The review synthesized 46 eligible studies conducted between 2007 and 2026 across 10 African countries. The evidence represented West, East, North, Central and Southern Africa, although it was geographically uneven: Nigeria contributed 28 studies, or 60.9% of the evidence, and Ethiopia contributed five, or 10.9%. Samples came from markets, food-vending sites, butcher shops, restaurants, hospitals, banks, universities, transportation systems and other community commercial settings.

Investigators searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, African Journals Online and Google Scholar, with the final electronic search conducted on 20 April 2026. The review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidance. Eligible studies investigated bacterial contamination of circulating paper or polymer currency in African countries and reported microbiological isolation and identification of bacteria. Only English-language publications were eligible, and studies of non-circulating or experimentally inoculated currency and non-bacterial contaminants were excluded.

Across the 12 studies in the primary meta-analysis, 1,455 of 2,003 notes were contaminated, a crude aggregate proportion of 72.6%. A random-effects model combining study-specific estimates produced the pooled prevalence of 79.3%. Individual estimates ranged from 39.6% in a Nigerian study to 100% in studies from Ghana and South Sudan; the studies reporting complete contamination generally had relatively small samples. Results varied substantially between studies, with an I-squared value of 95.6%, Cochran’s Q of 252.06 and a p-value below 0.0001.

Differences in sampling, currency-circulation settings, laboratory methods and geographic conditions contributed to that heterogeneity. Leave-one-out analysis produced pooled estimates between 75.2% and 81.9%, while I-squared remained between 93.9% and 96.0%. The stable pooled estimate suggested that no single study disproportionately drove the result, although the continued heterogeneity showed that contamination estimates varied markedly among settings. Egger’s test did not find statistically significant evidence of small-study effects or publication bias.

Only Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli had enough comparable species-specific data for organism-level pooling. Ten studies contributing 1,811 bacterial isolates produced a pooled S. aureus proportion of 31.2% (95% CI, 24.7% to 38.4%), while ten studies contributing 1,784 isolates produced an E. coli proportion of 24.0% (95% CI, 17.8% to 31.5%). These denominators represented bacterial isolates recovered from contaminated notes, not the number of notes examined. Klebsiella, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Proteus and Shigella species were also frequently reported in the narrative synthesis.

Antimicrobial resistance was not a primary outcome, but several included studies reported multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and pan-drug-resistant isolates. Resistance to ampicillin, penicillin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, erythromycin and related beta-lactam antibiotics was commonly observed. Studies in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt also reported methicillin-resistant S. aureus, multidrug-resistant enteric bacteria, resistant Klebsiella species and multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa. These findings document resistant bacteria on currency rather than demonstrating currency-mediated transmission of resistance.

Contamination also varied with the characteristics and collection setting of currency. Lower-denomination and physically worn notes generally carried higher contamination burdens than higher-denomination or newer notes, and several studies reported lower contamination on polymer notes than on traditional paper currency. Notes collected from food vendors, butchers, slaughterhouses and meat handlers showed higher bacterial contamination than notes from transport operators, market traders and banking environments. The authors proposed that deteriorated paper may support microbial attachment and persistence, whereas reduced porosity may make polymer notes easier to clean; these mechanisms were not directly established by the pooled analysis.

The findings have important limitations, including very high statistical heterogeneity, inconsistent isolate reporting, selective publication that could not be completely excluded, limited representation of several African regions and the restriction to English-language literature. Detecting bacteria on currency also does not establish that infection was transmitted; the review noted that potential risk would depend on factors including microbial viability, inoculum size, survival duration, handling frequency, hygiene and host susceptibility. Within those bounds, the authors identified hand hygiene, avoiding simultaneous handling of food and money, improved currency management and closer integration of environmental reservoirs into antimicrobial-resistance surveillance as potential One Health approaches to reducing contamination and microbial dissemination.

Subject of Research: Systematic review and meta-analysis of bacterial contamination on circulating currency notes in Africa

Article Title: Currency as a mobile environmental reservoir of bacterial pathogens in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Article References: Anyanwu, C. N., Ugwu, P.-C. O., Neel, R., Terkimbi, S. D., Okon, M. B., Mohamed, Z. A. A., Bede-Ojimadu, O., & Anyanwu, E. G. (2026). Currency as a mobile environmental reservoir of bacterial pathogens in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 14, Article 1921421. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1921421

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1921421

Keywords: bacterial contamination, banknotes, currency, Africa, systematic review, meta-analysis, antimicrobial resistance, environmental health, One Health, public health, mobile, environmental

The study used a purposive design and a five-step Likert scale. Its 43 participants included 31 researchers, three policymakers and nine civil-society organizations. According to the abstract, organizations in different institutional settings acknowledged knowledge translation as a determinant of how extensively evidence is used. The authors also reported that producing relevant research does not by itself ensure that findings are adopted in policy: non-academic institutions faced a gap in their capacity to synthesize research, while political agendas continued to influence adoption.

The authors describe research and academic institutions as shaping the future of evidence-informed policy-making by influencing both the generation of evidence and its translation into an actionable form. The abstract identifies two further requirements: government institutions should incorporate evidence into policies and establish dedicated evidence units that act as knowledge brokers, while coordinated capacity-building and adequate investment in institutional resources are needed to support systematic evidence use in African policymaking.

The available evidence is limited to the published abstract, so the survey questions, participant-selection procedures, statistical analyses, uncertainty estimates and results by country or institutional type cannot be evaluated. The purposive sample and the inclusion of only three policymakers also constrain how broadly the findings may be generalized. Within the abstract’s scope, the study identifies differences in institutional understanding, knowledge-translation constraints, limited resources and skills gaps as notable features of the gap between research and policy in Africa.

