Sclerophrys superciliaris (Boulenger, 1888)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Sclerophrys > Species: Sclerophrys superciliaris

Bufo superciliaris Boulenger, 1888 "1887", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1887: 565. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.21.41–49 (formerly 87.12.21.10–18), according to Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 61. Type locality: "Rio del Rey, Cameroons", Africa.

Bufo laevissimus Werner, 1897, Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. München, 27: 212. Syntypes: Not designated; ZSM 148/1989/1–2 (2 juveniles) and ZSM 1113.0 (lost) by museum records according to Glaw and Franzen, 2006, Spixiana, München, 29: 161. Type locality: "Kamerun". Synonymy with Bufo superciliaris by Boulenger, 1900, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1900: 436.

Bufo superciliosusWerner, 1897, Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. München, 27: 214. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

Amietophrynus superciliarisFrost, 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: 363.

Amietophrynus superciliaris superciliarisBarej, Schmitz, Menegon, Hillers, Hinkel, Böhme, and Rödel, 2011, Zootaxa, 2772: 9.

Sclerophrys superciliaris — Ohler and Dubois, 2016, PeerJ, 4(e1553): 9.

English Names

Cameroon Toad (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 97; USFWS; CITES).

Horned Toad (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 74). 

Distribution

Southeastern Nigeria south through western Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea to northern Gabon and northern Rep. Congo; Uigé Province of northwestern Angola. An isolated record in southwestern Central African Republic may refer to this species or to Sclerophrys channingi. Expected in northwetern Dem. Rep. Congo.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria

Likely/Controversially Present: Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Comment

The west African population, formerly known as Sclerophrys superciliaris chevalieri is now recognized as a distinct species. See account in Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 312–313 (in the sense of including what is now Sclerophrys channingi). In the Bufo superciliaris group of Martin, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 62, and Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 160. Gabon records by Lötters, Gossmann, Obame, and Böhme, 2001, Herpetofauna, Weinstadt, 23: 22, and Frétey and Blanc, 2002 "2001", Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 126: 380, reported this species from Gabon. See brief comments by Rödel, Bangoura, and Böhme, 2004, Herpetozoa, Wien, 17: 108, regarding range and natural history. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 22, provided records for Nigeria. Barej, Schmitz, Menegon, Hillers, Hinkel, Böhme, and Rödel, 2011, Zootaxa, 2772: 1–32, provided the most recent revision, recognizing the eastern Dem. Rep. Congo population as Amietophrynus channingi, and the populations in the eastern and western Guinean forest blocks as, respectively, Amietophrynus superciliaris chevalieri and Amietophrynus superciliaris superciliaris.  Jongsma, Tobi, Dixon-MacCallum, Bamba-Kaya, Yoga, Mbega, Mve Beh, Emrich, and Blackburn, 2017, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 11 (1: e144): 8–9, provided a record for southeastern Gabon and briefly discussed habitat and range. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27 : 18, summarized the literature for Gabon and provided photographs (p. 53). Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 74–75, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See brief account, range map, and photographs for Equatorial Guinea in Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 137–230. Ernst, Lautenschläger, Branquima, and Hölting, 2020, Zoosyst. Evol., 96: 251, noted the species to occur in Uigé Province of northwestern Angola, and suggested that revisionary work is warranted. 

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