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Type: Article
Published: 2018-01-21
Page range: 565–578
Abstract views: 142
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A new species of Puddle Frog, genus Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from Ghana

CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana Wildlife and Range Management Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA
CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana
Jean Lorougnon Guédé University, Department of Biology and Animal Physiology, Daloa, BP 150, Côte d´Ivoire
Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Amphibia Biodiversity hotspot Phrynobatrachus afiabirago sp. nov. Phrynobatrachus latifrons Upper Guinea Forests Ghana

Abstract

We describe a new species of Phrynobatrachus from the eastern part of the Upper Guinea forest region, Ghana, West Africa. Morphologically, the new species can be distinguished from all of its congeners by the combination of a slender body, short and pointed snout, a relatively warty dorsum, a black-spotted throat in both sexes, a gular flap in males, a dark spotted chest, a white-greyish venter with occasional blackish spots, rudimentary pedal webbing, none to slightly dilated finger tips and strongly delated toe tips, presence of both inner and outer metatarsal tubercles and absence of a dark face mask, eyelid tubercles and longer dorsal ridges. We collected mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from the 16S rRNA gene to measure the genetic diversity of the new species, and to estimate phylogenetic relationships. The new species is a distinct and monophyletic evolutionary lineage most closely related to Phrynobatrachus gutturosus, P. fraterculus and P. maculiventris. The discovery of this new species highlights that the biodiversity of West African forests is still incompletely known and that the few remaining forests need urgent protection.

 

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