Subject of Research: Institutional barriers to translating research into evidence-informed policy-making in Africa

Article Title: Evidence-informed policy-making in Africa: the role of institutions in bridging the gap between research and policy

Article References: Ochieng, L., Kowenje, E., Onyango, F., Neondo, H., & Tonui, C. (2026). Evidence-informed policy-making in Africa: the role of institutions in bridging the gap between research and policy. SN Social Sciences, 6(9), Article 380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-026-01670-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43545-026-01670-8

Keywords: evidence-informed policy-making, Africa, research-policy gap, knowledge translation, institutional capacity, policy adoption, research synthesis, knowledge brokers, civil-society organizations, survey research, Evidence-informed, policy-making

The analysis focused on peer-reviewed cost-of-illness estimates for hypertension in adults aged 18 years or older in Sub-Saharan Africa. Investigators searched Medline, Embase and the Global Health database for English-language studies published from 2021 through 2024, using a PICOS framework and economic and hypertension-related search terms. The authors converted reported costs to 2024 international dollars using purchasing power parities and assessed study quality. The review is an update to the first systematic review of hypertension’s economic burden in the region, which had included 33 studies.

Among the included studies, more than half were conducted in East Africa, while no studies were identified from Central Africa. Four studies reported monthly direct medical costs from a patient perspective; those estimates ranged from $1.39 to $179.52. Another four reported annual mean costs per patient per year, ranging from $154.00 to $1,010.27. The review also summarized costs reported from provider, health-system and societal perspectives, expressed as per-visit, lifetime or aggregate national costs. Differences in study time horizons, costing perspectives and cost categories contributed to substantial variation across the evidence base.

The findings indicate that available cost estimates are not directly uniform, limiting comparisons between studies and countries. The review’s geographic coverage was also uneven, with no identified studies from Central Africa and a concentration of research in East Africa. Because the authors identified relatively few studies and observed marked heterogeneity in costs and study methods, the reported ranges should be interpreted within the specific perspectives and populations used in the underlying studies. The authors concluded that more standardized and comprehensive cost-of-illness studies are needed to support decision-making, budget allocation and comparisons within and across countries, and to allow best practices to be shared where applicable.

Subject of Research: Cost-of-illness evidence for hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa

Article Title: The economic burden of hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic literature review

Article References: Muchenje, W., Stokes, E. A., Ek Wild, C., & Luengo-Fernandez, R. (2026). The economic burden of hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic literature review. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29671-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29671-5

Keywords: hypertension, Sub-Saharan Africa, economic burden, cost of illness, systematic review, health economics, noncommunicable diseases, health systems, economic, burden, Sub-Saharan, Africa

Researchers searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Advanced Google Scholar, the Cochrane Library and African Journals Online for observational studies published from July 18, 2013, to July 18, 2023. Eligible studies reported adjusted effect estimates for factors associated with HBV infection among pregnant women. The investigators assessed methodological quality with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Separate random-effects meta-analyses using the DerSimonian–Laird method pooled adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for each factor reported by at least two studies. Factors whose exposure categories or reference groups differed substantially across studies were synthesized narratively, while statistical heterogeneity was evaluated with the I² statistic.

The reported analysis found statistically significant associations for history of abortion, with a pooled adjusted odds ratio of 3.08 (95% confidence interval, 1.58–4.58), and multiple sexual partners, at 5.33 (2.50–8.17). Associations were also reported for blood transfusion, at 2.64 (1.38–3.90); hospital admission, at 3.28 (2.02–4.53); surgery, at 2.48 (1.04–3.92); HIV infection, at 9.22 (2.39–16.05); tattooing, at 2.53 (1.26–3.80); and female genital mutilation, at 2.48 (2.02–2.94). Other significant associations were identified for dental procedures, at 2.30 (1.16–3.44); family history of HBV infection, at 3.37 (1.94–4.80); contact with jaundiced patients, at 4.18 (2.09–6.27); tonsillectomy, at 4.87 (3.36–6.37); and sharing sharp materials, at 2.87 (2.47–3.27).

As an evidence synthesis of observational research, the review cannot establish causation or determine whether every association is consistent across African settings. Interpretation is also limited by differences in study populations, exposure definitions and comparison groups, as well as the need to synthesize some factors narratively. Although heterogeneity was assessed with I², the results reported in the available abstract do not provide numerical heterogeneity estimates for each pooled factor. The review addresses associated factors rather than the effectiveness of screening, vaccination, risk assessment or linkage-to-care interventions, so it does not establish the clinical benefit of any intervention. The article is presented as an early version of the peer-reviewed paper and notes that further edits may accompany the final version of record.

Subject of Research: Factors statistically associated with hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in Africa

Article Title: Associated factors of hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in Africa: an extension of a previous systematic review and meta-analysis on prevalence

Article References: Larebo, Y. M., Argago, Z. D., Anshebo, A. A., Behera, S. K., & Gopalan, N. (2026). Associated factors of hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in Africa: an extension of a previous systematic review and meta-analysis on prevalence. BMC Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-026-14509-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12879-026-14509-7

Keywords: hepatitis B virus, pregnant women, Africa, systematic review, meta-analysis, adjusted odds ratios, observational studies, HIV infection, risk factors, antenatal care, Associated, factors

The researchers followed a structured literature-review design informed by the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines. Their search covered IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, the ACM Digital Library, Springer Nature and Google Scholar, using terms for artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning alongside cybersecurity, intrusion detection, threat detection, policy, strategy, governance and initiatives. The search returned 2,758 records; an open-access filter left 192, duplicate removal reduced the pool to 93, and title, abstract and full-text screening resulted in 53 included articles, books, theses and scientific reports.

