Sclerophrys regularis (Reuss, 1833)

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

Bufo nubicus Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 65. Type(s): Not stated, presumably originally in NHMW. Type locality: "Nubiscscher B. Ex Africa, Nubia". Nomen nudum. Synonymy with Bufo regularis by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 545–574.

Bufo regularis Reuss, 1833, Mus. Senckenb., 1: 60. Syntypes: SMF 1298.1c–d (according to Boettger, 1892, Kat. Batr. Samml. Mus. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges.: vi); SMF 3429 (formerly 1298.1c) designated lectotype by Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 40. Type locality: "Aegypten".

Bufo pantherinus Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 88. Nomen nudum coined as a synonym of Bufo arabicus Rüppell and Bufo regularis Ruess. Synonymy with Bufo mauritanicus by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 557, presumably because Bufo pantherinus Duméril and Bibron, 1841, is a synonym of Bufo mauritanicus.

Bufo pantherinus Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 687. Types: RMNH by implication. Type locality: "l'occident de l'Asie, ainse que le sud-ouest et le nord de l'Afrique . . . . d'Égypte . . . dans les environs de Bone et d'Alger; enfin nous en avons deux provenant de l'Arabie Pétrée"; restricted by Loveridge, 1957, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 117: 151–362, to Egypt. Junior homonym of Bufo pantherinus Smith, 1828. Named as a synonym of Bufo arabicus Rüppell, Bufo regularis Ruess, and attributed to Boie. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 563. Includes specimens of Bufo regularis and Bufo mauritanicus, according to Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 545–574. Considered a synonym of Bufo regularis by Peters, 1882, Naturwiss. Reise Mossambique, Zool. 3: 178, but it is not known if specimens were examined. See discussion in Poynton and Lambiris, 1998, Afr. J. Herpetol., 47: 3–12 (who noted that Bufo pantherinus Smith, 1828, was likely also included in the hypodigm).

Rana mosaica Seetzen, 1855, Reisen Syrien, 3: 492. Syntypes: 2 specimens, presumably deposited in ZMB. Type locality: "Kahira" (= Cairo), Egypt. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 560; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 298; synonymy considered tentative by Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159.

Bufo guineensis Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 59. Syntypes: BMNH (5, including specimens of Bufo regularis and Bufo pusillus), according to Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 53; including BMNH 1851.11.14.46 according to museum records, other syntypes not currently (Sept 2021) located. Type localities: "West Africa", "Fernando Po" (= Bioko, Equatorial Guinea), "Coast of Guinea", and "Sierra Leone"; restricted to Elmina, Ghana (according to Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 51). Synonymy by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 560; Peters, 1882, Naturwiss. Reise Mossambique, Zool. 3: 178; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 298.

Bufo amoenus Rochebrune, 1884, Fauna Senegambie, Amph.: 12. Types: Including animal figured in pl.1, fig. 2 of the original publication, possibly in MNHNP, but not known to be there now. Type localities: "Gadieba, Diaoudoun, Sebicoutane, Samone, Kounakeri, Ile aux Chiens, Mélacorée, Sedhiou", Senegamiba. Provisional distinction from Bufo regularis noted in original. Regarded as a nomen dubium by Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 145. Gorham, 1974, Checklist World Amph.: 83, tentatively assigned it to the synonymy of Bufo regularis.

Bufo sauvagei Rochebrune, 1884, Fauna Senegambie, Amph.: tab. 3. Types: Including animal figured in Pl. 3, fig. 2 of original; likely deposited in MNHNP, but not reported in recent type lists and therefore considered lost. Type localities: "Galam, Oualo, Bokol, lac de N'Guer, Kouma, Samone, Merinaghem, Gadieba", Senegambia. Regarded as a nomen dubium by Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 145. Tentatively assigned to the synonymy of Bufo regularis by Gorham, 1974, Checklist World Amph.: 83.

Bufo buccinator Rochebrune, 1884, Fauna Senegambie, Amph.: tab. 4. Types: Including animal figured in Pl. 4, fig. 1 of original; possibly deposited in MNHNP, but not mentioned in type lists and presumed lost. Type locality: "Saint-Louis, Sorres, Guet-N'Dar, N'Dar-Tout, Diouk, Thionk, Leybar, Gandiole, Joalles, Rufisque, Podor, Saldé, Dagana, Gambie, Casamence", Senegambia. Regarded as a nomen dubium by Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 145. Tentatively assigned to the synonymy of Bufo regularis by Gorham, 1974, Checklist World Amph.: 83.

Bufo neglectus Rochebrune, 1884, Fauna Senegambie, Amph.: 13. Types: Including animal figured in Pl. 3, fig. 1 of original; possibly deposited in MNHNP but not reported in type lists and presumed lost. Type localities: "Leybar, Diouk, Daka-Bango, Thionk, Gandiole, Hann, Pone, Joalles, Rufisque", Senegambia. Synonymy by Nieden, 1923, Das Tierreich, 46: 95.

Bufo regularis var. spinosa — Boettger, 1892, Kat. Batr. Samml. Mus. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges.: 35. Status rejected by Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 171.

Bufo regularis regularis — Loveridge, 1936, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., 22: 80.

Amietophrynus regularis — 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: 363.

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

English Names

Reuss's Toad (Flower, 1933, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1933: 839).

Square-marked Toad (Stewart and Wilson, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 297; Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 108; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 43).

Common Square-marked Toad (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 22).

African Toad (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

African Bouncing Toad (Trade name).

Common Toad (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 89).

Common African Toad (Emms, Jambang, Bah, Mankali, Rödel, and Barnett, 2005, Herpetol. Bull., London, 94: 9).

Egyptian Toad (Baha El Din, 2006, Guide Rept. Amph. Egypt: 33).

