Waukauyengtipu (or Waukauyeng-tipu, meaning "the mountain of the place of the butterfly" in the local Indigenous

Arekuna language The Pemon language (or ''Pemón'' in Spanish), is an indigenous language of the Cariban family spoken by some 30,000 Pemon people, in Venezuela's Southeast, particularly in the Canaima National Park, in the Roraima State of Brazil and in Guy ...

) is a mountain in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

situated in most part within the boundaries of the Paruima territory in the

Cuyuni-Mazaruni Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region 7) is a region of Guyana. Venezuela claims the territory as part of Guayana Esequiba. It borders the regions of Barima-Waini, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara and Pomeroon-Supenaam to the north, the region of Upper Demera ...

Region of

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. The major part of its area is approx. with some areas elevated up to approx. 1800m a.s.l., although its actual elevation has never been accurately measured and as for now can only be estimated from satellite imagery. The plateau belongs to the westernmost area in Guyana and is also one of the highest mountains in the country.

Biology

Cloud forest vegetation is present on Waukauyengtipu on its upper slopes and summit plateau. The plateau hosts typical Pantepui vegetation including large amounts of plants such as ''

Brocchinia tatei ''Brocchinia tatei'' is a species of plant in the genus ''Brocchinia''. This species is native to Venezuela and Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. ...

'', ''

Brocchinia acuminata ''Brocchinia acuminata'' is a species of plant in the genus ''Brocchinia''. This species is native to Venezuela and Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in Nor ...

Clusia ''Clusia'' is the type genus of the plant family Clusiaceae. Comprising 300-400 species, it is native to the tropics of the Americas. The genus is named by Carl Linnaeus in honor of the botanist Carolus Clusius. The closest relatives of ''Clus ...

'' sp., ''Didymiandrum stellatum or'' '' Philodendron insigne.'' Cloudforest on the summit plateau of Waukauyengtipu

In the central part of the mesa there are scattered occurrences of tepui scrub forests with '' Bonnetia sessilis'' and occasional transitions into peat wetlands dominated by '' Stegolepis ptaritepuiensis''. The peat wetlands host other species like '' Orectanthe sceptrum'' or '' Drosera roraimae,'' making Waukauyengtipu one of just few locations in Guyana where such plants can be observed. Stegolepis ptaritepuiensis on Waukauyengtipu

Stegolepis ptaritepuiensis on Waukauyengtipu

History of exploration

The first recorded ascent of the mountain was completed during a Smithsonian botanical expedition led by H. David Clarke between in July 1997, during which extensive herbarium material was collected. The second successful ascent and short botanical exploration of the summit plateau took place in January 2019.

Nomenclatural inaccuracies

Waukauyengtipu is often mistakenly synonymized with

Mount Venamo Mount Venamo (Spanish: ''Cerro Venamo'') is a mountain in South America that forms part of the international boundary between Guyana and Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República B ...

, yet they are separate plateaus and each should be recognized by their respective, separate names. Most of the information about the true location and elevation of Cerro Venamo are taken from the results of Julian A. Steyermark's and Galfrid Dunsterville's botanical exploration of the mountain in Venezuela in 1963 and 1964. Due to the assumptions regarding the true elevation and area of the massif having been made with only the instrumentation available at that time, some information proves to be inaccurate when compared to modern satellite data.{{Circular reference, date=November 2020 Moreover, the exploration history of both Mount Venamo and Waukauyengtipu is limited to a few overland expeditions and short helicopter landings, all of which had succeeded in studying only isolated, scattered areas of the plateaus. Waukauyengtipu is situated approximately 27 km southeast of Cerro Venamo.

Biology

History of exploration

Nomenclatural inaccuracies

References

Further reading