Arthroleptis poecilonotus Peters, 1863

Ayoro, Halamoussa Joëlle, Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoudé, Hema, Emmanuel Midibahaye, Penner, Johannes, Oueda, Adama, Dubois, Alain, Rödel, Mark-Oliver, Kabré, Gustave Boureima & Ohler, Annemarie, 2020, List of amphibian species (Vertebrata, Tetrapoda) of Burkina Faso, Zoosystema 42 (28), pp. 547-582 : 552

Arthroleptis poecilonotus Peters, 1863

( Fig. 3A, B )

COLLECTION MATERIAL. — Burkina Faso • 10 subadults ( SVL 12.1- 20.1 mm); Bobo-Dioulasso , near Nasso; 11.18803°N, – 4.29741°W; 420 m a.s.l.; VII.1970; M. Lamotte leg.; MNHN-RA-2008.1055, 2008.1056, 2008.1057, 2008.1058, 2008.1059, 2008.1060, 2008.1061, 2008.1062, 2008.1063, 2008.1064 .

FIELD MATERIAL. — Burkina Faso • 2 ♀ ( SVL 27.6-28.1 mm), 5 ♂ ( SVL 24.4-26.5 mm), 3 subadults ( SVL 16.6-18.3 mm); Nasso , Kou Forest; 11.18888°N, – 4.43935°W; 320 m a.s.l.; 7-9.VIII. 2018; H. J. Ayoro & A. Ohler leg.; gallery forest; hand capture .

DESCRIPTION. — 20 specimens examined. Small frogs with a blunt snout, short head and a concave tympanum; slender limbs, the inner metatarsal tubercle long and prominent. Adult males and females with protruding palmar and supernumerary tubercles on fingers. Tubercles absent on toes. Dorsum feebly granulated. In life, dorsum grey, brown or reddish-brown coloured. Sometimes an hourglass pattern present on back ( Fig. 3A, B ). Venter with whitish or brownish, smooth skin. As other Arthroleptis species (e.g. Blackburn 2009; Blackburn et al. 2010), presence of an elongated third finger, and transparent spines on second and third fingers in adult males.

HABITAT. — The historical specimens and the recent samples of A. poecilonotus were from Kou Forest ( Fig. 2E ). At this site, males were seen at night on leaves of shrub and grass at heights varying from 0.2- 1 m. Females and subadults were seen hiding in leaflitter. The species may occur in other gallery forests along the major rivers (Mouhoun, Comoé and Pendjari rivers) in the western and southern part of Burkina Faso as well ( Lamotte 1967b). It was found in a forest close to a waterfall near Pendjari National Park in Benin ( Nago et al. 2006), in Togo ( Segniagbeto et al. 2007), in Ivory Coast ( Lamotte & Perret 1963; Lamotte 1967b; Barbault & Trefaut-Rodrigues 1979; Rödel 2000; Rödel 2003; Rödel & Ernst 2003) and in Nigeria ( SchiØtz 1964, 1967; Leaché et al. 2006; Onadeko 2016).

TAXONOMIC REMARK. — As stated in Rödel & Bangoura (2004) and Blackburn (2010), it is currently not possible to assign these West African Arthroleptis taxa with certainty to one of the various available names, as intra-specific variability equals or surpasses interspecific differences. As actually understood, A. poecilonotus has an extended distribution range, including West, Central and parts of East Africa ( Frost 2019) and probably recovers a group of species. Type locality is in West Africa, in south-eastern Ghana. Further studies, in particular including topotypical material, are needed for taxonomic decisions.

Figures

FIG. 3. — Representatives of anuran species from Burkina Faso in life. A-B, Arthroleptis poecilonotus Peters,1863; C, Leptopelis bufonides Schiøtz,1967; D, Leptopelis viridi (Günther, 1869); E, Sclerophrys maculata (Hallowell, 1854); F, Sclerophrys pentoni (Anderson, 1893). Photos: Halamoussa Joëlle Ayoro.

FIG. 2. — Various habitats of amphibian species from Burkina Faso. A, banks of ponds in dry season from W National Park; B, stones on the bank of the Mékrou River in dry season (W National Park);C, shrubby savannah habitats at rainy season from Koubri; D, rainy season shrubby savannah habitats from Comoé-Léraba Forest; E, gallery forest from Kou Forest at Nasso; F, Sahelian swampy valley habitat from Dori (in rainy season). Photos: Halamoussa Joëlle Ayoro.