Hemisus guineensis Cope, 1865

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hemisotidae > Genus: Hemisus > Species: Hemisus guineensis

Hemisus guineensis Cope, 1865, Nat. Hist. Rev., N.S., 5: 100. Holotype: NHMW 1095 according to Häupl and Tiedemann, 1978, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 2: 18. Type locality: Not stated; "Guinea", by inference and according to Häupl and Tiedemann, 1978, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 2: 18.

Engystoma vermiculatum Peters, 1882, Naturwiss. Reise Mossambique, Zool. 3: 175. Types: Not stated. Type locality: Ashanti [Ghana]. Synonymy by Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 46. Name published as a junior synonym and unavailable under Article 11(e) of the International Code (1985), according to Bauer, Günther, and Robeck, 1996, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 72: 271.

Hemisus marmoratum guineensisLoveridge, 1933, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 74: 389. Loveridge, 1937, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 89: 295; Guibé and Lamotte, 1958, Mem. Inst. Franç. Afr. Noire, 53: 265.

Hemisus marmoratum guineenseParker, 1936, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1936: 149. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Hemisus marmoratum guineenseDe Witte, 1941, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 33: 93. Laurent, 1954, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 23: 135, page 16 of preprint.

Hemisus guineensis macrodactylus Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 50. Holotype: MRAC 109416, by original designation. Type locality: "Lubondja, Kilombwe valley, Southern Kivu, Congo [Dem. Rep. Congo]".

Hemisus guineensis katanganus Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 52. Holotype: MRAC 100954, by original designation. Type locality: "Kapero swamp, near Lusinga, Upemba National Park, Katanga, Congo [Dem. Rep. Congo]".

Hemisus guineensis latinasus Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 55. Holotype: MRAC 109508, by original designation. Type locality: "Kasiki, Marungu highlands, Katanga, Congo [Dem. Rep. Congo]".

Hemisus guineensis micropsLaurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 55. Holotype: MRAC 851, by original designation. Type locality: "Kidada, Lower-Congo [Dem. Rep. Congo]".

Hemisus guineensis broadleyi Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 57. Holotype: NMZB 4746, by original designation. Type locality: "32 miles northeast of Mtoko, Rhodesia [= Zimbabwe]".

Hemisus guineense — Laurent, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 109. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

English Names

Pig-nosed Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 166).

Broadley’s Shovel-nosed Frog (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 187).

Guinea Shovel-snouted Frog (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23).

Guinea Shovelsnout Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 51).

Guinea Snout-burrower (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 121; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 126).

Guinea Piglet Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 112). 

Distribution

In a band of savanna and grassland from Senegal to Uganda and Kenya, thence south and west (around the rainforest) to throughout Angola (see comment), the Caprivi of Namibia, northern Botswana, extreme northeastern Rep. South Africa and Mozambique; presumably to be found Burundi, Central African Republic, Gambia, Malawi, Niger, South Sudan, and Togo. Isolated records from western and northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo (see comment). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Burundi, Central African Republic, Gambia, Malawi, Niger, South Sudan, Togo

Comment

Laurent, 1972, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 194: 50–59, described five subspecies. See Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 532–535, for accounts of Hemisus guineensis broadleyi and Hemisus guineensis microps. See brief account in Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 38–39. Some records mapped by Largen, 1997, Tropical Zool., 10: 281. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 121–122, provided an account. Rödel and Ernst, 2003, Herpetozoa, Wien, 16: 27, and Rödel, 2003, Salamandra, 39: 96, suggested that the taxonomy of animals resembling Hemisus guineensis and Hemisus marmoratus in West Africa is more complicated than the current taxonomy suggests. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 126–127, provided an account and suggested that the taxon may be a composite of several species. Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 114–115, provided an account for Hemisus guineensis broadleyi in South Africa. Segniagbeto, Bowessidjaou, Dubois, and Ohler, 2007, Alytes, 24: 72–90, did not mention this species in their list of species in Togo. Onadeko and Rödel, 2009, Salamandra, 45: 1–14, regarded this taxon of uncertain distinctiveness compared with Hemisus marmoratus and regarded both taxa to be part of a larger cryptic species complex. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 216–217, provided an account. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 135, provided an account for Malawi. Auliya, Wagner, and Böhme, 2012, Bonn Zool. Bull., 61: 255–281, reported the species from the Bijagós Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 177, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Ceríaco, Marques, and Bandeira, 2016, Anf. Rept. Parque Nac. Cangandala: 31, provided a brief account for Malanje Province, Angola. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 83, provided a map for Angola anda brief account. Nagy, Chifundera, Collet, and Gvoždík, 2013, Herpetol. Notes, 6:  413–419, provided a record (as Hemisus cf. guineensis) from Bas-Congo, southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo. Mali, Banda, Chifundera, Badjedjea, Sebe, Lokasola, Ewango, Tungaluna, and Akaibe, 2019, Am. J. Zool., 2: 38–43, reported the species from the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo, but this identification requires confirmation. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 112–113, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Baptista, António, and Branch, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (e203): 96–130, reported on specimens, as Hemisus cf. guineensis, from Bicuar National Park, southwestern Angola. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 65, specifically excluded this species from the fauna of Rwanda. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 30–31, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola.   

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