Leptopelis aubryi (Duméril, 1856)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Leptopelinae > Genus: Leptopelis > Species: Leptopelis aubryi

Hyla punctata Hallowell, 1855 "1854", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 193. Holotype: Not stated; USNM 32369 according to Cochran, 1961, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 220: 58. Type locality: "Near the Gaboon River, Guinea", Gabon. Synonymy by Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 89; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 135. Not mentioned by Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55. Preoccupied by Hyla punctata Schneider, 1799.

Hyla aubryi Duméril, 1856, Rev. Mag. Zool., Paris, Ser. 2, 8: 561. Syntypes: MNHNP 833, 1571, and 4603 according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 55. Type locality: "Gabon".

Leptopelis aubryiGünther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 89; Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 234, 331; De Witte, 1941, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 33: 102; Perret, 1962, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 65: 237.

Hylambates aubryiPeters, 1877, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1877: 618; Duméril, 1859, Arch. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 10: 229.

Hylambates Haugi Mocquard, 1902, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 8: 413. Types: 8: 413. Holotype: MNHNP 1901.596, according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 55. Type locality: "Gabon . . . . à environ 50 kilomètres au Sud-Ouest de Lambaréné". Synonymy by Perret, 1962, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 65: 237; Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 431. Formerly considered a junior synonym of Leptopelis notatus by Perret, 1958, Rev. Suisse Zool., 65: 260.

Nyctibates laevis Barbour, 1911, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 54: 131. Holotype: MCZ 2629, by original designation. Type locality: "Efulen, Cribi, Cameroons". Synonymy by Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 240; Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 226; Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 431 (formerly considered a synonym of Leptopelis ocellatus by Perret, 1958, Rev. Suisse Zool., 65: 268).

Leptopelis buchholzi Ahl, 1929, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1929: 194. Holotype: ZMB unnumbered according to the original publication; lost according to Perret, 1962, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 65: 237. Type locality: "Kamerun". Synonymy by Perret, 1962, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 65: 237.

Leptopelis haugiAhl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 230.

Hylambates aubryiDe Witte, 1934, Ann. Mus. R. Congo Belge, Tervuren, Zool., 3: 185.

Leptopelis (Leptopelis) aubryiLaurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 35: 94.

English Names

Gaboon Forest Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 68).

Aubry's Tree Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 214).

Distribution

Southeastern Nigeria through southern Cameroon to southern Central African Republic and south to extreme western and northern Dem. Rep. Congo, the Cabinda Enclave and extreme northeastern Angola. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria

Comment

Most of the moderately webbed species of Leptopelis have been confused with Leptopelis aubryi according to Laurent, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 228. See account by Laurent, 1973, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 202: 14–25. Gabon record provided by Lötters, Gossmann, Obame, and Böhme, 2001, Herpetofauna, Weinstadt, 23: 32. De la Riva, 1994, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 8: 130, provided a record for Equatorial Guinea. Schiøtz, 1964, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 127: 17, provided a record for Ghana and Schiøtz, 1964, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 127: 19–33 provided a record for Sierra Leone, although this presumably applies to another species. Frétey and Blanc, 2002 "2001", Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 126: 383, reported this species from Gabon. Lasso, Rial, Castroviejo, and De la Riva, 2002, Graellsia, 58: 21–34, provided notes on ecological distribution in Equatorial Guinea. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 82–84, provided records for Nigeria. Jackson and Blackburn, 2007, Salamandra, 43: 149–164, provided a record for Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Rep. Congo. See account for Cameroon by Amiet, 2012, Rainettes Cameroun: 452–458. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 107–108, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 266–267, provided an account and map. Jongsma, Tobi, Dixon-MacCallum, Bamba-Kaya, Yoga, Mbega, Mve Beh, Emrich, and Blackburn, 2017, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 11 (1: e144): 6, provided a record for southeastern Gabon and briefly discussed habitat and range. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 122, provided a map and brief account for Angola. Dewynter, Chirio, Melki, Cordier, and Frétey, 2017, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 11: 6, provided a brief account and photographs of this species from the Mount Koumouna-Bouali area of Gabon. Dewynter, Frétey, Jongsma, Bamba-Kaya, and Pauwels, 2018, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 18: 30, provided a brief account and photographs from the Monts Birougou area of Gabon. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 12, summarized the literature for Gabon and provided photographs (p. 48). Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 214–215, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See brief account, range map, and photographs for Equatorial Guinea in Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 137–230. Ernst, Lautenschläger, Branquima, and Hölting, 2020, Zoosyst. Evol., 96: 249, noted the species to occur in Uigé Province of northwestern Angola, but questioned the record from Cabinda Enclave, Angola. Kako-Wanzalire, Mongo, Ilonga, Mapoli, Mbumba, Neema, Tungaluna, Itoka, and Bogaert, 2021, Tropicultura, 39 (1: 1709): 1–19, briefly discussed habitat preference in north-central Dem. Rep. Congo.   

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