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

Ptychadena stenocephala (Boulenger, 1901)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Ptychadenidae > Genus: Ptychadena > Species: Ptychadena stenocephala

Rana stenocephala Boulenger, 1901, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 8: 515. Syntypes: "several specimens" including BMNH 1947.2.3.48–58 (formerly 1901.6.24.69–78) according to museum records, and MZUT An129 (3 specimens) (according to Gavetti and Andreone, 1993, Cat. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat., Torino, 10: 90); IRSNB 1093 considered a syntype by Lang, 1990, Doc. Trav., Inst. R. Sci. Nat. Belg., 59: 13. Type locality: "Entebbe, 3800 feet", Uganda.

Rana (Ptychadena) stenocephala — De Witte, 1921, Rev. Zool. Afr., 9: 7; Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233; by implication.

Ptychadena stenocephala — Guibé and Lamotte, 1957, Bull. Inst. Franç. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 19: 942; Perret, 1979, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 102: 10; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 56; by implication.

Ptychadena (Ptychadena) stenocephala — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 316.

Common Names

Narrow-headed Grass Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 332).

Narrow-headed Ridged Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 314).

Uganda Grassland Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 106).

Uganda Striped Grass Frog (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 128).

Distribution

West Africa savannas (Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Cameroon); also reported in Uganda and northern Tanzania.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Cameroon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda

Comment

Reviewed by Perret, 1979, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 102: 10, who noted that it had frequently been confused with Ptychadena bibroni (= Ptychadena mascareniensis). Perret, 1997, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 120: 77, noted that records from Mont Nimba, Guinea, probably referred to an undescribed species. Rödel, 2000, Herpetofauna W. Afr., 1: 136–138, provided an account and noted that the species is likely more widespread. See discussion by Lamotte and Ohler, 2000, Zoosystema, 22: 569–583. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 314–315, provided an account for East Africa (Uganda and Tanzania). Onadeko, 2016, Ethiopian J. Environm. Stud. Manag., 9: 22–34, reported on habitat preference in southwestern Nigeria. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 332–333, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Kanga, Kouamé, Zogbass, Gongomin, Agoh, Kouamé, Konan, Adepo-Gourène, Gourène, and Rödel, 2021, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 15: 71–107, commented on conservation status, systematics, identification, range, and habitat on the Ivory Coast side of Mont Nimba. In the Ptychadena bibroni group of Nečas, Mazuch, Czurda, Elmi, Rödel, and Gvoždík, 2025, Afr. J. Herpetol., 73: 236–260.

External links:

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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