Amphibians from Uganda (Masindi and Hoima districts twenty kilometers South of Budongo)

[Chris Barratt]

Dear all, 

A friend is interested in identifying some species from Uganda, close to Budongo forest.

I'm well aware of the difficulty of identifying taxa from photographs but in the absence of any other data I attach a word doc here with embedded images, and some potential species names based on locally occuring taxa (from IUCN maps). 

We would welcome any further help identifying these if you could help!

Best wishes,
Chris and Jack

[David Blackburn]

That species identified as Cardioglossa cyaneospila is either a small Amnirana or, if it is in fact a Cardioglossa, Cardioglossa leucomystax. (It is incredibly difficult to tell!)

The "?" frog is a Phrynobatrachus, maybe something like P. auritus? It is hard to tell how big this frog is...

The specimen identified as Chiromantis is almost certainly a Hyperolius.

Eli Greenbaum is probably the best person to weigh in on the rest of these as he is strong familiarity with the Leptopelis, Amietia, and Ptychadena in this region!

Dave

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[Daniel Portik]

I think the photo labeled Chiromantis rufescens is a Hyperolius, and possibly a male Hyperolius viridiflavus variabilis. Here is a photo of a male from Jinja, Uganda:
https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0814+0993

Daniel Portik, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Department of Ecology and Evolution

University of Arizona

P.O. Box 210088

Tucson, AZ 85721

daniel...@email.arizona.edu

[laurent chirio]

Hi all,

I have never been in  Uganda but I know the same genera in Gabon. Sure that "Cardioglossa" is not leucomystax (see photo CARLEU), and I also think it is not a Cardioglossa. Maybe young Amnirana albilabris (AMNALB) ?? Young of this species have always black lateral stripes like this. I agree also with Hyperolius viridiflavus for "Chiromantis".

The "?" is certainly a Phrynobatrachus, close to P. auritus of Gabon (see photo PHRAUR), but I don't know Uganda species...

Laurent CHIRIO
P.O. Box 87811
Riyad 11652
ARABIE SAOUDITE
Tél.: 00.966.540.27.94.45

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De : african_a...@googlegroups.com <african_a...@googlegroups.com> de la part de David Blackburn <david.c....@gmail.com>
Envoyé : jeudi 8 février 2018 15:00:05
À : Chris Barratt
Cc : African Amphibian Specialist Group
Objet : Re: [african_amphibians] Amphibians from Uganda (Masindi and Hoima districts twenty kilometers South of Budongo)

 

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[Altig, Ronn]

The recent request for help identifying some frogs made me “think.” There are people roaming around Africa searching for frogs, but they tend to ignore eggs. So I ask, if you find eggs that are definitely identified, take lots of pics and notes, see the attached paper, and query me with any questions! Frog eggs are poorly known and we need all the help we can get! ronn altig

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[Greenbaum, Eli B]

​Hi all:  catching up on emails while waiting for permits from my latest expedition to eastern DR Congo, so let me chime in here.  The herpetofauna at Budongo Forest is most similar to the species that occur in the lowland rainforest of eastern DR Congo, but that said, it is often difficult/impossible to identify frogs to the species level with photographs, especially if the color pattern on the dorsum is not visible (e.g., such as the Afrixalus photo).  Leptopelis is especially difficult because the genus is poorly studied in Central Africa (although I am actively working to change that!) and many species have a lime green coloration with white or yellow elbows & knees as juveniles and subadults.  To be absolutely sure, one would need DNA samples.  With these caveats in mind, let me suggest some ID's and make some comments about the taxonomy below.

Leptopelis:  in Budongo forest L. christyi is the most common species, and more likely than not, this is the species encountered.  They have a lot of variation in color pattern, but usually they are brown or green with a creamy line along the flanks and an inverted triangle pattern on the dorsum.  

Afrixalus:  I can't see the dorsum at all but if this was collected in the forest, it is A. cf. osorioi.  If it is from non-forest habitat, it is A. quadrivittatus.

I agree that the Cardioglossa is probably a young Amnirana cf. albolabris.

The first Phrynobatrachus is indeed in the auritus group- there are several cryptic species in DR Congo, and this would be one of them.

I assume the Amietia were collected outside of forest or at forest edges, because it does not resemble a new species that only occurs in forest in eastern DR Congo.  The recent paper by Channing et al. 2016 on this genus made several taxonomic changes that I do not agree with, and at some point in the future, I hope to correct all of this, especially since I just collected Amietia (perhaps the bona fide nutti) at Lake Tanganyika for the first time on my latest expedition.  More samples are needed to work out the correct status of nutti (I think the newly described moyerorum might unfortunately be an invalid synonym of nutti given its proximity to the type locality at Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania), but in the end, nutti might be a valid species.  It occurs throughout non-forested habitats throughout western Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, and I think this is the species that is shown.

Ptychadena chrysogaster has a very distinct yellow belly and does not occur in the lowlands, but I would have to do a lot more comparisons to ID the species shown, because I haven't spent a lot of time working on the taxonomy of this genus.  Same for the next photo.  J. Max Dehling has published on the Ptychadena of Rwanda in detail, and I'm sure he can ID your photos with a quick glance.

The toads are Sclerophrys pusilla (including yellow mating color or males) and S. cf. gutturalis, very common in non-forested habitats in western Uganda and neighboring DR Congo.  regularis tend to have white flecks in the dorsum.

The Phrynos are probably in the natalensis group (again many cryptic species uncovered in an unpublished Master's thesis by my student J. Adan Lara), but it is hard to tell because I would need to see the size and ventral coloration to be sure.  parvulus, for example, is very tiny (about the size of your fingernail on your smallest finger).

Chiromantis are usually easy to identify because they have many prominent tubercles all over their dorsum.  I believe the Hyperolius is balfouri.

Hope this was helpful!  Happy herping

 

Eli Greenbaum, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Director, UTEP Biodiversity Collections
University of Texas at El Paso
500 West University Avenue
El Paso, TX 79968*
Biology Bldg. #301/329
Office/Lab: (915) 747-5553/5645
FAX: (915) 747-5808
E-mail: egree...@utep.edu
*zip code 79902 for FEDEX/UPS deliveries
 
Website:  http://eligreenbaum.utep.edu/

 

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From: african_a...@googlegroups.com <african_a...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chris Barratt <c.d.b...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2018 7:52 AM
To: african_a...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [african_amphibians] Amphibians from Uganda (Masindi and Hoima districts twenty kilometers South of Budongo)