Tomopterna marmorata (Peters, 1854)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Tomopterna > Species: Tomopterna marmorata

Pyxicephalus marmoratus Peters, 1854, Ber. Bekannt. Verhandl. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1854: 627. Holotype: ZMB 4808 according to Bauer, Günther, and Klipfel, 1995, in Bauer et al. (eds.), Herpetol. Contr. W.C.H. Peters: 49. Type locality: "Boror", Mozambique.

Tomopterna marmorataGünther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 7; Vences, Glaw, Kosuch, Das, and Veith, 2000, Lourenço and Goodman (eds.), Diversité et Endéémisme à Madagascar: 232.

Pyxicephalus obtusus FitzSimons, 1930, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 14: 40. Types: TMP 12901, by original designation. Type locality: "the farm 'Zekoegat' on the Olifants River, Eastern Transvaal", Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 80; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 99.

Arthroleptis rosei Hoffman, 1944, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 174. Holotype: NMP 2614, by original designation. Type locality: "Chitiala [= Chitala River], Nyasaland", Malawi. Synonymy with Rana delalandii by Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 376, and with Tomopterna marmorata by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 99. 

Pyxicephalus marmoratusPoynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 99. Removal from synonymy of Tomopterna delalandii.

Rana (Tomopterna) marmorataDubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233, by implication.

Tomopterna (Tomopterna) marmorataDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 57.

English Names

Striped Pyxie (Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 134).

Blunt-nosed Pyxie (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 80).

Blunt-nosed Burrowing Frog (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 80).

Mozambique Pyxie (Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 112).

Mozambique Dwarf Bullfrog (Broadley, 1974, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 12: 31).

Russet-backed Sand Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 124; Channing, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 325; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 442).

Marmorate Pyxie (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 124; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 87).

Mozambique Burrowing Frog (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 124).

Moçambique Burrowing Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5).

Marbled Bullfrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Marbled Sand Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 380).

Distribution

Northeastern Rep. South Africa, and Mozambique through Malawi to eastern Botswana and southern Zambia; Kenya highlands, possibly to be found in intervening Tanzania and possibly into Eswatini.  

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Eswatini, Tanzania

Comment

Possibly has a wider distribution northward than indicated but obscured by confusion with other species, particularly Tomopterna cryptotis, in the literature according to J.C. Poynton In Inger, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 524. See accounts in Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 129–130, Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 78–79, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 122–123, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 442–443. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 294–295, provided an account for Malawi. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 12–13, for comment on population in western Zambia. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 380–381, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.

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