Across the included research, machine learning, deep learning and natural-language-processing methods were associated with applications in network-intrusion detection, traffic analysis, malware identification, phishing detection, fraud analysis, incident response and vulnerability management. The review described adaptive models that learn from data as useful for identifying previously unseen attacks, while automation could reduce repetitive analytical work and shorten response times. These were findings from a heterogeneous literature review rather than results from a new controlled deployment or an efficacy meta-analysis of one security system.

The review also emphasized the reverse relationship: AI systems require cybersecurity protections for their training data, model-development pipelines, storage, networks and computational infrastructure. Proposed controls included access controls, encryption, data validation, integrity checks and secure data management. It categorized adversarial attacks according to attackers’ access to model information, including white-box, black-box and gray-box attacks. The literature also documented risks from data poisoning, AI-enabled phishing and malware, synthetic media, false positives, biased or incomplete datasets, privacy violations and the opacity of some models.

National strategies differed substantially. The review reported that the United States, China and the European Union had developed prominent national or regional AI initiatives, while the EU placed greater emphasis on individual rights and regulatory compliance and China placed greater emphasis on national security and public safety. The UAE had an AI Strategy 2031, while more than 40 countries and regions had reportedly elevated AI development to a national-strategy level since 2016. The review also noted that 80 nations had developed national cybersecurity strategies tailored to their environments and threats, although differences in policy priorities complicate international coordination.

Economic effects were described as potentially mixed. Automation and more efficient threat detection may produce cost savings, but initial investment and the need for specialized staff can be substantial barriers for smaller organizations and resource-constrained countries. The review cited market research projecting growth of just over 7% annually for artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, but it did not conduct an independent forecast or quantify net economic benefits. In Africa, identified constraints included limited technical expertise, restricted budgets, shortages of structured and high-quality data, inadequate infrastructure, incomplete laws and weak implementation capacity.

Ethiopia was examined as an emerging-economy case. The review noted the launch of the Digital Ethiopia 2030 national digital-transformation strategy in June 2020 and described Ethiopia’s AI sector as small, with companies and institutions including EthioCloud, GebeyaNet, Botter, Ethio Robo Robotics and iCog-Labs. It reported that Ethiopia’s strategy did not include a specific AI-cybersecurity implementation plan. The review also cited concerns involving cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, data protection, national sovereignty, political effects and the need to build institutional capacity.

The strongest recurring findings concerned implementation. In 47 of the 53 studies, authors favored adaptive, forward-looking defenses over static security controls, while 34 of the 53 studies identified shortages of professionals with combined AI and cybersecurity expertise as the most frequently cited barrier. The review’s recommendations included privacy-by-design, bias audits, explainable systems, human oversight, workforce education, public-private partnerships, cross-border policy coordination and proactive plans for emerging threats. It also proposed future work on quantum-resistant cybersecurity, lightweight systems for resource-constrained settings, standardized benchmarks and underrepresented regions.

The findings should be interpreted within several limitations. The search was limited to English-language publications, excluded conference proceedings and ended in February 2025. The included studies were qualitatively heterogeneous, and the researchers did not perform a statistical meta-analysis. The authors also described their work as following systematic-review principles and PRISMA 2020 for transparent reporting, while noting that a full systematic literature review would require resources beyond the study’s scope. The review therefore offers a broad synthesis of technical, policy and economic evidence, not a comparative test showing that any particular AI cybersecurity system outperforms another.

Subject of Research: Systematic review of bidirectional artificial intelligence and cybersecurity integration, including technical applications, national strategies, economic implications and policy limits.

Article Title: A systematic review of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity integration covering national strategies, economic implications, and policy recommendations

Article References: Musa, H. A. (2026). A systematic review of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity integration covering national strategies, economic implications, and policy recommendations. Discover Artificial Intelligence, 6(1), Article 1455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-026-02309-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44163-026-02309-6

Keywords: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, systematic review, national strategy, cyberthreat detection, AI security, information governance, workforce skills, Africa, Ethiopia, systematic, review

The order Characiformes is divided into two suborders with very different biogeographic stories. Citharinoidei is exclusively Afrotropical and contains only two families: the Citharinidae, with eight species in three genera, and the Distichodontidae, with 108 species in 16 genera. Characoidei, by contrast, is far larger, encompassing more than 2,000 species in two Afrotropical families and twenty Neotropical ones. Both suborders are considered monophyletic — each descends from a single common ancestor — although some molecular phylogenies have questioned whether the order as a whole holds together. The two lineages are ancient: their divergence is estimated to have occurred between 115 and 145 million years ago, deep in the Cretaceous period.

Despite this evolutionary significance, cytogenetic information on Citharinoidei was almost nonexistent. Until now, only a single species out of the suborder’s 116 — the distichodontid Distichodus affinis, studied in 1998 — had ever had its chromosomes analyzed. The new study, led by researchers working with material from West and Northeast Africa, doubles that number and adds the very first data for the family Citharinidae itself. Given that Citharinoidei sits at the base of the Characiformes phylogeny, even a handful of karyotypes from this lineage carries outsized weight for reconstructing the ancestral state of the whole order.

