Ptychadena uzungwensis (Loveridge, 1932)

Common Names

Uzungwe Ridged Frog (Stewart and Wilson, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 301; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 34).

Uzungwe Grass Frog (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 116). 

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

Udzungwa Ridged Frog (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 129; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 344-345; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 317).

Udzungwa Grass Frog (Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 296; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 326).

Distribution

Medium to high altitude grassland on the East African plateau: Rwanda, Burundi, southern Dem. Rep. Congo, Rwanda, western Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to Mozambique uplands, the eastern half of Angola and south into the Soutpansberg, of Limpopo Province, South Africa; Gabon (see comment). 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Comment

Account by Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 117–123. See also Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 131, Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 151, and accounts by Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 344–345, Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 296, and and Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 317–318. M. Cunningham (personal commun.) suggests on the basis of specimen examination that the two South African specimens are misidentified Ptychadena porosissima. This reidentification is apparently reflected in the account and distribution map in Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 326–327, which shows the southern extent of the range as being in south-central Zimbabwe, well north of South Africa. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 274–275, provided an account for Malawi. Müller and Larson, 2014, J. Herpetol., 48: 284–290, reported on larval morphology from the southern Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 272–273, provided a brief account and photograph. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 142–143, provided a map for Angola and brief discussion of the literature. Zimkus and Larson, 2013, Salamandra, 49: 159, provided a record from Batéké Plateau National Park, Gabon. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 348–349, provided an account, including a polygon range map for southern Africa, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 38, summarized the literature for Gabon, although these records appear to be far removed from the rest of the records in Africa and require confirmation (DRF). Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 336–337, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Dehling, Mindje, and Sinsch, 2023, Salamandra, 59: 42–50, reported on the range in Rwanda, the morphological diagnosis, and call characteristics. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 47–48, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola. De Lange, Netherlands, and Du Preez, 2023, Afr. J. Herpetol., 72: 33–46, discussed the South African population, its call repertoire, and molecular and morphological identification.  

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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 information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
• For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.