Phrynobatrachus africanus (Hallowell, 1858)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Phrynobatrachidae > Genus: Phrynobatrachus > Species: Phrynobatrachus africanus

Heteroglossa africana Hallowell, 1858 "1857", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 9: 64. Holotype: ANSP 3215, according to Malnate, 1971, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 123: 349. Type locality: "Gaboon".

Arthroleptis africana — Peters, 1870, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1870: 649, by implication; Boulenger, 1900, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900: 441.

Arthroleptis ? africanus — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 119.

Arthroleptis gabonensis Mocquard, 1897, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 3: 55. also described as new by Mocquard, 1897, Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris, Ser. 8, 9: 17. Holotype: MNHNP 1896.569, according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 44. Type locality: "Lambaréné", Gabon. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1900, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900: 441; Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 44; Perret, 1959, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 82: 252, and Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 367.

Arthroleptis verrucosus Werner, 1898, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 48: 194. Holotype: ZMB, by original designation. Type locality: "Kamerun". Synonymy by Perret, 1959, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 82: 252, and Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 367.

Phrynobatrachus latirostris Boulenger, 1900, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900: 440. Syntypes: BMNH (3 specimens originally) of which two specimens are known, BMNH 1896.5.5.11 (now renumbered 1947.2.6.98) and 1900.2.17.86 (now renumbered 1947.2.6.97) by museum records; third specimen not traced. Type locality: "Benito River", elsewhere in the original publication suggested to be "Benito River, north of the Gaboon River between 20 and 30 miles inland from the coast, Gaboon" (Gabon). Synonymy by Perret, 1959, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 82: 252, and Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 367.

Dimorphognathus africanus — Boulenger, 1906, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 17: 321.

Phrynobatrachus africanus — 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

African Swamp Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 98).

African Puddle Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 278). 

Distribution

Southern Cameroon to southern Gabon through Equatorial Guinea (mainland and Bioko I.) and southwestern Central African Republic and western Rep. Congo to north-central Dem. Rep. Congo; reported in northwestern Angola (see comment); likely into southeastern Nigeria, southwestern Central African Republic.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon

Likely/Controversially Present: Central African Republic, Nigeria

Comment

Perret and Mertens, 1957, Bull. Inst. Franç. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 19: 548–601, reported this species under the name Phrynobatrachus steindachneri, according to Perret, 1959, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 82: 252. De la Riva, 1994, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 8: 132, provided a record for Equatorial Guinea (as Dimorphognathus africanus). Frétey and Blanc, 2002 "2001", Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 126: 386, reported this species from Gabon (as Dimorphognathus africanus). Lasso, Rial, Castroviejo, and De la Riva, 2002, Graellsia, 58: 21–34, provided notes on ecological distribution in Equatorial Guinea. Frétey, 2008, Alytes, 25: 99–172, summarized the literature. Penner and Rödel, 2007, in Butynski and McCullough (eds.), RAP Bull. Biol. Assessment, 46: 37–41, provided a record for north-central Dem. Rep. Congo. In species group C of Zimkus, Rödel, and Hillers, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 55: 883–900. Jongsma, Tobi, Dixon-MacCallum, Bamba-Kaya, Yoga, Mbega, Mve Beh, Emrich, and Blackburn, 2017, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 11 (1: e144): 14–15, provided records for southeastern Gabon and briefly discussed habitat and range. Dewynter, Chirio, Melki, Cordier, and Frétey, 2017, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 11: 22, provided a brief account and photographs of this species from the Mount Koumouna-Bouali area of Gabon. Dewynter, Frétey, Jongsma, Bamba-Kaya, and Pauwels, 2018, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 18: 34, provided a brief account of Phrynobatrachus cf. africanus and photographs from the Monts Birougou area of Gabon. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 31, summarized the literature for Gabon and provided photographs (p. 61). In the Phrynobatrachus natalensis group of Goutte, Reyes-Velasco, and Boissinot, 2019, ZooKeys, 824: 53–70. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 278–279, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See brief account, range map, and photographs for Equatorial Guinea in Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 137–230. Ernst, Lautenschläger, Branquima, and Hölting, 2020, Zoosyst. Evol., 96: 255, noted the presence of Phrynobatrachus cf. africanus in Uigé Province, northwestern Angola.  

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