The team karyotyped seven individuals of Citharinus citharus, a species purchased through Nigerian aquarium fish dealers, and three individuals of Citharinus latus, collected in southwestern Ethiopia by the Joint Ethiopian-Russian Biological Expedition from the Alvero River, a tributary draining into the White Nile system. Chromosome preparations were made from kidney tissue using established protocols: the tissue was treated with colchicine to arrest dividing cells in metaphase, exposed to a hypotonic potassium chloride solution to swell the cells, fixed in methanol-acetic acid, and finally dropped onto slides to spread the chromosomes for staining with Giemsa. For each fish, at least ten complete metaphase plates were examined, with 101 metaphases analyzed in total for C. citharus and 42 for C. latus.

The results were strikingly clean. Citharinus citharus carries a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 40, composed of 26 metacentric and 14 submetacentric chromosomes, giving a fundamental number of 80. Citharinus latus has 2n = 44, with 30 metacentrics and 14 submetacentrics and a fundamental number of 88. Both karyotypes consist exclusively of bi-armed chromosomes — elements with centromeres positioned so that each chromosome has two distinguishable arms. No distinguishable sex chromosomes were observed in either species, mirroring the earlier finding in Distichodus affinis. Notably, C. citharus possesses nine pairs of conspicuously large chromosomes, while C. latus has seven such pairs.

How did these two closely related species come to differ by four chromosomes? The authors outline several possible scenarios. If the karyotype of C. latus resembles the ancestral condition, two fusion events — joining four pairs of smaller chromosomes — could have produced the complement of C. citharus. Alternatively, if C. citharus is taken as ancestral, two fissions of large chromosome pairs could have generated the C. latus karyotype. A third possibility is that the two karyotypes arose independently. The closest studied relative, Distichodus affinis, has 2n = 48, while diploid numbers of 50 to 54 are typical for the phylogenetically basal groups of Characoidei. This suggests that both Citharinus karyotypes may have descended, through different numbers of chromosome fusions, from an ancestral complement with a higher diploid number than either species displays today.

The authors caution that all of these scenarios remain speculative, because cytogenetic data are still lacking for most genera and species of Citharinoidei. Nevertheless, combined with the basal position of Citharinidae within the suborder’s phylogeny and the distant placement of Distichodus affinis within it, the new data point to a substantial role for chromosome fusions and fissions in shaping karyotypes across Citharinoidei. All three cytogenetically studied species of the suborder — both Citharinus species and Distichodus affinis — share the distinctive feature of exclusively bi-armed chromosomes, though the fragmentary sampling means it is too early to declare this a suborder-wide signature.

Placing the new findings in a broader context reveals a fascinating contrast with the better-studied Characoidei. In that suborder, karyotype structure varies widely even among its most basal lineages. Exclusively bi-armed karyotypes do occur in the family Crenuchidae, which sits at the root of the Characoidei tree, and in several other families — Anostomidae, Chilodontidae, Curimatidae, and Prochilodontidae — though these are nested far from the phylogenetic base. In contrast, two clusters of families that branch close to the basal nodes show karyotypes enriched with, or even dominated by, uni-armed chromosomes: the Neotropical Ctenoluciidae and Lebiasinidae on one hand, and the Afrotropical Hepsetidae and Alestidae together with the Neotropical Erythrinidae on the other. The exceptions are the erythrinid genera Hoplerythrinus and Hoplias, whose karyotypes are almost completely bi-armed. Against this backdrop, the uniformly bi-armed complements of the basal Citharinoidei stand out as a genuinely new data point for the order.

Perhaps the most consequential implication concerns the long-standing hypothesis about the ancestral chromosome number of Characiformes itself. Based almost entirely on cytogenetic data from Characoidei, researchers had proposed that 2n = 54 was the ancestral diploid number for the entire order. But because Citharinidae is basal within Citharinoidei, and Citharinoidei is basal within all Characiformes, the new karyotypes carry special weight in ancestral-state reconstructions. The authors argue that their data raise the possibility of a lower ancestral chromosome number for the order than previously assumed, and they emphasize the need for further cytogenetic studies in the phylogenetically basal groups of both suborders to clarify how chromosome number and karyotype structure evolved across characin history.

There is also a taxonomic twist. Some recent molecular phylogenies of ray-finned fishes have proposed splitting Citharinoidei out of Characiformes entirely, elevating it to its own order, Cithariniformes, as a sister group to Characiformes plus Siluriformes — the catfishes. Under that scenario, the karyotypes of the two lineages could have evolved more independently than the traditional classification implies. Yet even in that case, the authors note, the new data together with any future cytogenetic studies of the group will help reconstruct the evolutionary history of karyotypes within a key part of the superorder Ostariophysi, the vast assemblage that also includes carps and catfishes and dominates the freshwater fish faunas of every continent. For a family of African fishes that had never yielded a single chromosome count, the lutefishes have suddenly become an important voice in one of fish cytogenetics’ oldest debates.

