Ptychadena mascareniensis OTU 6 (Dumeril and Bibron, 1841)

Figure 7O

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Mayombe NP, Miconge; –4.4860, 12.8780; 377 m a.s.l.; FKH 1031; GenBank: PQ455936. • Mayombe NP, Lombe River, Vaku; –4.6403, 12.935; 269 m a.s.l.; FKH 1251; GenBank: PQ455937 .

Identification. A species complex of medium-sized (SVL = 46–58 mm) grass frogs that includes several new candidate species (Zimkus et al. 2017). Usually with brown to grey dorsal colouration, a green vertebral line and 4–6 continuous rows of dorsolateral and lateral skin folds (Channing and Rödel 2019). In Cabinda Province we recorded two well differentiated (∼3.4% 16S p -distance) mitochondrial lineages within this species complex (see Ptychadena sp. account). Material from Upper Mayombe is conspecific with material from Congo Basin and Gabon ascribed to OTU6 by Zimkus et al. (2017), which is identical to material from Buba, Lake Albert, DRC (GenBank: KX836481) and Kampala, Uganda (GenBank: DQ525931).

Biology and distribution. The species complex is widely distributed in sub-Saharan savannah and rainforest, including Madagascar. Adapted to a wide panoply of biomes and ecoregions, this species complex has the largest geographic distribution of any amphibian species in Africa. The material mentioned here was collected in clearings on the edge of primary rainforest.