Sclerophrys gutturalis (Power, 1927)

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

Bufo spinosus Barboza du Bocage, 1868 "1867", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867: 845. Holotype: MBL 324, not located in MBL by Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 18, and would have been destroyed in 1978 fire. Type locality: "Benguella"; corrected to Dombe, Benguella, Angola by Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 18. Formerly considered a synonym of Bufo regularis by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 560; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 299. Preoccupied by Bufo spinosus Daudin, 1803. Synonymy by Perret, 1976, Arq. Mus. Bocage, Ser. 2, 6: 18.

Bufo regularis gutturalis Power, 1927, Trans. R. Soc. S. Afr., 14: 416. Syntypes: MMK (originally 4 specimens, now presumably 3) and MCZ 15403 (on exchange from MMK, according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1946, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 96: 84). Type localities: "Lobatsi" and "Kuruman", Botswana-Northern Cape Province border, Rep. South Africa.

Bufo regularis gutteralis — Loveridge, 1929, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 151: 93. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Bufo regularis ngamiensis FitzSimons, 1932, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 15: 40. Holotype: TMP (formerly Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition 1283), by original designation. Type locality: "Motlhatlogo, Ngamiland", Botswana. Synonymy by Poynton and Broadley, 1988, Ann. Natal Mus., 29: 452-453.

Bufo ngamiensis — Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 55.

Bufo gutturalis — Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159. Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 68.

Amietophrynus gutturalis — 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 gutturalis — Ohler and Dubois, 2016, PeerJ, 4(e1553): 9.

Common Names

Marbled Toad (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 78).

Common Toad (Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 102; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 68).

Common African Toad (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4).

Guttural Toad (Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 33; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 68; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 74; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 39; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 76; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 142).

Square-marked Toad (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 68).

Leopard Toad (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 68).

Greater Cross-marked Toad (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 52).

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

Flat-backed Toad (Du Preez, Weldon, Cunningham, and Turner, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 69)

Distribution

Wetlands of southwestern Uganda eastward to southern and central Kenya and Tanzania, possibly to southern Somalia, south through Mozambique to the eastern part of the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal (Rep. South Africa) into extreme southern Namibia;  highveld areas of Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, northern Namibia, and Angola; Reunion and Mauritius Islands (introduced); reported from northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo (see comment) and Rwanda; presumed to occur in Burundi but not so far recorded there. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Burundi

Introduced: Mauritius, Reunion

Comment

In the Bufo regularis group of Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159. Angola records in Poynton and Haacke, 1993, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 36: 1-16. See Poynton and Broadley, 1988, Ann. Natal Mus., 29: 452-453, Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 52, and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 74-77, for accounts. See Tiervengandum and Bour, 1985, Atoll Res. Bull., 292: 49-60, for Mascarene introductions. Lanza, 1990, Biogeographia, 14: 409, suggested that this species might occur in southern Somalia. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 146, reported on introduced population on Mauritius. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 76-78, provided an account for East Africa. Du Preez, Weldon, Cunningham, and Turner, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 69-71, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 142-143, provided accounts for South Africa. Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 525-532, provided an account and noted (pp. 532-535) a population from Cintsa Bay, Rep. South Africa, that he thought might be taxonomically distinctive. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 120-121, discussed the species in Lesotho. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 116-121, provided an account for Malawi. Measey, Malonza, and Muchai, 2009, Amph. Taita Hills: 29-31, provided a brief account and photo for the Taita Hills, Kenya. Cole, 2009, Field Guide. Rept. Amph. Mauritius: 73, provided an account for Mauritius. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 130, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 106–109, provided a brief account. Portik, Mulungu, Sequeira, and McEntee, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 395, provided records for Niassa and Zambézia provinces, Mozambique. Conradie, Bittencourt-Silva, Engelbrecht, Loader, Menegon, Nanvonamuquitxo, Scott, and Tolley, 2016, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 92: 163–180, reported populations from Mount Namuli (Zambezia Province), Mozambique. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 72–73, provided a map for Angola and provided a brief account. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 32, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 4, for comments on systematics, morphology, and ecology in western Zambia. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 9, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 64–65, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Mali, Laudisoit, Yendema, Badjedjea, Mukobya, Ewango, Katuala, Akaibe, Bongo, Anio, Ngbolua, and Tungaluna, 2019, Asian J. Res. Zool., 2(4): 1–11, reported specimens so identified from the Lendu Plateau of northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo; this identification requires confirmation. Bittencourt-Silva, Bayliss, and Conradie, 2020, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 14 (2: e247): 198–271, reported the species from Mount Lico, Ile District, Zambezia Province, northeast-central Mozambique. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 28–29, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola. Behangana, Byaruhanga, Magala, Katumba, Kagurusi, Dendi, and Luiselli, 2023, Wetlands, 43(88): 1–13, reported on presence in the Mugandu wetlands of southwestern Uganda.   

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