Subject of Research: Cytogenetics and karyotype evolution of Afrotropical lutefishes (Citharinidae) within the order Characiformes

Article Title: First cytogenetic data on Afrotropical lutefishes ( Citharinidae ) in the light of karyotype evolution in Characiformes

Article References: Simanovsky, S. A., Medvedev, D. A., Tefera, F., & Golubtsov, A. S. (2022). First cytogenetic data on Afrotropical lutefishes (Citharinidae) in the light of karyotype evolution in Characiformes. Comparative Cytogenetics, 16(2), 143-150. https://doi.org/10.3897/compcytogen.v16.i2.79133

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/compcytogen.v16.i2.79133

Keywords: Citharinidae, Citharinus, Characiformes, karyotype evolution, cytogenetics, chromosome fusions, Citharinoidei, Characoidei, freshwater fishes, Africa, diploid number, Comparative Cytogenetics

The genus Pterotiltus, first established in 1893, has long been a taxonomic headache. Its twelve previously known species live exclusively in the wet forests of West and Central Africa, stretching from Ghana through Cameroon and the Congo Basin into Central Uganda. Yet museum drawers hold remarkably few specimens. The insects inhabit dense forest understory that is difficult to penetrate, and their populations are scattered across an enormous altitudinal range, from sea level up to more than 2,000 meters. As far back as 1972, the French entomologist Marc Descamps flagged Pterotiltus as an African genus urgently requiring revision, a call that has gone largely unanswered until now.

The new work, led by entomologist Oumarou Ngoute C., is based on specimens collected across six localities in Cameroon’s lowland and highland rainforests, including Campo National Park on the coast and Nki National Park in the country’s remote southeast. In the southern lowlands, the team encountered two striking new species. Pterotiltus ngoylaensis, found at around 500 meters in Nki National Park, is predominantly green with black and yellow markings and sports eyes that are conspicuously violet in life, a trait unique within the entire genus. Pterotiltus campoensis, discovered near sea level in Campo National Park, breaks the mold in a different way: it is the only known member of the genus dominated by vivid red and blue-black coloration rather than green.

Both lowland species share the hallmark adaptations that led one reviewer to describe Pterotiltus as the culmination of adaptation to forest life among its subfamily, the Oxyinae. All species in the group are flightless, their wings reduced to tiny ridges or minute flaps that never extend beyond the thorax. Their ovipositors have evolved smooth, rod-like valves, an adaptation for laying eggs in highly specialized sites, and researchers have previously documented one species gluing its eggs directly onto the leaves of its food plants. These are insects that have traded the open grasslands of their relatives for a life spent clambering through the herb layer of the forest floor.

The real surprise came from the highlands of western Cameroon. There, at elevations between roughly 1,300 and 2,400 meters, the team collected grasshoppers that outwardly resembled Pterotiltus but carried a suite of anatomical differences too substantial to ignore. The males averaged just 12 to 14 millimeters in length, notably smaller than their lowland cousins. Their forewings, though tiny, were actually present and sometimes brightly colored, rather than almost entirely lost. Most tellingly, the fine structures of the reproductive system told a different evolutionary story in both sexes.

Male grasshoppers in this group are classified largely by the architecture of the epiphallus, a sclerotized structure at the top of the phallic complex, and the valvular plate that covers the aedeagus. In lowland Pterotiltus, the outer lophi of the epiphallus are long, slender, blade-like, and curved forward, while the valvular plate is foliose, elaborately ornamented with cuticular folds that often take species-specific forms. In the highland insects, the lophi curve upward and inward instead, ending in horn-like points or bifid tips, and the valvular plate is simple and unadorned. The females clinched the case: their subgenital plates bear two robust, rearward-directed projections that are completely absent in Pterotiltus.

On the strength of these differences, the researchers erected a new genus, Parapterotiltus, with the previously enigmatic species Pterotiltus minimus, described from a single male back in 1929, as its type. The study also finally describes the female of that species for the first time, nearly a century after the male was named. Two additional new species join the genus: Parapterotiltus minimoides, so named because it is almost indistinguishable from P. minimus in outward appearance, and Parapterotiltus bamboutos, a black-bodied species known only from the slopes of Mount Bamboutos. Remarkably, the two lookalike species occur together at some of the same sites between 1,000 and 1,600 meters, separated not by geography but by anatomy that only becomes obvious under the microscope.

The taxonomic detective work involved meticulous measurement. The team quantified body proportions, tarsal segment lengths, tibial spine counts, and ratios of sexual dimorphism, normalizing measurements against pronotum length so that species of different sizes could be compared fairly. Dissections of genitalia required relaxing pinned specimens, macerating tissue in potassium hydroxide, and staining structures with acid fuchsin, a reminder that species boundaries in this group rest on anatomy invisible to anyone walking through the forest. The researchers are now preparing a full revision of Pterotiltus, with the current paper serving as its foundation.

There is an urgent conservation dimension to the discovery. Parapterotiltus bamboutos is known from a single, very small population on Mount Bamboutos, one of the most degraded mountains in Cameroon, where human activity has destroyed nearly all remaining forest pockets and replaced them with crops. The authors warn that conservation measures are needed urgently, though a 2010 photograph from nearby Mount Kupe hints the species may survive elsewhere along Cameroon’s volcanic line. The lowland species fare somewhat better, since both Nki and Campo Ma’an National Parks offer protected habitat, but deforestation across southern Cameroon continues at an accelerating pace, and these strictly forest-dependent insects have nowhere else to go.

The study also carries a broader lesson for how biodiversity is catalogued in the tropics. Because external appearance in these grasshoppers is so uniform, species have historically been defined by subtle differences in size and color, and ecologists working with incomplete identifications have faced an unenviable choice between excluding uncertain records or risking inaccuracy. The new work shows that the real diversity is written in the genitalia, structures so varied between species that they can even justify splitting a genus in two. As the authors note, the poorly surveyed highlands of western Cameroon may hold more undescribed taxa still, provided the forests they depend on last long enough for anyone to find them.

