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Issue: Vol. 4098 No. 1: 5 Apr. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-04-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4098.1.3
Page range: 73–94
Abstract views: 74
PDF downloaded: 1

Designation and description of a neotype of Sclerophrys maculata (Hallowell, 1854), and reinstatement of S. pusilla (Mertens, 1937) (Amphibia: Anura: Bufonidae)

Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
Department of Environmental Science (Biogeography), University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 27, 4056 Basel, Switzerland Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, United Kingdom
Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld), P.O. Box 13147, Humewood, Port Elizabeth 6013, South Africa South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6140 South Africa
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Department of Environmental Science (Biogeography), University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 27, 4056 Basel, Switzerland Ecology, Evolution and Developmental Group, Department of Wetland Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC), 41092 Sevilla, Spain
Amphibia Africa Toad Bufo Amietophrynus holotype

Abstract

Molecular analysis indicates that African material previously referred to Amietophrynus maculatus (Hallowell, 1854; now Sclerophrys maculata), is divisible into two distinct clades: a Western Clade from Cameroon westwards and an Eastern Clade from Central African Republic eastwards, and Uganda southwards to South Africa, extending to Angola-Namibia. Preliminary morphological and bioacoustic data support this division. The two clades are recognised here as two separate species. The Western species retains the name S. maculata, with Hallowell’s designated type locality of Liberia. The Eastern Clade retains the name published by Mertens (1937), S. pusilla. It is noted that a type specimen of S. maculata cannot be traced and is presumed lost; the so-called syntypes in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences are not the material described by Hallowell. None of these have been designated as a neotype, consequently a specimen from Liberia in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, is designated here as the neotype of S. maculata.

 

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