Phrynobatrachus plicatus (Günther, 1858)

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

Hyperolius plicatus Günther, 1858, Arch. Naturgesch., 24: 326. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.29.47 (formerly 1849.10.9.1), according to Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 449. Type locality: "Guinea"; later rendered as "Coast of Guinea" by Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 88.

Staurois plicatusCope, 1865, Nat. Hist. Rev., N.S., 5: 117.

Heteroglossa plicataCope, 1867, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 6: 198.

Arthroleptis plicataPeters, 1875, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1875: 210.

Phrynobatrachus plicatusBoulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 112; Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 133, 161.

Hyperolius (Arthroleptis) plicatusKnauer, 1878, Naturgesch. Lurche: 111.

Phrynobatrachus (Phrynobatrachus) plicatusLaurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 199.

Phrynobatrachus aelleni Loveridge, 1955, Rev. Suisse Zool., 62: 145. Holotype: MHNG 1056.97 according to Schätti, Perret, and Mariaux, 2002, Cat. Comm. Types Amph. Rept. Mus. Hist. Nat. Geneve, Vers. 4.0 (Jan. 2002): 16. Type locality: "temporary pool on a forest trail near the research centre (C.S.R.S.) to the west of Abidjan, Ivory Coast". Synonymy by Lamotte and Xavier, 1966, Bull. Inst. Fondam. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 28: 1606.

Phrynobatrachus plicatus plicatusPerret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 355 [by implication].

English Names

Coast River Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 104).

Distribution

Forests of West Africa from Sierra Leone (see comment) and Liberia through southern Ivory Coast, western Togo, apparently absent from Benin, and to southern Nigeria.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo

Comment

See De Witte, 1941, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 33: 73–74, and Lamotte and Xavier, 1966, Bull. Inst. Fondam. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 28: 1606, for accounts. See comment under Phrynobatrachus auritus. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 39–41, provided records for Nigeria (as Phrynobatrachus plicatus and Phrynobatrachus aelleni). Frétey, 2008, Alytes, 25: 99–172, summarized the literature. Rödel, Ofori-Boateng, Penner, and Hillers, 2009, Zootaxa, 1970: 52–62, mapped the distribution. Onadeko and Rödel, 2009, Salamandra, 45: 1–14, provided a record for southwestern Nigeria. Hillers, Ofori-Boateng, Segniagbeto, Agyei, and Rödel, 2009, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 85: 127–141, provided new records in central Ghana. In species group C of Zimkus, Rödel, and Hillers, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 55: 883–900. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 148–149, provided a map for Angola and brief discussion of the literature, noting that the one record from the Cabina enclave, Angola, is probably referable to Phrynobatrachus auritusRödel and Glos, 2019, Zoosyst. Evol., 95: 26, reported this species from the Krahn-Bassa Proposed Protected Area in southeastern Liberia and commented on identification and habitat preference. These authors also noted a genetically distinct but morphologically almost identifical unnamed species from the same region. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 278–279, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map and noted (pp. 276–277) an unnamed cryptic species, the Gold Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus sp. 'Gola') found in westernmost Liberia and adjacent Sierra Leone. In the Phrynobatrachus natalensis group of Goutte, Reyes-Velasco, and Boissinot, 2019, ZooKeys, 824: 53–70.

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