Tomopterna milletihorsini (Angel, 1922)

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 : 574

Tomopterna milletihorsini (Angel, 1922)

COLLECTION MATERIAL. — There are no voucher specimens available for this species from Burkina Faso although its presence was reported in the East and Central-East in this country in the literature.

LITERATURE REPORTS. — Burkina Faso • Gourma province, Fada N’gourma ; 12.06051°N, 0.34913°E; 300 m a.s.l. (Mohneke 2011; Mohneke et al. 2011) • Ganzourgou province, Zorgho ; 12.2483°N, – 0.6278°W; 300 m a.s.l.; I-III.2008 ( Mohneke et al. 2010b; Mohneke et al. 2011) .

DESCRIPTION. — Species with a short head, a horizontal pupil, short and strong limbs. Inner metatarsal tubercles large and shovel-shaped, tarsal tubercles usually present. Frog with a feebly warty back skin and smooth ventral skin. Dorsal colour brown to beige or dark brown. Pale dorsolateral lines often present. A white supratympanic ridge. Numerous dark brown, greenish or reddish spots, often with black borders, distinct on head, back and flanks.

REMARKS. — The genus Tomopterna Duméril & Bibron, 1841 still comprises various undescribed species and needs taxonomic revision ( Padial & De La Riva 2004; Padial et al. 2013). There are 14 species known in this genus and these are also known to be highly cryptic and morphologically similar ( Wasonga & Channing 2013; Wilson & Channing 2019). The commonly used name for West African populations was Tomopterna cryptotis (Boulenger, 1907) ( Lamotte & Xavier 1981; Rödel 2000; Padial & De La Riva 2004; Mohneke 2011; Padial et al. 2013; Sow et al. 2017). Ohler & Frétey (2008) investigated the status of Arthroleptis milletihorsini (Angel, 1922) , the type of which was deposited in MNHN collection. According to their examination, the characters did not correspond to the morphological characters of the genus Arthroleptis Smith, 1849 , but rather to the characters of the genus Tomopterna Duméril & Bibron, 1841 . The holotype is a young specimen of 18 mm SVL. Ohler & Frétey (2008) allocated the nomen Arthroleptis milletihorsini to Tomopterna , as Tomopterna milletihorsini (Angel, 1922) with the type locality being Kati 12 km north to Bamako from Mali. We tentatively use this name for West African Tomopterna .

HABITAT. — During our field sampling, the presence of Tomopterna milletihorsini has been reported from Dori and Yakouta zones where gardeners and fishermen reported a frog species which inflate their body as Pyxicephalus maltzanii and is living under the sand. In Koti women indicated its presence as common in their groundnut fields after the harvesting (mostly from November to December). Women reported that the species was found by young shepherds who search it in sand in dried backwaters or in holes of groundnut fields after harvesting. In West Africa, Tomopterna is found in semiarid to arid habitats on sandy soils in the Sahel zone ( Rödel 2000; Padial & De La Riva 2004; Mohneke 2011). The species has been also found in mountains zones from Mauritania ( Padial et al. 2013; Sow et al. 2017).