Egyptian Square-marked Toad (Largen and Spawls, 2010, Amph. Rept. Ethiopia Eritrea: 74).

Distribution

West Africa from southern Mauritania and northern Nilotic Egypt (including the Delta) west along the coast to near the Libya border, western Eritrea, western and northern Ethiopia southward along the Atlantic coast from Cameroon through Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rep. Congo, and western Dem. Rep. Congo to northern and southwestern Angola; west from Cameroon to northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo, Uganda, and western Kenya in savanna and farmbush; introduced on Cape Verde Islands and Qatar; reported from northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo; presumed to occur in Togo, Djibouti, and Tanzania but not so far confirmed from there. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda

Likely/Controversially Present: Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Togo

Introduced: Cape Verde, Qatar

Comment

In the Bufo regularis group. See Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 27–33. See Stearn, 1938, J. Soc. Bibliograph. Nat. Hist., 1: 155, for discussion of the publication data of the description. See comment under Bufo kassasii. Gabon record by Lötters, Gossmann, Obame, and Böhme, 2001, Herpetofauna, Weinstadt, 23: 22. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 176, reported on an introduced population in Mauritius. Padial and De la Riva, 2004, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 18: 92, provided a record from Mauritania. Wanger, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 27–33, provided Gambia records. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 16–17, provided records for Nigeria. Emms, Jambang, Bah, Mankali, Rödel, and Barnett, 2005, Herpetol. Bull., London, 94: 6–16, provided records for Gambia. Baha El Din, 2006, Guide Rept. Amph. Egypt: 33–35, provided an account for Egypt. Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 535–538, provided discussion relevant to the southern populations. Jackson and Blackburn, 2007, Salamandra, 43: 149–164, provided a record for Nouabale-Ndoki National Park, Rep. Congo. See account (as Bufo regularis), photograph, and map by Largen and Spawls, 2010, Amph. Rept. Ethiopia Eritrea: 74–76. Vasconcelos, Froufe, Brito, Carranza, and Harris, 2010, Afr. Zool., 45: 291–298, 1) reported on mtDNA phylogeography of the species, and 2) noted misidentifications incorrectly associated via Genbank with putative Amietophrynus regularis by Pauly et al. (2004); Frost et al. (2006), and van Bocxlaer et al. (2009). Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 137, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Padial, Crochet, Géniez, and Brito, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 11–22, discussed systematics, distribution, and conservation status in Mauritania. Sow, Gonçalves, Sousa, Martínez-Freiría, Santarém, Velo-Antón, Dieng, Campos, Diagne, Boratyński, and Brito, 2017, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 31: 101–116, reported the species from extreme southeastern Mauritania. Ceríaco, Marques, and Bandeira, 2016, Anf. Rept. Parque Nac. Cangandala: 29, provided a brief account for Malanje Province, Angola. Kassie Teme, 2016, J. Zool. Stud., 3(4): 1–6, reported a population from Mengeha (Ambiki), northwestern Ethiopia. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 77–79, provided a map for Angola and provided a brief account including a discussion of the taxonomic uncertainties surrounding this species. Nagy, Chifundera, Collet, and Gvoždík, 2013, Herpetol. Notes, 6:  413–419, provided a record from Bas-Congo, southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo. Yamaguchi, Vasconcelos, Mohamed, Ahmed, Alatalo, and Barnett, 2019, J. Arid Environments, 160: 91–94, reported on the source and distribution of the introduced population in Qatar. Deef, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13: 104–110, reported on interpopulational genetic variation in Egypt. Dewynter and Frétey, 2019, Cah. Fondation Biotope, 27: 18, summarized the literature for Gabon. See detailed account for Egypt and Mauritania by Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019, Amph. N. Afr.: 243–249. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 11, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 60–61, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. 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, but this identification requires confirmation See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 85, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map for Egypt, as well as a photograph. Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 144, suggested that no specimens for Equatorial Guinea have been documented and presence in that political unit requires conformation. Ernst, Lautenschläger, Branquima, and Hölting, 2020, Zoosyst. Evol., 96: 250, noted the species to occur in Uigé Province of northwestern Angola. See comments on distribution and population status in Egypt by Ibrahim, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 108. Kanga, Kouamé, Zogbass, Gongomin, Agoh, Kouamé, Konan, Adepo-Gourène, Gourène, and Rödel, 2021, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 15: 71–107, commented on conservation status, identification, range, and habitat on the Ivory Coast side of Mont Nimba. Kako-Wanzalire, Mongo, Ilonga, Mapoli, Mbumba, Neema, Tungaluna, Itoka, and Bogaert, 2021, Tropicultura, 39 (1: 1709): 1–19, briefly discussed habitat preference in northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo. Pagano, Daf, Ballouche, Taïbi, and Sinsch, 2022, Salamandra, 58: 317–322, reported on the advertisement call from  Diawling National Park, southwestern Mauritania. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 65, specifically excluded this species from the fauna of Rwanda due to reassignment of these records to Sclerophrys gutturalis. Moravec, 2023, Zool. Caboverdiana, 11: 3–9, reported the species from the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão, Cape Verde. Behangana, Byaruhanga, Magala, Katumba, Kagurusi, Dendi, and Luiselli, 2023, Wetlands, 43(88): 1–13, reported on presence in the wetlands of southwestern Uganda. Gansa, Agadjihouèdé, and Hounkanrin, 2023, Afr. Zool., 58: 39–56, reported the species from the lower Ouémé Valley, southern Benin, and briefly descried habitat preference. Sorungbe, Oniya, Akinyele, and Odeyemi, 2023, Sci. Rev., 9: 15–22, reported on karyotypic and morphometricl variation in Ondo state, Nigeria. 

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