Leptopelis christyi (Boulenger, 1912)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Leptopelinae > Genus: Leptopelis > Species: Leptopelis christyi

Hylambates christyi Boulenger, 1912, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 8, 10: 141. Holotype: BMNH, by original designation; now BM 1947.2.20.30 by museum records. Type locality: "Mabira Forest, Chagwe, Uganda".

Leptopelis budduensis Ahl, 1929, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1929: 199. Holotype: ZMB unnumbered, according to the original publication. Type locality: "Budu-Wald", Uganda. Synonymy by Loveridge, 1942, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 91: 379; Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 50; Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 31–32.

Leptopelis christyi — Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 230; Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 50; Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 31–32.

Leptopelis notatus christyi — Loveridge, 1942, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 91: 379, 392.

 

English Names

Christy's Forest Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 69).

Christy's Tree Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 199).

Distribution

Forests of eastern Dem. Rep. Congo, Uganda, and northwestern Tanzania; isolated and likely taxonomically distinct populations in Cameroon and Gabon (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Tanzania, Uganda

Likely/Controversially Present: Cameroon, Gabon

Comment

Closely related to Leptopelis flavomaculatus according to Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 32, who noted that the specimens reported by Inger, 1968, Explor. Parc Natl. Garamba, Miss. H. de Saeger, 52, as Leptopelis flavomaculatus are referable to this species. See brief account by Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 50–53. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 199–200, provided an account. Pauwels and Rödel, 2007, Herpetozoa, Wien, 19: 135–148, did not note the species in Gabon. See account for Cameroon by Amiet, 2012, Rainettes Cameroun: 499–505, where the Cameroonian population was referred to as Leptopelis cf. christyi, suggesting that this isolated population may be taxonomically distinct from the East African population. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 272–273, provided a brief account and map. Köhler, Scheelke, Schick, Veith, and Lötters, 2005, Afr. Zool., 40: 127–142, described the advertisement call. Mali, Banda, Chifundera, Badjedjea, Sebe, Lokasola, Ewango, Tungaluna, and Akaibe, 2019, Am. J. Zool., 2: 38–43, reported the species from the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 13, summarized the literature for Gabon and, following Amiet (2012) referred to the Gabon population as Leptopelis cf christyi. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 220–221, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Kako-Wanzalire, Mongo, Ilonga, Mapoli, Mbumba, Neema, Tungaluna, Itoka, and Bogaert, 2021, Tropicultura, 39 (1: 1709): 1–19, briefly discussed habitat preference in north-central and northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo. Badjedjea, Masudi, Akaibe, and Gvoždík, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e301): 45–47, commented on a population from the Kokolopori Bonobo Nature Reserve, Tshuapa Province, Dem. Rep. Congo. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 66, rejected records for Burundi and Rwanda as based on misidentifications. 

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