Arthroleptis tuberosus Andersson, 1905

Badjedjea, Gabriel, Masudi, Franck M., Akaibe, Benjamin Dudu & Gvoždík, Václav, 2022, Amphibians of Kokolopori: an introduction to the amphibian fauna of the Central Congolian Lowland Forests, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 301) 16 (1), pp. 35-70 : 41

Arthroleptis tuberosus Andersson, 1905

Arthroleptis tuberosus procterae De Witte, 1921 (new status)

Fig. 4C .

Area: All.

Season/survey: Wet (May, Nov 2018), dry (Aug 2019).

Material: CSB:Herp: RNBK 031, 056, 076, 085, 125, 216, 545, 585, 706, 719, 734; IVB-H-CD 18241, 18242, 18265, 18266, 18267.

Comments: Arthroleptis tuberosus is a medium-sized and little-known species, but it is supposedly widespread from Cameroon (or eastern Nigeria; Nneji et al. 2019) to eastern DRC ( IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group 2017). Given that Amiet and Goutte (2017) recently proposed that this species consists of multiple subspecies (A. t. tuberosus , A. t. adelphus Perret 1966 ), and given the type localities of the available names, the central and eastern Congolian population should bear the nomen A. tuberosus procterae De Witte, 1921 (new status), type locality: “Beni (Kivu).” However, the status of this taxon, particularly whether it eventually merits full species status, requires further research. Arthroleptis tuberosus is abundant in forested regions in central, northern, and eastern DRC (G. Badjedjea, unpub. obs.). In Kokolopori, A. tuberosus was mostly found in forests, both primary and disturbed, and usually at night. Some specimens were caught in the early morning. This species usually sits on low vegetation at around 0.5– 1 m high, and it is occasionally found in leaf-litter. It was often found after rain.

Figures

Fig. 4. Arthroleptids, Arthroleptis and Cardioglossa. (A) Arthroleptis phrynoides (female). (B) A. phrynoides, ventral view (same specimen as in A). (C) A. tuberosus procterae (female). (D) A. sp. aff. phrynoides (female). (E) A. sp. aff. variabilis (male). (F) A. sp. aff. xenochirus (male). (G) Cardioglossa congolia (male). (H) C. congolia, ventral view (same specimen as in G).