Ptychadena aequiplicata (Werner, 1898)

Common Names

Limbé Grass Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 332; Rödel, Schmitz, Penner, Griesbaum, Leaché, Ofori-Boateng, Portik, Doumbia, Kouamé, Kpan, Gonwouo, Nopper, Hillers, Nago, Ernst, Glos, Petzold, and Barej, 2026, Zootaxa, 5779: 25).

Victoria Grassland Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 105).

Distribution

Due to recent delimitation the range (see comment) records west of Cameroon are now assigned to other species, although likely to be found in Nigeria adjacent to Cameroon. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Cameroon, Congo, Republic of the

Likely/Controversially Present: Angola, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Comment

Literature from prior to 2026 should be employed with caution due to the redelimitation of the species, excluding West Africa from the range and assignable to other species (Ptychadena atewae, Ptychadena dahomeyensis, Ptychadena silvamare, and Ptychadena silvamare). 

See Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 343–344; Amiet, 1974, Ann. Fac. Sci. Cameroun, 18: 110. Removed from the synonymy of Ptychadena longirostris, by Parker, 1936, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1936: 139, where it had been placed by Ahl, 1924, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 11: 1. Loveridge, 1929, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 151: 102, and Andersson, 1937, Ark. Zool., 29(16): 1–28, had suggested that Rana aequiplicata was a race of Rana oxyrhynchus. 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: 385, reported this species from Gabon. Lasso, Rial, Castroviejo, and De la Riva, 2002, Graellsia, 58: 21–34, provided notes on ecological distribution in Equatorial Guinea. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 23, provided records for Nigeria. Herrmann, Böhme, Herrmann, Plath, Schmitz, and Solbach, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 61–81, reported the species from Nkebe waterfall, Nguéngué, and Eyimba, southwestern Cameroon. Baptista, Conradie, Vaz Pinto, and Branch, 2019, In Huntley, Russo, Lages, and Ferrand (eds.), Biodiversity in Angola: 255, noted specimens in the AMNH within 50 km of the Cabinda, Angola, border although the identification of these specimens requires confirmation. Nagy, Chifundera, Collet, and Gvoždík, 2013, Herpetol. Notes, 6: 413–419, provided a record (as Ptychadena cf. aequiplicata) from Bas-Congo, southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo. Onadeko, 2016, Ethiopian J. Environm. Stud. Manag., 9: 22–34, reported on habitat preference in southwestern Nigeria. Dewynter, Chirio, Melki, Cordier, and Frétey, 2017, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 11: 24, provided a brief account and photographs of this species from the Mount Koumouna-Bouali area of Gabon. Larson and Zimkus, 2018, Herpetol. Conserv. Biol., 13: 248, noted that preliminary molecular work detected several cryptic species under this name. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 37, summarized the literature for Gabon, provided photographs (p. 64), and commented on the taxonomic disarray in this complex. Rödel and Glos, 2019, Zoosyst. Evol., 95: 26, reported Ptychadena aff. aequiplicata from the Krahn-Bassa Proposed Protected Area in southeastern Liberia and the Foya Proposed Protected Area in western Liberia, and commented on habitat preference and suggested that nominal Ptychadena aequiplicata is a species complex. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 332–333, provided a brief account (noting this taxon to be a complex of several cryptic species), photograph, and range map. Mali, Laudisoit, Yendema, Badjedjea, Mukobya, Ewango, Katuala, Akaibe, Bongo, Anio, Ngbolua, and Tungaluna, 2019, Asian J. Res. Zool., 2(4): 1–11, reported specimens (as Ptychadena cf. aequiplicata) from the Lendu Plateau of northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo; this identification requires confirmation. Pauwels, Carlino, Chirio, Daversa, Lips, Oslisly, and Testa, 2019, Cave and Karst Sci., 46: 3-12, discussed specimens found living in caves in Gabon.  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, although this identification is deeply suspect. Badjedjea, Masudi, Akaibe, and Gvoždík, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e301): 59–61, commented on a population from the Kokolopori Bonobo Nature Reserve, Tshuapa Province, Dem. Rep. Congo. Segniagbeto, Ohler, Rödel, Luiselli, and Dubois, 2024, Zoosystema, 46: 656, discussed the possibility of populations (as Ptychadena aff. aequiplicata) in Togo and suggested that the name covers a species complex. In the Ptychadena bibroni group of Nečas, Mazuch, Czurda, Elmi, Rödel, and Gvoždík, 2025, Afr. J. Herpetol., 73: 236–260. Rödel, Schmitz, Penner, Griesbaum, Leaché, Ofori-Boateng, Portik, Doumbia, Kouamé, Kpan, Gonwouo, Nopper, Hillers, Nago, Ernst, Glos, Petzold, and Barej, 2026, Zootaxa, 5779: 1–66, redelimited the species on the basis of molecular markers (mt- and nuDNA), morphology, and morphometrics, restricting the range to Cameroon and Rep. Congo, and noting that records from Central African Rep. and Dem. Rep. Congo (possibly Cabinda Enclave of Angola), require genetic confirmation.   

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