Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Arthroleptis variabilis Matschie, 1893, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1893: 173. Syntypes: ZMB (80 specimens), by original designation. Blackburn, Gonwouo, Ernst, and Rödel, 2009, Breviora, 515: 14, reported 85 specimens. Type locality: "Buea, Barombie, Kamerun [= Cameroon], West-Afrika.

Arthroleptis Seimundi Boulenger, 1905, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 16: 180. Holotype: BMNH, by original designation. Type locality: "Fernando Po" (= Bioko, Equatorial Guinea). Synonymy by Boulenger, 1906, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 17: 320.

Arthroleptis (Arthroleptis) variabilis — Laurent, 1941 "1940", Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 85.

Abroscaphus variabilis — Laurent, 1957, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 56: 274-275. by implication.

English Names

Buea Screeching Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 37).

Variable Squeaker Frog (Blackburn, Gonwouo, Ernst, and Rödel, 2009, Breviora, 515: 14).

Distribution

Lowland rainforest from eastern Nigeria through Cameroon and into Central African Republic, Rep. Congo, Dem. Rep. Congo, Equatorial Guinea (including mainland and Bioko I.) and Gabon.

Comment

Gabon record provided by Lötters, Gossmann, Obame, and Böhme, 2001, Herpetofauna, Weinstadt, 23: 22. Rödel and Branch, 2002, Salamandra, 38: 236, reported a species, similar to Arthroleptis variabilis, but smaller, from Ivory Coast. Rödel and Bangoura, 2004, Tropical Zool., 17: 213, noted differences between Cameroon and West African populations that suggest that these represent different species. Lasso, Rial, Castroviejo, and De la Riva, 2002, Graellsia, 58: 21-34, provided notes on ecological distribution in Equatorial Guinea. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 31, provided records for Nigeria. Frétey, 2008, Alytes, 25: 99-172, summarized the literature. Blackburn, Gonwouo, Ernst, and Rödel, 2009, Breviora, 515: 1-23, redescribed the species, compared it to relevant species, provided extensive citation to relevant literature, and noted that West Africa specimens correspond to various undescribed species. Rödel, Doumbia, Johnson, and Hillers, 2009, Zootaxa, 2302: 26, commented on records west of Nigeria being based on misidentifications.

External Links

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.

• For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
• For images search Arkive, CalPhoto Images and Google Images
• To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
• For information aggregation from other sites and some original accounts see AmphibiaWeb report
• For further information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist;
• for a quick link to their maps see iNaturalist KML