Subject of Research: Taxonomic description of new flightless grasshopper species and a new genus from Cameroon's rainforests

Article Title: New species of Pterotiltus from Cameroon, and a new genus, Parapterotiltus ( Orthoptera , Acrididae , Oxyinae )

Article References: Oumarou Ngoute, C., & Rowell, C. H. F. (2024). New species of Pterotiltus from Cameroon, and a new genus, Parapterotiltus (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Oxyinae). Journal of Orthoptera Research, 33(1), 127-146. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.33.96043

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/jor.33.96043

Keywords: grasshoppers, Cameroon, new species, Orthoptera, taxonomy, biodiversity, rainforest, Parapterotiltus, Pterotiltus, entomology, conservation, Africa

The study utilizes a panel dataset from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, covering 45 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2001 to 2023. This dataset comprises 1,035 observations, providing a robust foundation for modeling electrification trajectories. Ethiopia serves as the primary case study, allowing for a detailed examination of a country with significant electrification challenges and potential. The framework compares several machine learning algorithms, including Linear Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, and LightGBM, to determine which model offers the best balance of accuracy and interpretability for policy application.

Model validation was conducted using both leave-one-country-out and temporal-split methods to ensure robustness. The results indicated that Linear Regression achieved the lowest error rates, with a mean absolute error of 1.93 percentage points across the 45 held-out countries. For Ethiopia specifically, the error was 2.04 percentage points in the cross-country validation and 1.33 in the temporal split. This performance outperformed a persistence baseline in 33 of the 45 countries, with a median improvement in mean absolute error of 15.9 percent. The simplicity and accuracy of the linear model suggest that complex non-linear relationships may not be necessary for capturing the primary drivers of electrification in this context.

A key component of the framework is the use of SHapley Additive exPlanations, or SHAP, to provide interpretability. SHAP values reveal that prior-year access is the dominant feature in predictions, a finding consistent with the autoregressive specification and the concept of infrastructure path dependence. This means that a country’s current level of electrification is the strongest predictor of its future progress. While other socioeconomic factors play a role, the inertia of existing infrastructure creates a strong momentum effect. Understanding this path dependence is crucial for policymakers, as it highlights the importance of maintaining and expanding existing grids rather than starting from scratch in new areas.

The selection of Linear Regression as the scenario model was further justified through multicollinearity screening, coefficient-sign verification, and scenario-sensitivity checks. These diagnostic assessments ensure that the model’s predictions are not driven by spurious correlations or unstable coefficients. By using an interpretable model, the study allows policymakers to understand exactly how changes in input variables affect the forecasted electricity access rates. This transparency is essential for building trust in the model’s outputs and for designing targeted interventions that address specific bottlenecks in the electrification process.

Under three distinct policy scenarios—Slow, Business-as-Usual, and Accelerated—the model projects that Ethiopia will reach between 67.5 and 69.9 percent electricity access by 2030. This projection leaves a significant gap of 30 to 32 percentage points to achieve universal access. The analysis suggests that macroeconomic improvements alone are unlikely to close this gap within the remaining timeframe. Instead, structural interventions are required, including the extension of the national grid, reduction of connection costs, and the deployment of off-grid solar solutions. These findings align with broader trends in the region, where economic growth has not always translated directly into expanded energy access without deliberate policy action.

The framework’s open and potentially transferable nature offers a valuable resource for other regions facing similar challenges. By providing a reproducible workflow, the study enables researchers and policymakers to adapt the methodology to different contexts, pending validation in other areas. The use of publicly available data from the World Bank ensures that the model can be replicated and updated as new data becomes available. This accessibility is particularly important for developing countries that may lack the resources to develop proprietary forecasting tools. The open-source approach also facilitates collaboration and peer review, enhancing the reliability and applicability of the findings.

The implications of this research extend beyond Ethiopia to the broader Sub-Saharan African region. The 45 countries included in the panel represent a wide range of electrification trajectories, from near-zero access in countries like Somalia and South Sudan to near-universal access in Mauritius and South Africa. This diversity allows the model to capture the full spectrum of challenges and opportunities in continental-scale policy analysis. The findings suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient; instead, policies must be tailored to the specific path dependence and structural constraints of each country. The framework provides a tool for such tailored analysis, enabling policymakers to simulate the impact of different interventions and prioritize those with the highest potential for closing the access gap.

As the world moves closer to the 2030 deadline for Sustainable Development Goal 7, the need for accurate and interpretable forecasting tools becomes increasingly critical. This study demonstrates that machine learning can be effectively applied to development policy when combined with rigorous validation and explainability techniques. The emphasis on interpretability ensures that the model’s insights are actionable, providing clear guidance on the structural changes needed to achieve universal electricity access. By bridging the gap between advanced data science and practical policy analysis, the framework offers a promising path forward for addressing one of the most pressing development challenges of our time.

Subject of Research: An interpretable machine learning framework for SDG 7 electricity access forecasting and policy scenario analysis in sub-Saharan Africa

Article Title: An interpretable machine learning framework for SDG 7 electricity access forecasting and policy scenario analysis in sub-Saharan Africa

Article References: File, S. G. (2026). An interpretable machine learning framework for SDG 7 electricity access forecasting and policy scenario analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-05053-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-05053-0

Keywords: interpretable, machine, learning, framework, electricity, access, forecasting, policy, scenario, analysis, sub-Saharan, Africa

Amphoterus was erected in 1915 by the Italian entomologist Mario Bezzi on the basis of a single male specimen collected in what was then British East Africa, now Kenya. The flies are medium-sized, measuring roughly 9 to 11 millimetres, and stand out among hover flies for their strikingly elongate antennae, broadly separated eyes in males, and wing venation that closely resembles that of the related genus Eumerus. Their dark, strongly punctured bodies and secretive habits have kept them almost invisible to science. For over a century, the genus rested on three brief descriptions, each founded on a single specimen, with only a handful of diagrams ever published.

