An overview is given of the vegetation of the Gombe and Mahale National Parks in western Tanzania. The paper then focuses on the 24 fig trees of this area and after a brief overview of the natural history, keys are provided to identify the species. Each species is briefly treated with a short description, local names, habitat and specimen citations, as well as conservation assessments.

The authors made the first comprehensive bryological collection on the forest-covered Chyulu Range in south-eastern Kenya. Although these hills are of young volcanic origin and do not belong to the so called “Eastern Arc” mountains, they offer a high diversity of habitats from dry Acacia-Commiphora bushland to montane mist forest and thus a relatively rich bryophyte flora: from the 79 species recently recorded, 13 are new to the flora of Kenya. The new combination Plagiochila kiaeri var. myriocarpa is made.

Small mammals were sampled in Tarangire National Park between 1994 and 1996. Twenty-six species of small mammals, including four species of Soricomorpha, seven species of Chiroptera and 15 species of Rodentia were documented, with some records being the first for the park. Identifications and natural history data (including a list of associated arthropods) are presented for each of the 26 species.

Parts of the Masai Mara area are characterised by oval, flat, bare arenas. These were found to be underlain by nests of the fungus-growing termite Odontotermes fulleri (Isoptera, Termitidae, Macrotermitinae). The structure of the nests and the fungus combs are described and illustrated. Dry weights of the different castes of the termites from a series of nests are reported. Possible functions of the arena are briefly discussed.

Two new species of Muscidae (Diptera) are described from Kenya: Pyrellia acaciae sp.n. and Hydrotaea cilitibia sp.n. P. acaciae appears to be not uncommon and was found almost exclusively on flowers of species of Acacia (Fabaceae) (A. brevispica, A. etbaica, A. gerrardii, A. nilotica and A. tortilis), and its activities may contribute towards the pollination of these species. H. cilitibia was much more rarely encountered and, with one exception, was found only on flowers of Balanites species (Balanitaceae).

Identification of specimens from Malaise trap collections and rearings of tephritids from native and cereal grasses confirm the presence in Kenya of Bistrispinaria magniceps, B. fortis, and B. woodi, of which the latter two species are recorded for the first time. Including an earlier, but uncertain, record of B. atlas, all four species of Bistrispinaria, the only genus of Tephritidae in the Afrotropical region known to breed in grass stems, have now been recorded from Kenya. Information is provided on the hosts of B. fortis and B. magniceps. Neither the spatial nor temporal distribution of B. magniceps in its primary host, Panicum maximum, was uniform. Bistripinaria species were collected in about 50% of Malaise trap samples from grassland and relict woodland habitats. Malaise traps were a cost effective and logistically simple way to survey for the presence of this uncommon genus.

An overlooked literature record of B. magniceps adds another species to the tephritid fauna of the Kakamega Forest, Kenya, reported previously, and brings the total to 136.

After a survey of Ndere Island National Park between October and November 2004, we recorded 18 species of butterflies and 3 species of land snails. Eurema brigitta brigitta was the most abundant butterfly whereas Thapsia karamwegasensis was the most abundant land snail. Majority of the butterfly species are found in open formations and about 50 % of them have a widespread distribution in Africa, while the land snails were forest species known only from Eastern Africa. Ndere island appears to support low levels of biodiversity although further monitoring is necessary.