Phrynobatrachus pintoi, Hillers, Annika, Zimkus, Breda & Rödel, Mark-Oliver, 2008

Hillers, Annika, Zimkus, Breda & Rödel, Mark-Oliver, 2008, A new species of Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from north-western Guinea, West Africa, Zootaxa 1815, pp. 43-50 : 44-47

Phrynobatrachus pintoi sp. nov.

Figs 1–2

Holotype. ZMB 70689 (GB: EU718711 , field and tissue #: MOR BO167), gallery forest, 11°06.377' N, 13°57.595' W, Kewewol / Boulléré, Boké Préfecture / Sangaredi sub-Préfecture, Guinea, 5 May 2005, collected by A. Hillers, N.S. Loua and M.A. Bangoura.

Diagnosis. The genetic results indicate that the new species belongs to the genus Phrynobatrachus . Morphologically this is visible by the body shape; presence of a tarsal tubercle; presence of rudimentary webbing, presence of dorsal warts in the neck region; lack of black spot in the tympanal region; lack of fine medial dorsal depression; lack of parallel dorsal ridges; neither finger nor toe tips heart shaped nor expanded to discs.

Small, compact Phrynobatrachus , characterized by combination of warty back; warty eyelids (eyelid cornicle absent); large dark spots on white throat, breast and belly; rudimentary webbing.

Description (measures in mm). Typical, semi-adult Phrynobatrachus with oval, compact body shape; snout-vent-length: 10.19; short, rounded snout; canthus rostralis indistinct; loreal region straight to slightly concave; head-width directly behind the eyes: 3.75; eye-diameter: 0.96; distance eye-nostril: 0.96; distance nostril-snout tip: 0.39; nostril closer to snout than to eye; tympanum indistinct, much smaller than diameter of eye; femur: 5.62, slightly shorter than tibio-fibulare: 5.89; foot including longest toe: 8.41 (right foot missing); hand with large and oval palmar and thenar tubercle; fingers with small roundish subarticular tubercles, no additional tubercles on hands; relative finger length: 4=1=2<3; palmar webbing absent; tarsal tubercle present but not conspicuous; larger internal and smaller external metatarsal tubercle; relative toe length: 1<2<5<3<4; only rudiments of webbing on toe bases; neither toe nor finger tips expanded to discs.

Dorsal skin grainy; back and eyelids with warts; larger pointed wart in posterior corner of eyelid, resembles eyelid cornicle of various other small Phrynobatrachus species but is less distinct; small whitish warts between posterior corner of the eye and forearm bases; two symmetrical pairs of dorsal warts especially pronounced: smaller roundish warts on neck and comma shaped warts directly posterior to symmetrical pairs; various other, smaller warts on back and hind legs; skin of throat corrugated; ventral skin otherwise smooth.

Overall coloration of the dorsum clear brown; indistinct darker bars on upper lip; warts on back rimmed almost black: unpaired roundish spot between posterior part of eyelids, paired roundish and comma shaped pairs of black bordered spots posterior to it; further dark bordered spots irregularly spread on posterior part of back; large pair of symmetrical black bordered spots between base of hind legs; flanks with dark blotch originating dorsal to base of forelimbs, extending ventrally to the middle of body; blackish spots in groin area just extending to back; lower arm with one black bar; thighs and lower leg with three black bars each; vent bordered black; outer parts of thighs with clear longitudinal band, bordered black posterior ventrally; basic color of throat white; mandible with eight black spots; throat and breast with three symmetric pairs of large blackish spots, increasing in size posteriorly; belly with eight irregularly spread blackish spots; ventral parts of thighs white with blackish spots, posterior part near vent speckled brownish; ventral parts of lower legs whitish, bor- der of dorsal black bars visible; color in preservation possibly a bit fainted, otherwise not different to life.

Genetics. Phrynobatrachus pintoi differed between 7-16% in the 560 investigated base pairs of the 16S rRNA gene from 17 West African and Central African species of the genus Phrynobatrachus ( Table 1 ).

Natural History. The holotype was collected in a gallery forest in the Boulléré / Sangaredi area. This gallery forest was situated in a small depression surrounded by savanna habitat. In the area where P. pintoi was found, the forest was approximately 150 m wide. The edges were dominated by shrubs, while there were a small number of larger trees in the central section, with a more important canopy and open shrub stratum. P. pintoi was found in the leaf litter of this central area, close to the river. The soil was partly sandy with some stones and mainly covered with leaf litter. With the exception of the gallery forests, the general landscape in the Boulléré / Sangaradi area was dominated by savanna habitats on bauxite outcrops. These habitats were highly disturbed due to a number of settlements and agricultural encroachment ( Wright et al. 2006). The recorded anuran fauna was mainly dominated by savanna species but also included farmbush species, e.g. Phrynobatrachus tokba , and one forest species, Astylosternus cf. occidentalis ( Hillers et al. 2006) . No other data on the biology and ecology of P. pintoi are known. As all other morphologically similar Phrynobatrachus species are forest dwelling, we believe P. pintoi is forest dependant as well. Further data on habitat, flora and fauna of the region are provided by Wright et al. (2006).

Distribution. Phrynobatrachus pintoi is only known from the type locality.

Etymology. The species is named in honor of Mr. Sidy Mohamed Diawara, known as Pinto. With his outstanding personality and effort he contributed greatly to successful field research and nature conservation in Guinea. He was team-member of the NGO “ Guinée Ecologie” and was involved in several Rapid Assessment Programs (RAP). The RAP in the Boké region was his last before he died in September 2006.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsolateral and ventral view of Phrynobatrachus pintoi sp. nov. (ZMB 70689, holotype).

FIGURE 2. Eyelids of a) Phrynobatrachus pintoi sp. nov. (ZMB 70689, holotype), b) P. cornutus (ZMB 70745) and c) P. villiersi (ZMB 70746).