Tomopterna tuberculosa (Boulenger, 1882)

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

Pyxicephalus rugosus Günther, 1865 "1864", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864: 479. Syntypes: BMNH (2 specimens), these being BMNH 1947.2.19.10–11 according to museum records. Type locality: "Pungo Andongo", Angola, and "W. Africa"; specimens noted from "W. Africa" by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 30, were not considered types by him. Preoccupied by Rana rugosa Temminck and Schlegel, 1838.

Rana tuberculosa Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 30. Replacement name for Pyxicephalus rugosus Günther, 1864.

Rana (Tomopterna) signata Ahl, 1927 "1925", Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1925: 43. Syntypes: ZMB (2 specimens), unnumbered in original publication. Type locality: "Huilla", Angola. Secondary homonym of Polypedates signata Günther, 1872 (= Rana signata). Synonymy by Laurent, 1954, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 23: 72.

Rana (Tomopterna) cacondana Ahl, 1927 "1925", Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1925: 44. Holotype: ZMB 15477, by museum records; unnumbered in original publication. Type locality: "Caconda", Angola. Synonymy by Laurent, 1954, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 23: 72.

Pyxicephalus tuberculosus — Parker, 1936, Novit. Zool., 40: 142; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 100.

Rana (Tomopterna) tuberculosa — Monard, 1937 "1936", Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 62: 44.

Tomopterna caconda — Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 142.

Tomopterna rugosa — Laurent, 1954, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 23: 72.

Tomopterna tuberculosa — Laurent, 1964, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 67: 132. Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 130–131; Vences, Glaw, Kosuch, Das, and Veith, 2000, Lourenço and Goodman (eds.), Diversité et Endéémisme à Madagascar: 232.

Rana (Tomopterna) tuberculosa — Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233, by implication.

Tomopterna (Tomopterna) tuberculosa — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 57.

Common Names

Warty Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 158).

Beaded Pyxie (Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 113; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 89).

Beaded Burrowing Frog (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23).

Beaded Dwarf Bullfrog (Broadley, 1974, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 12: 31).

Beaded Burrowing Frog (Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 33). 

Angola Bullfrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Rough Sand Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 333; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 476).

Tuberculate Sand Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 333 [alternative name]).

Bearded Pyxie (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 333 [alternative name]).

Bearded Sand Frog (Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 448).

Western Beaded Sand Frog (Willems and Channing, 2023, Zootaxa, 5374: 376). 

Distribution

Northern Namibia, western Angola and, needing genetic confirmation, north-west Zambia, through southern Dem. Rep. Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and to northern Tanzania

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Namibia

Likely/Controversially Present: Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Comment

See Laurent, 1964, Publ. Cult. Companhia Diamantes Angola, 67: 133, for synonymy. See accounts by Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 130–131, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 333–334, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 124–125, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 448–449. See also (as Rana tuberculosa) Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 36–38. Dawood, Channing, and Bogart, 2002, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 22: 407–413, reported two unnamed species masquerading under this name from Beira, Mozambique, and Shankara, Namibia. The Shankara specimen was subsequently confirmed as Tomopterna cryptotis by Channing and Du Preez, 2020, Alytes, 37: 1–21. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 296–297, provided an account for Malawi. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 476–477, provided an account, including a polygon range map for southern Africa, photograph, identification features, adult morphology, habitat, and call. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 155–156, provided a map for Angola and brief discussion of the literature. See Wilson and Channing, 2019, Zootaxa, 4609: 225–246, who provided a range map. Butler, Ceríaco, Marques, Bandeira, Júlio, Heinicke, and Bauer, 2019, Herpetol. Rev., 50: 225–240, reported on a collection from Huila Province, southwestern Angola. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 382–383, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Lobón-Rovira, Vaz Pinto, Becker, Tolley, Measey, Bennet, Boon, de Sá, and Conradie, 2022, Check List, 18: 289–321, reported the species from Iona National Park, southwestern Angola, and characterized its habitat. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 49, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola. Willems and Channing, 2023, Zootaxa, 5374: 361–389, excluded Tomopterna pulchra from the synonymy rendering a major change in estimated range, as well as reporting on comparative morphology, advertisement call, and molecular markers; this suggests that literature prior to 2023 should be employed with caution. 

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