Xenopus mellotropicalis Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pipidae > Subfamily: Dactylethrinae > Genus: Xenopus > Species: Xenopus mellotropicalis

Xenopus (Silurana) mellotropicalis Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 26. Holotype: NCSM 76797, by original designation. Type locality: "Gabonese Republic, Estuaire Province, Monts de Cristal National Park, Kinguele, N 0.4536°, E 10.2781°, 75 m". Zoobank publication registration: F9F51F48-7477-4AEB-90B8-4388142D1577

Xenopus paratropicalis Flajnik, Kasahara, Shum, Salter-Cid, Taylor, and du Pasquier, 1993, EMBO J., 12: 4385–4396. Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 51

English Names

Gabonese Clawed Frog (Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 51). 

Gabon Clawed Frog (Mechkarska, Ahmed, Coquet, Leprince, Jouenne, Vaudry, King, Takada, and Conlon, 2011, Comp. Biochem. Physiol., Part D, 6: 206–212 [referring to "Silurana paratropicalis").

Cameroon Clawed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 96, as Xenopus epitropicalis).

Distribution

Forested areas in west-central Africa, including western Rep. Congo, southern Cameroon, central and eastern Gabon, Bioko I., Equatorial Guinea, western Rep. Congo, Dem. Rep. Congo, south to northwestern Angola; likely to be found in southwestern Central African Republic. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

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

Comment

A tetrapoloid species of the subgenus Silurana according to the original publication. Knytl, Smolík, Kubíčková, Tlapáková, Evans, and Krylov, 2017, PLoS One, 12 (5: e0177087): 1–16, reported on karyological evolution.  Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 60, noted that specimens from the Cabinda enclave of Angola, associated in some literature as Xenopus epitropicalis, likely apply to this species. Dewynter, Frétey, Jongsma, Bamba-Kaya, and Pauwels, 2018, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 18: 42, provided a brief account and photographs from the Monts Birougou area of Gabon. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 35, summarized the literature for Gabon and provided photographs (p. 63). Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 42–43, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 42–43, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See brief account and range map 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: 246–247, noted the species to occur in Uigé Province of northwestern Angola  

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