Ptychadena newtoni (Barboza du Bocage, 1886)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ptychadenidae > Genus: Ptychadena > Species: Ptychadena newtoni

Rana newtoni Barboza du Bocage, 1886, J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat., Lisboa, 11 (42): 73. Syntypes: MBL T. 7.117 (2 specimens), according to Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 21; destroyed in 1978 fire. Type locality: "l'Ile St. Thomé" = São Tomé. Corrected to "Ilha de S. Thomé: rio da Agua Grande" by Barboza du Bocage, 1897, J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat., Lisboa, Ser. 2, 6: 203.

Rana (Ptychadena) newtoniDe Witte, 1921, Rev. Zool. Afr., 9: 6; Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233; by implication.

Ptychadena newtoniPerret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 20; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 56; by implication.

Ptychadena (Ptychadena) newtoniDubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 316.

English Names

Newton's Grassland Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 105).

Newton's Grass Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 334). 

Distribution

São Tomé Island, below 600 m elevation, Gulf of Guinea.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: São Tomé and Principe

Endemic: São Tomé and Principe

Comment

Removed from the synonymy of Ptychadena mascareniensis by Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 20 (where it had been placed by Guibé and Lamotte, 1957, Bull. Inst. Franç. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 19: 937-1003), who noted that this species more resembled Ptychadena oxyrhynchus (in which synonym it had been formerly placed by Andersson, 1937, Ark. Zool., 29(16): 1-28). Loumont, 1992, Alytes, 10: 37-62, supported the distinctiveness of this species. Measey, Vences, Drewes, Chiari, Melo, and Bourles, 2007, J. Biogeograph., 34: 7-20, provided phylogenetic evidence that Ptychadena newtoni is phylogenetically imbedded within Ptychadena mascareniensis. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 500. See comments by Drewes and Stoelting, 2004, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 55: 578. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 334–335, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Bell, Ceríaco, Scheinberg, and Drewes, 2022, in Ceríaco et al. (eds.), Biodiversity Gulf Guinea Islands: 495–496, summarized the literature and systematics of the species. Ceríaco, Marques, Sousa, Veríssimo, Beja, and Ferreira, 2023, ZooKeys, 1168: 41–75, included this species in a report, key, and DNA barcode reference library for the amphibians of São Tomé and Príncipe.   

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