Mertensophryne taitana (Peters, 1878)
Bufo taitanus Peters, 1878, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1878: 208. Syntypes: ZMB 9298, MCZ 22327 (on exchange from ZMB according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1946, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 96: 84); ZMB 9298 designated lectotype (by implication) of Marx, 1958, Fieldiana, Zool., 36: 429. Type locality: "Taita", Kenya.
Bufo katanganus Loveridge, 1932, Occas. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 8: 46. Holotype: BMNH 1920.5.13.2, by original designation. Type locality: "Lofoi, Katanga [= Shaba Province], Belgian Congo [Dem. Rep. Congo]". Synonymy by Grandison, 1972, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 47: 41; Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 156.
Bufo ushoranus Loveridge, 1932, Occas. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 8: 45. Holotype: MCZ 10330, by original designation. Type locality: "Ulugu, Ushora, Tanganyika Territory [Tanzania]". Synonymy by Grandison, 1972, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 47: 38-42.
Bufo taitanus taitanus — Barbour and Loveridge, 1946, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 96: 84. Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 339.
Mertensophryne ushoranus — Tihen, 1960, Copeia, 1960: 226. Based on specimens of Bufo schmidti, according to Poynton, 1991, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 152: 459.
Bufo ushoranus — Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 157.
Mertensophryne taitana — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 365.
English Names
Teita Toad (Bufo taitanus: Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 110).
Taita Toad (Bufo taitanus: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 43; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 96).
Ushora Toad (Bufo ushoranus [no longer recognized]; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 43).
Black-chested Dwarf Toad (Bufo taitanus: Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 41; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 96 [alternative name]).
Dwarf Toad (Bufo taitanus: Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 93 [alternative name]).
Taita Dwarf Toad (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 93 [alternative name]).
Distribution
Wooded grassland of Tanzania, southern Kenya, and southward to southeastern Dem. Rep. Congo, Malawi, northern Zambia, and likely adjacent Mozambique, possibly into northern Zimbabwe.
Comment
In the Bufo taitanus complex of Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 156. The earless Bufo ushoranus, synonymized by Grandison with Bufo taitanus was considered by Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo, to be a distinct species in the related Bufo ushoranus group, which they considered to be close to the Bufo taitanus complex. See Grandison, 1972, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 47: 38-42, for synonymy and discussion. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 96, and Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 93-94, provided accounts. Malonza, Lötters, and Measey, 2010, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 99: 55, commented on range, life history, and conservation status in the Taita Hills of Kenya. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 130-131, provided an account for Malawi. Measey, Malonza, and Muchai, 2009, Amph. Taita Hills: 32-34, provided a brief account and photo for the Taita Hills, Kenya.
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
