Xenopus poweri Hewitt, 1927

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pipidae > Subfamily: Dactylethrinae > Genus: Xenopus > Species: Xenopus poweri

Xenopus poweri Hewitt, 1927, Rec. Albany Mus., 3: 413. Holotype: MMK. Type locality: "the Victoria Falls", Zambia and Zimbabwe. Synonymy with Xenopus laevis by Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 8; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 32; with Xenopus laevis petersii by Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 508-510.

Xenopus laevis poweri — Schmidt and Inger, 1959, Explor. Parc Natl. Upemba, Miss. G.F. de Witte, 56: 8; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 32. Distinctiveness of Xenopus laevis poweri from Xenopus laevis petersi affirmed by Mertens, 1971, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 529: 7, rejecting the earlier view of Parker, 1936, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 10, 18: 597, that they were synonyms.

Xenopus laevis sudanensis Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 301. Holotype: MHNG 1017.74, by original designation. Type locality: "Ngaoundéré, Adamaoua", Cameroon. Provisional synonymy by Furman, Bewick, Harrison, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Chifundera, and Evans, 2015, Mol. Ecol., 24: 921. 

Xenopus sudanensis — Jacobsen, 2009, Afr. Herp News, 47: 6. Undiscussed arrangement.

Xenopus poweriFurman, Bewick, Harrison, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Chifundera, and Evans, 2015, Mol. Ecol., 24: 909. 

English Names

Power's Clawed Frog (Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 64). 

Distribution

Central and eastern Nigeria to eastern Cameroon and western Central Africa Republic; northernmost Dem. Rep. Congo through Zambia to western Zimbabwe, eastern and southeastern Angola, Okovango Region of Namibia, and northern Botswana. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Comment

 Jacobsen, 2009, Afr. Herp News, 47: 2–20, reported this species (as Xenopus sudanensis) from east-north-central Central African Republic. Furman, Bewick, Harrison, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Chifundera, and Evans, 2015, Mol. Ecol., 24: 909–925, provided a molecular study of the various species of Xenopus, removed this name from the synonymy of Xenopus petersii, reassigned the West Africa populations of nominal Xenopus laevis to this species.  In the Xenopus laevis group of Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 29. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 64–65, provided a map for Angola and discussed the literature. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 10, for comment on population in western Zambia. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 48–49, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Conradie, Keates, Verburgt, Baptista, and Harvey, 2023, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 17: 42, provided an account and dot map of the species in Angola. 

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