Ptychadena retropunctata ( Angel, 1949 )

Kanga, Kouassi Philippe, Kouamé, N’Goran Germain, Zogbassé, Parfait, Gongomin, Basseu Aude-Inès, Agoh, Konan Laurent, Kouamé, Akoua Michèle, Konan, Jean Christophe B. Y. N., Adepo-Gourène, Abouo Béatrice, Gourène, Germain & Rödel, Mark-Oliver, 2021, Amphibian diversity of a West African biodiversity hotspot: an assessment and commented checklist of the batrachofauna of the Ivorian part of the Nimba Mountains, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 275) 15 (1), pp. 71-107 : 94

Ptychadena retropunctata ( Angel, 1949)

Nimba Grass Frog

Material: Two males, NGK-Nimba 0060 , NGK-Nimba 0061 , and two females, NGK-Nimba 0062 , NGK-Nimba 0063 ( Fig. 14A ) .

Comments: Five P. retropunctata were recorded on a high plateau with predominantly grassy mountain pastures and herbaceous vegetation (07°35.453’N, 008°24.957’W; 843 m asl). The SULs of males varied from 28.0– 30.5 mm (N = 3), while two females measured 29.0 and 37.5 mm. Whereas four frogs were rust-colored, a female had a deep brown dorsum. In contrast to Rödel (2000) and Channing and Rödel (2019), who describe a white venter, our specimens had a yellow venter. The species was described previously from Mounts Nimba ( Angel 1949). Further records became known only from a few montane localities in southeastern Guinea (summarized in Rödel et al. 2004), the Loma Mountains in Sierra Leone ( Lamotte 1971), northern Guinea ( Hillers et al. 2006), and southeastern Senegal ( Monasterio et al. 2016). This is the first country record for P. retropunctata in Ivory Coast.

Figures

Fig. 14. Ptychadenid, ranid, and rhacophorid frogs from Mount Nimba Integrated Nature Reserve: Ptychadena retropunctata (A); P. stenocephala female (B); P. submascareniensis female (C); P.submascareniensis male (D); P. tournieri female (E); Amnirana sp. ‘albolabris west’ female (F); Amnirana sp. ‘albolabris west’ male (G); Chiromantis rufescens male (H).