Phrynobatrachus auritus Boulenger, 1900

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

Phrynobatrachus auritus Boulenger, 1900, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900: 440. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.30.2–4 (formerly 1900.2.17.83–85), according to Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 444. 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).

Phrynobatrachus discodactylus Boulenger, 1919, Rev. Zool. Afr., 7: 7. Syntypes: (6 specimens) MRAC and BMNH (including BMNH 1919.8.16.28–29, now renumbered 1947.2.29.98–99, by museum records). Type locality: "Madié [= Medje] (Ituri)", Dem. Rep. Congo. Synonymy by Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 355.

Phrynobatrachus plicatus auritus — Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 355.

Phrynobatrachus auritus — Lamotte and Xavier, 1966, Bull. Inst. Fondam. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 28: 1614.

Common Names

Eared River Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 103).

Golden Puddle Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 274).

Distribution

Forests of southeastern Nigeria, southern Cameroon to Gabon and southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo, southwestern Central African Republic, northern Dem. Rep. Congo east to Rwanda (see comment) and western Uganda; to Cabinda enclave of Angola (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda

Comment

See Lamotte and Xavier, 1966, Bull. Inst. Fondam. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 28: 1605–1619. An eastern vicariant of Phrynobatrachus plicatus according to R. Laurent In Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 444, with which it has been confused. J.-L. Perret (personal communication to Frost) has suggested that Phynobatrachus discodactylus is a distinct species representing the eastern Dem. Rep. Congo and Rwanda component of the stated distribution. Removed from the synonymy of Phrynobatrachus plicatus by Lamotte and Xavier, 1966, Bull. Inst. Fondam. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 28: 1614, where it had been placed by Boulenger, 1903, Mem. R. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., 1: 62, and Andersson, 1905, Ark. Zool., 2(20): 12. De la Riva, 1994, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 8: 134, provided a record for Equatorial Guinea. Frétey and Blanc, 2002 "2001", Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 126: 386, reported this species from Gabon. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 274–275, provided an account for East Africa. 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. Nagy, Chifundera, Collet, and Gvoždík, 2013, Herpetol. Notes, 6:  413–419, provided a record from Bas-Congo, southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo. In species group C of Zimkus, Rödel, and Hillers, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 55: 883–900. Baptista, Conradie, Vaz Pinto, and Branch, 2019, In Huntley, Russo, Lages, and Ferrand (eds.), Biodiversity in Angola: 253, suggested that the existing Angola record requires confirmation but (p. 257) that having been found in Luki, Dem. Rep. Congo, it likely occurs in adjacent Angola. Deichmann, Mulcahy, Vanthomme, Tobi, Wynn, Zimkus, and McDiarmid, 2017, PLoS One, 12 (11: e0187283): 20, provided molecular evidence that this is a species complex. Dewynter, Frétey, Jongsma, Bamba-Kaya, and Pauwels, 2018, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 18: 35, provided a brief account 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. 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. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 278–279, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map, including the Cabinda enclave of Angola. 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. Kako-Wanzalire, Mongo, Ilonga, Mapoli, Mbumba, Neema, Tungaluna, Itoka, and Bogaert, 2021, Tropicultura, 39 (1: 1709): 1–19, briefly discussed habitat preference in north-central Dem. Rep. Congo. Badjedjea, Masudi, Akaibe, and Gvoždík, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e301): 57, commented on a population of Phrynobatrachus cf. auritus from the Kokolopori Bonobo Nature Reserve, Tshuapa Province, Dem. Rep. Congo, and the taxonomic questions these specimens raise. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range (noting that the record requires confirmation), identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda. Miller, Tasse Taboue, Fokam, Morgan, Zhen, Harrigan, Underwood, Ruegg, Clee, Ntie, Mickala, Mboumba, Fuller, Zimkus, Smith, and Anthony, 2024, Frontiers Conserv. Sci., 5(1366248): 1–12, reported on geographic variation in genomic variation. 

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.