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

Tomopterna elegans (Calabresi, 1927)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Tomopterna > Species: Tomopterna elegans

Arthroleptis elegans Calabresi, 1927, Atti Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Milano, 66: 16. Syntypes: MZUF (4 specimens); MZUF 1116 designated lectotype by Lanza, 1978, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 10: 240. Type locality: "Hongolò (Uadi Hoor)", Somalia. See discussion of types by Blackburn and Scali, 2014, Herpetol. Monogr., 28: 33–34l.

Phrynobatrachus elegans — Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 207.

Tomopterna elegans — Zimkus and Larson, 2011, Zootaxa, 2933: 27.

Common Names

Elegant Sand Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 380; Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 122).

Distribution

Northeastern tip of Somalia, below 2155 m elevation. See comment.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Somalia

Endemic: Somalia

Comment

See Largen, 2001, Tropical Zool., 14: 330-331, for comments on distribution in Ethiopia and Eritrea (prior to recognition of Tomopterna elegans; use caution in interpretation).Removed from the synonymy of Tomopterna cryptotis by Zimkus and Larson, 2011, Zootaxa, 2933: 27-45, where it had been placed by Lanza, 1978, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 10: 240. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 380–381, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See Lanza, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 168, for Somali populations (as Tomopterna cryptotis) for account; given that Tomopterna elegans is known definitely only from northeastern Somalia and Lanza mapped nominal Tomopterna cryptotis all the way to the Kenya line, caution is warranted in interpretation of this paper. Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 119–120, provided an account addressing identification, natural history, conservation status, and range, including a polygon map.

External links:

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For access to general information see Wikipedia
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For access to relevant technical literature search Google Scholar
For images search CalPhoto Images and Google Images
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