabo, Kamarang, and Imbaimadai. It borders the regions of Barima-Waini, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara and Pomeroon-Supenaam to th ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

. It is known as Malaima-tepui in the local

Akawaio language Akawaio may refer to: *Akawaio people The Akawaio are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people who live in Roraima (Brazil), Guyana, and Venezuela. They are one of several closely related peoples called Ingarikó and Kapon. The Akaw ...

. Most published sources place it just inside Guyanese territory, very close to the border with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and around east of Roraima-tepui.Kok, P.J.R. (2 February 2009)
Lizard in the clouds: a new highland genus and species of Gymnophthalmidae (Reptilia: Squamata) from Maringma tepui, western Guyana.
''Zootaxa'' 1992: 53–67. []Kok, P.J.R., R.D. MacCulloch, D.B. Means, K. Roelants, I. Van Bocxlaer & F. Bossuyt (7 August 2012). ''Current Biology'' 22(15): R589–R590. However, the mountain remains the subject of considerable

toponymic Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

confusion and its name has been applied to at least one other nearby peak. The village of Wayalayeng lies at the base of Maringma-tepui and it is from here that the mountain was explored in May–July 2004 by a botanical team of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. Led by David Clarke, this was the first expedition to reach the mountain's summit. It was followed by two further expeditions in February 2006 and late 2007, by Bruce Means and Philippe J. R. Kok ''et al.'', respectively. Maringma-tepui has a maximum elevation of around or .Kelloff, C.L., S.N. Alexander, V.A. Funk & H.D. Clarke (2011)
Smithsonian Plant Collections, Guyana: 1995–2004, H. David Clarke.
''Smithsonian Contributions to Botany'' 97: i–viii, 1–307. The summit plateau has an area of roughly and is highly uneven, allowing water to collect in many deep, swamp-like pools. It is predominantly covered in low-growing "tepui meadow" vegetation, quaking

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

, and some

dwarf forest file:Hamiguitan bonsai tree.JPG, A "natural bonsai" in the Mount Hamiguitan List of national parks of the Philippines, National Park in the Philippines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site file:Mount Kemiri (8187817161).jpg, An elfin forest in Sumatra ...

s of ''Bonnetia roraimae'', with few areas of exposed rock. The dominant plant families include

Bonnetiaceae Bonnetiaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 3 genera and 38 species. The family is Neotropical, with the exception of the genus '' Ploiarium'', which is found in Malesia. It is sister to the family Clusiaceae The Clusiaceae or ...

Bromeliaceae The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

Clusiaceae The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. (1789) (''nom. alt. et cons.'' = alternative and valid name) are a family (biology), family of plants including 13 genera and ca 750 species. Several former members of Clusiacae are now placed in Calophyllaceae ...

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

Rapateaceae The Rapateaceae are a family of flowering plants. The botanical name has been recognized by most taxonomists. The APG II system of 2003 also recognizes this family, and assigns it to the order Poales in the clade commelinids, in the monocots. T ...

Sarraceniaceae Sarraceniaceae are a family of pitcher plants, belonging to order Ericales (reassigned from Nepenthales). The family comprises three extant genera: ''Sarracenia'' (North American pitcher plants), '' Darlingtonia'' (the cobra lily or California ...

, and

Xyridaceae The Xyridaceae are a family of flowering plants. This family has been recognized by many taxonomists and is known as the yellow-eyed grass family. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system of 1998), also recognizes this family, ...

. Temperatures vary widely on the summit plateau, with extremes of 13.5 and 37.5 °C recorded over a five-day period. Native

herpetofauna Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (incl ...

include the

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

species ''Arthrosaura hoogmoedi'' and '' Pantepuisaurus rodriguesi'' (

Gymnophthalmidae Gymnophthalmidae is a family of lizards with at least 250 species, sometimes known commonly as spectacled lizards or microteiids. They are called "spectacled" because of their transparent lower eyelids, which allow them to still see with closed ...

), as well as the

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

species '' Adelophryne patamona'' (

Eleutherodactylidae The Eleutherodactylidae are a family of direct-developing frogs native to northern South America, the Caribbean, and southernmost North America. They are sometimes known under the common name rain frogs. Formerly the subfamily Eleutherodactylina ...

); '' Anomaloglossus kaiei'',Kok, P.J.R. (2010)
A redescription of ''Anomaloglossus praderioi'' (La Marca, 1998) (Anura: Aromobatidae: Anomaloglossinae), with description of its tadpole and call
''Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia'' 50(4): 51–68. ''Anomaloglossus megacephalus'', and '' Anomaloglossus praderioi'' (

Aromobatidae The Aromobatidae are a family of frogs native to Central and South America. They are sometimes referred to as cryptic forest frogs or cryptic poison frogs. They are the sister taxon of the Dendrobatidae, the poison dart frogs, but are not as tox ...

); and '' Oreophrynella macconnelli'' and ''Oreophrynella seegobini'' (

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

). __NOTOC__

Notes

:a.The maps provided in ''

Sarraceniaceae of South America ''Sarraceniaceae of South America'' is a monograph on the pitcher plants of the genus ''Heliamphora'' by Stewart McPherson, Andreas Wistuba, Andreas Fleischmann, and Joachim Nerz. It was published in September 2011 by Redfern Natural History Pro ...

'' place Maringma-tepui on the

Brazil–Venezuela border The Brazil–Venezuela border is the limit that separates the territories of Brazil and Venezuela. It was delimited by the Treaty of Limits and River Navigation of May 5, 1859 and ratified by the Protocol of 1929. The geographical boundary begin ...

, some distance southeast of Roraima-tepui.McPherson, S., A. Wistuba, A. Fleischmann & J. Nerz (2011). ''

''. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. The book's authors also state that Maringma-tepui was incorrectly called " Mount Yakontipu" by Fleischmann ''et al.'' (2007)Fleischmann, A., A. Wistuba & S. McPherson (21 December 2007). ''Drosera solaris'' (Droseraceae), a new sundew from the Guayana Highlands. ''Willdenowia'' 37(2): 551–555. in their description of '' Drosera solaris''.

References

External links

Another new lizard genus!
{{Tepuis , Guyana Tepuis of Guyana Mountains of Guyana

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links