Tomopterna Duméril and Bibron, 1841

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Tomopterna

Tomopterna Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 8: 443. Type species: Pyxicephalus delalandii Tschudi, 1838, by subsequent designation of Boulenger, 1918, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 43: 113 (who regarded it as subgenus of Rana).

English Names

Sand Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4;Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 116; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 328; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 432).

Burrowing Frogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Old World Bullfrogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Distribution

Subsaharan Africa in savanna and arid regions.

Comment

Tomopterna was originally coined as a synonym of Pyxicephalus, which since 1961 would require that it not be available. However, article 11.6.1 allows names such as Tomopterna, treated as available prior to 1961 to be availab.e Tomopterna previous considered a subgenus of Rana by Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233. Synonymies for South African species are in Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 96-102, under Pyxicephalus. Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 225-284, considered this genus a subgenus of Rana, closely related to Euphlyctis and Limnonectes. Clarke, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 285-331, noted that at least the African members of Euphlyctis were more closely related to Conraua and retained Euphlyctis as a subgenus of Rana, and Tomopterna as a monophyletic genus of unresolved relationship to other ranines. Asian members of the genus removed to Rana by Dubois, 1984, Alytes, 3: 143-159, but this was superseded by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 56-57, who included several of them and recognized two subgenera (Sphaerotheca and Tomopterna) which were subsequent ( Dubois and Ohler, 2000, Alytes, 18: 35) considered separate genera. Dawood, Channing, and Bogart, 2002, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 22: 407-413, reported on the phylogenetics of the sub-Saharan species and noted three undescribed species from Namibia (2 species from Khorixas [subsequently named as Tomopterna damarensis] and Shankara) and Mozambique (Beira). Channing, Moyer, and Dawood, 2004, Afr. J. Herpetol., 53: : 21-28, provided a table comparing the morphology of Tomotperna luganga, Tomopterna marmorata, Tomopterna cryptotis, Tomopterna tandyi, and Tomopterna tuberculosa. Dawood and Uqubay, 2004, Afr. Zool., 39: 145-151, provided a molecular phylogeny of Tomopterna, suggesting that a population from Mauritania is an unnamed species, forming the sister taxon of a group composed of all Tomopterna with the exception of Tomopterna natalensis. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 432-449, provided a key and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Zimkus and Larson, 2011, Zootaxa, 2933: 27-45, reported on molecular relationships and provided a key to the species of East Africa. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 292-297, provided accounts and an identification key for the species of Malawi.

Contained taxa

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