Cacosternum plimptoni Channing, Brun, Burger, Febvre, and Moyer, 2005

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Cacosternum > Species: Cacosternum plimptoni

Cacosternum plimptoni Channing, Brun, Burger, Febvre, and Moyer, 2005, Afr. J. Herpetol., 54: 140. Holotype: MHNG 2661.18, by original designation. Type locality: "Musabi Plain (02° 17′ 16″ S; 34° 28′ 16″ E; 1297 m), in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania".

English Names

Plimpton's Dainty Frog (original publication).

Distribution

Northern Tanzania and the from both sides of the rift valley of southwestern Kenya, at altitudes between 1000 and 2000 m; Uganda; reported from Akagera National Park, Eastern Province, Rwanda (at 1290 m elevation); possibly from Oromia Region of Ethiopia (see comment); 

Geographic Occurrence

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

Likely/Controversially Present: Ethiopia

Comment

Indistinguishable morphologically from Cacosternum boettgeri according to the original publication. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 263-264, noted a then-unnamed species, "Plimpton's Dainty Frog", and for which they provided an account. Zimkus, 2008, Herpetol. Rev., 39: 233, provided records for the Oromia region of Ethiopia and discussed briefly the taxonomic issues. See comments in Channing, Schmitz, Burger, and Kielgast, 2013, Zootaxa, 3701: 518-550, regarding systematics and biology, but did not mention the Ethiopian records, implying that they were unsure whether this population is conspecific with the more southerly ones. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 34, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 372–373, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map, which implied that they did not include the Ethiopian population in this taxon. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda. 

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