Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Rhombophryne testudo Boettger, 1880

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Microhylidae > Subfamily: Cophylinae > Genus: Rhombophryne > Species: Rhombophryne testudo

Rhombophryne testudo Boettger, 1880, Zool. Anz., 3: 568. Holotype: SMF 4241 (formerly 1177.2a) according to Scherz, Glaw, Petzold, Andreone, Köhler, Raselimanana, Hutter, Belluardo, Rakotoarison, Hofreiter, Vences, and Crottini, 2026, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 76: 501. Only one specimen noted in original description, however several collections claim syntypes: SMF 1177.2a (originally 12 specimens under 1177) and MCZ 2163, 2236, 2731 (3 specimens), and 9317–18 (on exchange from SMF, according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 334; SMF 4241(formerly 1177.2a) erroneously designated lectotype (given that it was already the holotype) by Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 51. Type locality: "insula Nossi Bé", Madagascar.

Common Names

Nosy Be Burrowing Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 92).

Distribution

Known from (1) Nosy Be (type locality) and (2) Nosy Komba, Madagascar; elevation: 0–450 m.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Madagascar

Endemic: Madagascar

Comment

Glaw and Vences, 2002, Herpetol. Rev., 33: 64, discussed erroneous records of this species. Andreone, Glaw, Nussbaum, Raxworthy, Vences, and Randrianirina, 2003, J. Nat. Hist., London, 37: 2119–2149, discussed the occurrence of this species on Nosy Be. See brief account by Glaw and Vences, 2007, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Madagascar, Ed. 3: 118–119. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 460. In the Rhombophryne testudo species group of Belluardo, Scherz, Santos, Andreone, Antonelli, Glaw, Muñoz-Pajares, Randrianirina, Raselimanana, Vences, and Crottini, 2022, Syst. Biodiversity, 20 (1: 2039320): 1–13. Mezzasalma, Odierna, Brunelli, and Guarino, 2025, Genes, 16 (1464): 1–13, reported on the karyotype. Scherz, Glaw, Petzold, Andreone, Köhler, Raselimanana, Hutter, Belluardo, Rakotoarison, Hofreiter, Vences, and Crottini, 2026, Vert. Zool., Senckenberg, 76: 485–610, provided a species account covering phylogenetic relationships, morphology, osteology, natural history, and a corrected statements of distribution and identification.

External links:

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To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist