Sclerophrys funerea (Barboza du Bocage, 1866)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Sclerophrys > Species: Sclerophrys funerea

Bufo funereus Barboza du Bocage, 1866, J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat., Lisboa, 1 (1): 56. Nomen nudum.

Bufo funereus Barboza du Bocage, 1866, J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat., Lisboa, 1 (1): 77. Holotype: MBL T.5-363, according to Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 15-34; presumably destroyed in 1978 fire. Type locality: "Duque de Bragança [= Calandula]", Angola.

Bufo benguelensis Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 299. Syntypes: BMNH (3 specimens), by original designation and including animal figured on pl. 19, fig. 3, in the original publication; including BMNH 1853.2.21.3 and 1872.2.15.3 according to museum records.  Type localities: "Benguela" Angola, "Fernando Po" (= Bioko, Equatorial Guinea), and "W. Africa". Synonymy by Barboza du Bocage, 1895, Herpetol. Angola Congo: 186; Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 102; Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 172.

Bufo benguellensis — Barboza du Bocage, 1895, Herpetol. Angola Congo: 186. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Bufo funereus funereus — Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 17, by implication; Laurent, 1961, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 63: 270.

Bufo funereus berghei — Hulselmans, 1970, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 81: 152; Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 158.

Amietophrynus funereus — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 363.

Sclerophrys funerea — Ohler and Dubois, 2016, PeerJ, 4(e1553): 9. 

Common Names

Somber Toad (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 69; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 73).

Angola Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 41).

Angolan Toad (Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 70). 

Distribution

West-central Africa from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to Uganda to extreme southern South Sudan (Talanga Forest), southward to throughout the Congo Basin Dem. Rep. Congo (Sangha Province) and into northern Angola in rainforest. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, South Sudan, Uganda

Likely/Controversially Present: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon

Comment

In the Bufo funereus group of Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 158. See comment under Bufo fuliginatus. See brief accounts in Laurent, 1961, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 63: 262-276, Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 22-24, and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 69. Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 172, noted that "Bufo benguelensis" of Andersson, 1905, Ark. Zool., 2(20): 26, was referable to Bufo regularis. Records from Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon need to be reevaulated. Jackson and Blackburn, 2007, Salamandra, 43: 149-164, provided a record for Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Rep. Congo. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 129–130, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 70–71, provided a map for Angola and provided a brief account. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 17, summarized the literature for Gabon. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 72–73, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See brief account, range map for Equatorial Guinea in Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 137–230. Badjedjea, Masudi, Akaibe, and Gvoždík, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e301): 47, commented on a population from the Kokolopori Bonobo Nature Reserve, Tshuapa Province, Dem. Rep. Congo; these authors also doubted the identification of records from Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and, in short, described a taxonomic complex in free-fall, requiring a very serious revision of the entire Sclerophrys camerunensis/Sclerophys gracilipes/Sclerophrys buchneri complex. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, did not include this species in their list of Rwandan amphibians; see comment under Sclerophrys berghei. Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 38, provided an account addressing identification, natural history, conservation status, and range in northeastern Africa, including a polygon map. 

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