Hyperolius molleri (Bedriaga, 1892)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hyperoliidae > Subfamily: Hyperoliinae > Genus: Hyperolius > Species: Hyperolius molleri

Rappia molleri Bedriaga, 1892, Instituto, Coimbra, Ser. 2, 39: 642. Type(s): Not stated and considered lost, although BMNH 1947.2.9.24 (formerly 1898.3.30.40) is recorded in museum records as a syntype, casting some doubt onto the validity of the neotype designation; CAS 253073 designated neotype by Bell, 2016, Herpetologica, 72: 349. Type locality: "Ile de St. [= São] Thomé", Sao Tome and Principe. Neotype from "São Tomé and Príncipe, São Tomé, Caxão Grande, 0.296878 N, 6.703768 E, 141 elevation". 

Hyperolius molleri — Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 251, 327.

Nesionixalus molleri — Loumont, 1992, Alytes, 10: 37–62.

Hyperolius (Nesionixalus) molleri — 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: 366. .

Common Names

Moller's Gulf Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 69).

Moller's Reed Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 192).

Distribution

São Tomé I., 500–1400 m elevation, Gulf of Guinea.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: São Tomé and Principe

Endemic: São Tomé and Principe

Comment

Biogeography and diversification reported on by Bell, Drewes, Channing, Gvoždík, Kielgast, Lötters, Stuart, and Zamudio, 2015, J. Biogeograph., 42: 65–75, and Bell, Drewes, and Zamudio, 2015, Evolution, 69: 904–915, suggesting that Hyperolius thomensis is the sister taxon of this species, and together the sister taxon of Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris. Records from the island of Principe are now referred to Hyperolius drewesi. Drewes and Stoelting, 2004, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 55: 577–578, discussed (in the sense of including Hyperolius drewesi) habitat and collection localities. Gilbert and Bell, 2017 "2018", Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 123: 1–11, compared call structure of the Hyperolius thomesnsi/Hyperolius moleri/Hyperolius drewesi/Hyperolius olivaceus group in Sao Tome and Principe and Central Africa. Dehling and Sinsch, 2019, Zool. Anz., 280: 65–77, considered this species to be in the Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris group. Bell and Irian, 2019, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 128: 672–680, reported on a hybrid zone with Hyperolius thomensis. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 192–193, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Bell, Ceríaco, Scheinberg, and Drewes, 2022, in Ceríaco et al. (eds.), Biodiversity Gulf Guinea Islands: 491–494, 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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