Sclerophrys poweri (Hewitt, 1935)

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

Bufo regularis poweri Hewitt, 1935, Rec. Albany Mus., 4: 293. Syntypes: AMG (5 specimens), by original designation; now lost according to Conradie, Branch, and Watson, 2015, Zootaxa, 3936: 66. Type locality: "Kimberley", Northern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa.

Bufo poweriPienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 78.

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

Common Names

Western Olive Toad (Du Preez, Cunningham, and Turner, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 76; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 152).

Power's Toad (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 90).

Common Lowveld Toad (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 78).

Kimberley Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 43).

Distribution

Northern half of Namibia and adjacent southern Angola; extreme southern Zambia, and northern, eastern, and southeastern Botswana southward to central Rep. South Africa (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia

Comment

In the Bufo regularis group of Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159. Without comment, considered a synonym of Bufo garmani by Gorham, 1974, Checklist World Amph.: 80, and Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159, and Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 51–52. Poynton and Broadley, 1988, Ann. Natal Mus., 29: 457, noted that Bufo poweri and Bufo pseudogarmani might be conspecific (while retaining Bufo pseudogarmani in the synonymy of Bufo garmani). Maintains small, but consistent call differences from Bufo garmani according to Channing, 1991, S. Afr. J. Zool., 26: 81–84. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 91, Du Preez, Cunningham, and Turner, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 76–77, and Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 521–525, provided accounts, and considered all populations of nominal Bufo garmani from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to be Bufo poweri. Broadley, 2007, Afr. J. Herpetol., 56: 175–177, regarded the situation as more complex, with the population in the Kalahari sands in Hwange National Park and at Dete to be Amietophrynus poweri, but populations to the east to not be Amietophrynus poweri (all as Bufo). Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 135, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 196–197, provided a brief account, including a polygon range map, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 74–75, provided a map for Angola and provided a brief account. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 62–63, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 29–30, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola.  

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