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The assimilation of information on taxonomy, distribution, basic ecology and conservation status of Africa's reptiles lags far behind that for most other continents. Many regions of mainland Africa are rarely surveyed, resulting in severe knowledge gaps that currently limit effective conservation of African reptiles. Here, we provide a précis on the knowledge gaps and conservation status of mainland African reptiles, and quantify the main threats based on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessments using publicly available distribution data. Our results show that these data are insufficient to confidently identify areas of high biodiversity, with large gaps in knowledge in the Horn of Africa, central Africa and West Africa. There is a strong overall taxonomic bias in extinction risk with 45% of families more threatened than expected by chance. Furthermore, Amphisbaenidae, Chameleonidae, Gerrhosauridae …