Arthroleptis francei Loveridge, 1953

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Arthroleptinae > Genus: Arthroleptis > Species: Arthroleptis francei

Arthroleptis adolfifriederici francei Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 387. Holotype: MCZ 27479, by original designation. Type locality: "from the forested banks of the Ruo River just below the Ruo Falls on Mlanje Mountain, about 5000 feet . . . . Nyasaland [Malawi]".

Abroscaphus adolfifriderici franceiLaurent, 1957, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 56: 274-275, by implication.

Arthroleptis franceiPoynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 538-539.

English Names

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

France's Squeaker (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 112; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 42).

Distribution

Mount Mulanje and possibly Zomba Mountains, southern Malawi, 700-2500 m elevation; Mounts Mabu and Namuli, and possibly Mount Socone (see comment), Zambezia Province, northern Mozambique; 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Malawi, Mozambique

Comment

See account by Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 43. Frétey, 2008, Alytes, 25: 99-172, summarized the literature. Broadley, 2008, Afr. Herp News, 45: 15, reported the species from Namuli Mountain, 2900 m, in northern Mozambique. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 146. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 76-77, provided an account for Malawi. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 268–269, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Conradie, Bittencourt-Silva, Engelbrecht, Loader, Menegon, Nanvonamuquitxo, Scott, and Tolley, 2016, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 92: 163–180, reported the populations from Mounts Mabu and Namuli, Zambezia Province, Mozambique. Bittencourt-Silva, Bayliss, and Conradie, 2020, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 14 (2: e247): 198–271, suggested that the binomial represents a species complex and reported Arthroleptis aff. francei from Mount Socone, Ile District, Zambezia Province, northeast-central Mozambique.

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