Poyntonophrynus lughensis (Loveridge, 1932)

Kirchhof, Sebastian, Wasonga, Victor, Mazuch, Tomáš, Spawls, Stephen & Malonza, Patrick Kinyatta, 2023, An annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of the Sibiloi National Park in northern Kenya based on field surveys, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 324) 17 (1 / 2), pp. 1-18 : 4

Poyntonophrynus lughensis (Loveridge, 1932)

Vouchers: NMK-A1824 (field no. SK1112) Localities in the study area (henceforth simply called localities): Turkana Basin Institute ( TBI)

Remarks: On 28 March 2017, tens to hundreds of individuals were calling in the late morning (0900– 1100 h) together with Tomopterna wambensis in a temporary water body created by recent rainfalls in the usually dry bushland in front of the TBI near Illeret. Several pairs of Poyntonophrynus lughensis were found in amplexus. One female was collected and accessioned in the NMK collection ( Fig. 3A ). Similar to other members of the African pygmy toads of this genus, the natural history of P. lughensis is almost completely unknown ( Ceríaco et al. 2018). Interestingly, in a recent large-scale molecular phylogeny of African toads, P. lughensis actually clustered with the species of the genus Mertensophryne Tihen, 1960 ( Liedtke et al. 2017).

Figures

Fig. 3. Amphibian species recorded during the surveys: (A) Poyntonophrynus lughensis; (B) Sclerophrys xeros; (C) Sclerophrys turkanae; (D) Ptychadena nilotica; (E) Ptychadena cf. schillukorum; and (F) Tomopterna wambensis.