The new revision, led by researchers working with material from seven natural history collections across Africa and Europe, changes that picture dramatically. The team redescribed the males of Amphoterus braunsi, described by van Doesburg in 1956 from Barberton in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, and of the type species Amphoterus cribratus from Kenya. Crucially, they also described the previously unknown female of A. braunsi, drawing on a series of specimens accumulated over decades, including two females collected by the South African entomologist Jason Londt, in whose honour the new species is named.

That new species, Amphoterus londti, is known from a single female captured in a Malaise trap set in indigenous forest at Kibwe Forest in Kenya’s Eastern Province, at an altitude of about 925 metres. Despite being represented by just one specimen, its diagnostic features are unmistakable. The alula, a small lobe at the base of the wing, is almost three times as long as it is broad, noticeably narrower than in its relatives. Its postpedicel, the outermost segment of the antenna, is exceptionally long, about 4.1 times as long as high, compared with 2.8 to 3.1 times in the other species. The pedicel is shorter than the postpedicel, and the face is covered in dense white pollinosity rather than the yellow or golden dusting seen in the other species. The male remains unknown.

Distinguishing the three species relies on a combination of colour and structural characters laid out in the first identification key ever published for the genus. Amphoterus braunsi is the warm-toned member of the trio, with reddish brown legs, contrasting golden fasciae along the thoracic suture, dark reddish brown antennae and a golden-pollinose face bearing golden setae. The other two species are darker, with black to very dark brown legs, uniform thoracic sutures without golden bands, black antennae and faces dusted in yellow or white. Between those two, A. cribratus has a shorter postpedicel, yellow face pollinosity and a broader alula, while A. londti combines the elongate antenna, white facial dusting and narrow alula that set it apart.

The revision also brings modern imaging to a genus that had never been properly photographed. Using focus-stacking microscopy, the team produced high-resolution images of all three species in dorsal and lateral view, close-ups of the heads in frontal view, and detailed photographs of the male genitalia of both known males. These genitalia photographs reveal clear differences: the hypandrium of A. braunsi is broad in lateral view with trapezoid cerci, while that of A. cribratus is narrow with rounded cerci. Such characters are essential for confirming species boundaries in hover flies, where external appearance can be deceptively similar.

Perhaps the most significant technical advance is molecular. The researchers extracted genomic DNA from single legs of specimens and amplified a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, the standard DNA barcode region, using the classic Folmer primers. Six barcodes were generated and deposited in GenBank. The five barcodes from A. braunsi specimens showed a mean intraspecific genetic distance of just 0.004, confirming they belong to a single species, while the distance between A. braunsi and A. londti averaged 0.05, a magnitude consistent with differences observed between other Afrotropical hover fly subtribes. These are the first DNA barcodes ever obtained for the genus, providing an objective tool for matching males and females and for identifying future specimens.

Not every specimen could be sampled. The team deliberately avoided attempting DNA extraction from the century-old holotype of A. cribratus, reasoning that a specimen collected more than 100 years ago was unlikely to yield usable DNA and that damaging such a historically important type specimen was not worth the risk. The mystery deepens further: the female A. cribratus described by Brunetti in 1926 from Kalemie in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with two specimens mentioned in a 1995 catalogue, could not be located in the collections searched and are now considered lost. The researchers note that Brunetti’s description differs from the new Kenyan species in the pattern of pollinosity on the thorax and fourth abdominal segment, supporting their conclusion that the two are not the same species despite coming from the same broad region.

The ecology of these flies is beginning to emerge from the new material. Nearly all A. braunsi specimens with habitat data come from indigenous forests in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces, and live specimens observed at Rainbow Gorge in the Drakensberg were resting on leaves and flowers in sunny patches within the forest. Although never abundant, the flies show distinct temporal patterns: three specimens were caught over eight weeks of Malaise trapping at Shawswood, three more were hand-collected in a single day during the same period, and four were taken in just two days at Rainbow Gorge. This suggests adults may be locally common at particular times or in particular habitats, even if they are rarely encountered overall.

The revision is a reminder of how much biodiversity remains hidden in plain sight, even in well-studied groups like hover flies, many of which are important pollinators. With detailed descriptions, photographs, an identification key and DNA barcodes now in place, Amphoterus has moved from a taxonomic footnote to a genus that other researchers can actually work with. The authors suggest that further collecting in East and Central Africa, where Kenya alone contains three biodiversity hotspots, may well bring more specimens to light and clarify the habitat preferences and true distributions of these shadowy forest flies. For now, three species are recognised, one is known only from a single female, and one has lost its female to history, leaving plenty still to discover about one of Africa’s rarest hover fly lineages.

Subject of Research: Taxonomic revision of the rare Afrotropical hover fly genus Amphoterus, including a new species and the first DNA barcodes

Article Title: A revision of the hover fly genus Amphoterus Bezzi, 1915 ( Diptera , Syrphidae ) with the description of one new species

Article References: Midgley, J., Bellingan, T., & Jordaens, K. (2023). A revision of the hover fly genus Amphoterus Bezzi, 1915 (Diptera, Syrphidae) with the description of one new species. African Invertebrates, 64(2), 149-163. https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.100481

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3897/afrinvertebr.64.100481

Keywords: Amphoterus, hover flies, Syrphidae, Diptera, taxonomy, new species, DNA barcoding, Afrotropical, Africa, forest insects, COI barcode, species description

The research team, led by Krystal Tolley and Graham Alexander, constructed a dated phylogeny based on one nuclear gene and two mitochondrial genes, with near-complete sampling of the genus. This was critical because no previous phylogeny had included all African species, leaving their monophyly untested. Earlier studies had suggested conflicting scenarios: some analyses placed the Ball Python, Python regius, at the base of the genus, hinting at a possible African origin, while others supported an Asian origin for the entire family. If the African species were not monophyletic, multiple independent dispersals into Africa would be required to explain current patterns. The new data settle the question decisively.

