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1957
Of twenty definitives featuring Angolan wildlife, one features the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus). The use of the scientific name Champse vulgaris is interesting. The well known and widely used generic name Crocodylus was first used, inrelation to crocodiles, by Laurenti in 1758 but an earlier name, Champse, had been used for the crocodiles by Merrem in 1820, while Crocodylus had an earlier association with American dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus) going back to Gronovius in 1763. Under the Law of Priority Champse is the senior synonym and in 1933 Werner proposed that Crocodylus be replaced with Champse. Fortunately this proposal was not accepted by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature who erred on the side of stability by retaining Crocodylus. So a nice little stamp with an unusually historical caption, despite the fact the IUCZ made their decision 24years before the stamp was issued.
1993
A since se-tenant set of four different value stamps creating two composite images, one the beach and in the ocean.
1999
Two se-tenant sets of turtle stamps demonstrating the massive inflation in Angola since the previous set of stamps illustrated from 1993. These are really unattractive stamps which come pre-cancelled purely for the collector. A number of African, Asian and former Soviet states adopt this practise and between them they produce some pretty horrid stamps. None of these turtles occur within Angola and most are not even African.
2002
Four unusual reptile stamps of which on the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) is recognisable. The supposed Angolan dwarf python (Python anchietae, with its mis-spelt generic name) bears a strange pattern, appears to have a tail at either end, and seems to be trying to devour a smallantelope, a gastonomic impossibility for a 1.5m python that preys on rodents and birds. The duelling Black-necked spitting cobras (Naja nigricollis) are even weirdeer since no African cobra bears the spectacled hood marking on the Indian cobra (Naja naja). If this is intended to be an Angolan spitting cobra then it is either the Black-necked spitter, which is a uniform black snake, or the Southwestern spitting cobra or Zebra spitting cobra (Naja nigricincta, a former subspecies of N.nigricollis) which is a strongly banded black and white species, and neither description fits the stamp image. The most difficult to identify is the lizard labelled as Lacerta. Lacerta is a genus in the Euro-Asian-African family Lacertidae. Whilst the genus is absent from southern Africa there are eight lacertid genera in the region but most are striped or spotted desert dwellers rather than dark banded lizards as in the illustration. The other possibility is a skink of the genus Trachylepis.
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