Astylosternus laurenti Amiet, 1978

Griesbaum, Frederic, Hirschfeld, Mareike, F. Barej, Michael, Schmitz, Andreas, Rohrmoser, Mariam, Dahmen, Matthias, Muehlberger, Fabian, Christoph Liedtke, H., L. Gonwouo, Nono, Doumbia, Joseph & Roedel, Mark-Oliver, 2019, Tadpoles of three western African frog genera: Astylosternus Werner, 1898, Nyctibates Boulenger, 1904, and Scotobleps Boulenger, 1900 (Amphibia, Anura, Arthroleptidae), Zoosystematics and Evolution 95 (1), pp. 133-160 : 138-140

Astylosternus laurenti Amiet, 1978

Material examined.

ZMB 88353 (GenBank MK318855), 1 tadpole, Gosner stage 25, Cameroon, Korup National Park, Bera, 564 m, 5°21'59.57"N, 8°59'45.6"E, 22 May 2014, leg. F. Mühlberger.

The tadpole was caught in a forest stream. It was genotyped and compared with an adult from east of Ntale village, Banyang-Mbo, Cameroon (MCZ A-136785; GenBank MK318856); the uncorrected p-difference was 0.2% (1 bp) (compare Taxonomic remarks in the description of the A. fallax tadpole).

Description.

Long slender tadpole with long, muscular tail (Fig. 7); body oval in dorsal view, bullet-shaped in lateral view; snout rounded in dorsal view, more narrowly rounded in lateral view; body length 34.2% of total length; body height 41.8% of body length; body width 54.8% of body length; eyes positioned dorsolaterally, eye diameter 13.0% of body length; nostrils positioned dorsolaterally, closer to snout tip than to eyes; inter-nostril distance 77.1% of interorbital distance; tail fins narrow, dorsal and ventral fin originating from tail base; ventral fin height narrower, measuring 72.2% of dorsal fin height; highest part of tail slightly behind the middle of the tail; body height 77.1% of maximum tail height; tail axis width 47.4% of body width; tail axis height 61.5% of maximum tail height; tail tip pointed; vent tube dextral; body with large lateral sacs, extending from spiracle to end of body; short spiracle, sinistral; mouth positioned rostroventral, narrower than interorbital distance; keratodont formula 1:2+2/2+2:1; anterior lip with lateral papillae and big rostral gap; posterior lip with 2 or 3 rows of ca 20 triangular papillae (Fig. 7c), papillae of inner row (or rows) shorter than in the marginal row; black jaw sheaths massive and serrated; upper jaw sheath with a small medial fang, lower jaw U-shaped with a broad medial notch.

The tadpole (Gosner stage 25) measures 51.7 mm in total length.

Coloration in preservation.

Basic color light brown, the dorsal surfaces darker; back and tail axis with irregular, dark brown spotted patterns; ventral surfaces light with few or no dark speckling; tail fins beige, semitransparent with tiny dark brown spots on dorsal fin.