The phylogenetic analyses, run using both Bayesian and maximum likelihood frameworks and a multi-species coalescent approach in *BEAST, produced identical topologies. All four African species, P. anchietae, P. natalensis, P. regius and P. sebae, form a well-supported monophyletic clade to the exclusion of the Asian species. The genus Python itself diverged from other pythonid genera around 43 million years ago in Asia, and the African and Asian clades split approximately 33 million years ago during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene transition. Ancestral range reconstruction using a Bayesian Binary MCMC method strongly supported the Oriental biogeographic region as the ancestral area, confirming a single dispersal event into Africa followed by diversification on the continent.

The timing of this dispersal is biogeographically telling. During the Eocene-Oligocene transition, the Afro-Arabian tectonic plates drew closer to Eurasia as the Tethys Sea receded, opening rare opportunities for faunal interchange. Fossil evidence shows that Python once occupied Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and the Iranian plateau, so the ancestral lineage likely arrived in Africa via those regions rather than directly from the Oriental region. Once in Africa, the lineage diversified, with P. regius diverging around 26 million years ago and P. anchietae about 22 million years ago. Species-level diversification ended around 12 million years ago, coinciding with the acceleration of mid-Miocene global cooling.

One of the study’s most striking findings concerns the taxonomic status of the Southern African Python, P. natalensis. Formerly classified as a subspecies of P. sebae, the two taxa are clearly distinct sister species that diverged approximately 12 million years ago. Haplotype networks built from mitochondrial Cyt-b and nuclear c-mos sequences showed no allele or haplotype sharing between the two species, even for individuals sampled from zones of sympatry in East Africa. Given that the slow-evolving c-mos gene showed complete divergence, the evidence strongly supports P. natalensis as a full species, vindicating Broadley’s 1999 elevation.

Body size emerges as a crucial factor shaping python distributions. Of the ten species in the genus, four are giants exceeding five metres in length, and all are restricted to tropical and sub-tropical regions. Fossil vertebrae from species that once occupied the current distribution gap easily exceed 10 millimetres in breadth, correlating with body sizes in excess of four metres. The researchers suggest that large body size may have influenced paleo- and present-day ranges through several mechanisms. Large-bodied snakes warm more slowly while basking, restricting activity in cool environments. Prey size selection and gape limitation drive the evolution of larger bodies where mega-faunal prey is available, and fecundity advantages in larger females may also select for increased size. All these factors tie large pythons to warm climates.

Temperature is a critical threshold for python reproduction. Female pythons actively incubate and protect their eggs, and successful incubation requires environmental temperatures above roughly 20 degrees Celsius. Today, temperatures across much of the distribution gap regularly fall below this threshold. The fossil record shows that pythons occupied the Arabian Peninsula and the Namib region during the early and mid-Miocene, before these areas progressed toward hyper-aridity in the Late Miocene. Hyper-aridity thus joins temperature as a second limiting factor, excluding pythons from the Arabian, Saharan and Namib deserts as well as from temperate Europe and the Iranian plateau.

The absence of pythons from Madagascar, both today and in the fossil record, receives an elegant explanation independent of climate. Most Malagasy reptile fauna colonised the island through overseas dispersal from eastern Africa during the Eocene and early Oligocene, roughly 55 to 35 million years ago, when paleo-currents were optimal. Python arrived in northern Africa after this window had closed, and shifting relative positions of Africa and Madagascar changed oceanic current directions away from the island, making overseas dispersal far less likely. The timing simply did not align.

Africa’s comparatively low python richness, four species from one genus, contrasts sharply with the dramatic adaptive radiation in Australasia, where 27 species from nine genera colonised environmentally diverse regions with novel niches. The researchers attribute Africa’s low speciation rates to its arid climate, reduced topographic and habitat complexity, and long-term geographic isolation through the early Cenozoic. These same features limited niche diversity and reduced opportunities for allopatric speciation, constraining Python to a modest continental radiation.

The study’s conclusions rest on a dataset of few loci, and the authors acknowledge that more detailed genomic datasets could strengthen confidence in their hypotheses. Nevertheless, their topology agrees with recent phylogenomic analyses, so they do not expect their interpretation to change substantially. The broader message is clear: long-term global cooling since the mid-Miocene has presumably driven range contractions, created the distribution gap, and possibly caused extinctions of Python species and populations. What was once a genus spanning Eurasia and Africa is now confined to warm, mesic tropical and sub-tropical refugia at the edges of two continents, a living testament to the power of climate to reshape life’s geography over deep time.

Subject of Research: Biogeography

Article Title: Into Africa: The biogeography of the genus Python in Africa

Article References: Tolley, K. A., & Alexander, G. J. (2025). Into Africa: The biogeography of the genus Python in Africa. Frontiers of Biogeography, 18, Article e146955. https://doi.org/10.21425/fob.18.146955

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.21425/fob.18.146955

Keywords: pythons, biogeography, phylogenetics, Africa, Asia, climate change, fossils, snakes, genus, Python, scientific research