Phrynobatrachus sp. 1

Bittencourt-Silva Keywords., Gabriela B., 2019, A herpetological survey of western Zambia, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 181) 13 (2), pp. 1-28 : 9

Phrynobatrachus sp. 1

Material. ITEZHI-TEZHI: BMNH 2018.5848– 50; LIVINGSTONE: BMNH 2018.5853–54;

MAYUKUYUKU: BMNH 2018.5837–38 ( Fig. 6B), BMNH 2018.5839–42 ( Fig. 6C), BMNH 2018.5843, BMNH 2018.5844–47; NANZILA PLAINS: BMNH 2018.5851–52. Comments: Specimens were found in dambo s.OnejuvenilewasfoundonabeachoftheZambezi River at Ngonye Falls. The closest match on GenBank (99% sequence similarity) is P. natalensis DQ 283414 from Tanzania (see Fig. 5). Zimkus and Schick (2010) suggest that there are two species of P. natalensis in East Africa, and these Zambian populations are more similar to the central and southern populations corresponding to Haplotype group B. It further corresponds to Zimkus et al. (2010) P. natalensis Clade E. See further comments in Discussion.

Phrynobatrachus sp. 2 Material. NGONYE FALLS: BMNH 2018.5836; SIOMA NGWEZI NP: BMNH 2018.5864–65. Comments: Morphologically, these specimens resemble P. natalensis in terms of size, toe webbing and overall color pattern. However, they present silver/white spots around the vent (and ventral part of the thigh in BMNH 2018.5836). The closest match on GenBank is P. natalensis from Tanzania (95%; DQ 283414). Although their range overlaps with the Southern African geographic zone (populations A and B) in Zimkus et al. (2010), these populations form a southern Zambian clade, which is a sister group of the eastern and western African clades (see Fig. 5). These findings allude to further cryptic diversity in the group.