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

Hildebrandtia macrotympanum (Boulenger, 1912)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ptychadenidae > Genus: Hildebrandtia > Species: Hildebrandtia macrotympanum

Pyxicephalus macrotympanum Boulenger, 1912, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 8, 10: 140. Holotype: BMNH 1947.2.28.64. Type locality: "Gallaland, west of the Juba River"; corrected to "between El Dere (Kenya: 03° 53′ N—39° 57′ 30″ E, 3400 ft) and Garsa (Ethiopia: 04° 05′ 09″ N—39° 40′ 20″ E, 2630 ft)" by Balletto, Cherchi, and Lanza, 1980, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 13: 141.

Rana (Hildebrandtia) macrotympanum — Boulenger, 1919, Trans. R. Soc. S. Afr., 8: 33–37; Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233, by implication.

Rana macrotympanum — Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 340.

Tomopterna scorteccii Balletto, Cherchi, and Lanza, 1978, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 11: 103. Holotype: MZUF 10044, by original designation. Type locality: "Gardò (09°29′N—49°02′E; northeastern Somalia). . . . about 800 m". Synonymy by Balletto, Cherchi, and Lanza, 1980, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 13: 141–149.

Hildebrandtia macrotympanum — Balletto, Cherchi, and Lanza, 1980, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 13: 141–149.

Hildebrandtia (Hildebrandtia) macrotympanum — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 56.

Common Names

Northern Ornate Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 265; Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 93).

Plain Burrowing Frog (Largen and Spawls, 2010, Amph. Rept. Ethiopia Eritrea: 192).

Somali Ornate Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 99).

Distribution

Southern Ethiopia, Somalia south of the Horn of Africa, below 1100 m elevation, and southern Kenya seemingly in disjunct segments.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia

Comment

Balletto, Cherchi, and Lanza, 1980, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 13: 141–149, discussed this species and removed it from the synonymy of Hildebrandtia ornata, where it had been placed by Loveridge, 1957, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 117: 345. Largen, 2001, Tropical Zool., 14: 333, commented on distribution. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 265–266, provided an account. See account, photograph, and map for Ethiopia by Largen and Spawls, 2010, Amph. Rept. Ethiopia Eritrea: 192–193. Malonza, Lötters, and Measey, 2010, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 99: 56, commented on range, habitat, and conservation status in the Taita Hills of Kenya. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 38, provided a photograph, range map, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 322–323, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 93–94, provided an account addressing identification, natural history, conservation status, and range in Ethiopia and Somalia, including a dot map.

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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