Sclerophrys maculata (Hallowell, 1854)

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

Bufo cinereus Hallowell, 1845, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 2: 169. Type(s): Not stated but presumably originally in the ANSP; presumably in existence by implication of statement by Perret and Amiet, 1971 "1970", Ann. Fac. Sci. Cameroun, 5: 48, that M. Tandy had discovered that the syntypic series contained more than one species. Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 54, noted that the four specimens in the ANSP (presumably those considered by Tandy) labelled as syntypes were not types. BMNH 1984. 163, designated neotype (as Sclerophrys maculata) by Poynton, Loader, Conradie, Rödel, and Liedtke, 2016, Zootaxa, 4098: 83. Neotype from "Monrovia, Liberia". Type locality: not stated, although implied to be from Liberia. Junior homonym of Bufo cinereus Schneider, 1799.

Bufo maculatus Hallowell, 1854, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 101. Replacement name for Bufo cinereus Hallowell, 1846. Potentional secondary homonym of Bombinator maculatus Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 178. 

Bufo chudeaui Chabanaud, 1919, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, 25: 454. Syntypes: MNHNP 1919.80 (4 specimens), according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 12. Type locality: "Sénégal: mare de Bata (Sahel de Nioro)"; rendered as "Senegal: Bata marsh (Sahel de Nioro)" by Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 310; actually in Mali according to Joger and Lambert, 1996, J. Afr. Zool., 110: 31. Synonymy by Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 397. 

Bufo regularis maculatus — Loveridge, 1936, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., 22: 81; Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 320.

Bufo maculatus — Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 4.

Amietophrynus maculatus — 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.

Amietophrynus chudeaui — 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 chudeaui — Ohler and Dubois, 2016, PeerJ, 4(e1553): 9. 

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

English Names

Hallowell's Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 42).

Northern Flat-backed Toad (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 60). 

Bata Marsh Toad (Sclerophrys chudeaui [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 41).

Distribution

Generally in humid savanna and forest-edge from Senegal, southern Guinea, and Liberia eastwards to Cameroon and Burkina Faso, south to Bas-Congo, Dem. Rep. Congo; presumably to be found in intervening Rep. Congo; also reported from northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo (see comment); expected in Togo. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone

Likely/Controversially Present: Equatorial Guinea, Togo

Comment

In the Bufo maculatus group of Martin, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 61, and Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 159. Removed from the synonymy of Bufo regularis by Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 15. See comment under Bufo danielae. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 132–133, reported on comparative tadpole morphology (possibly including the subsequently recognized Sclerophrys pusilla).  Emms, Jambang, Bah, Mankali, Rödel, and Barnett, 2005, Herpetol. Bull., London, 94: 6-16, provided records for Gambia. Auliya, Wagner, and Böhme, 2012, Bonn Zool. Bull., 61: 255–281, reported the species from the Bijagos Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau. Nagy, Chifundera, Collet, and Gvoždík, 2013, Herpetol. Notes, 6:  413–419, provided a record from Bas-Congo, southwestern Dem. Rep. Congo. See Ceríaco, de Sá, Bandeira, Valério, Stanley, Kuhn, Marques, Vindum, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2016, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 63: 15–61, for account of specimens from Namibe Province, southwestern Angola; this identification requires confirmation (DRF). Rödel and Glos, 2019, Zoosyst. Evol., 95: 21, reported this species from the Krahn-Basa Proposed Protected Area in southeastern Liberia and the Foya Proposed Protected Area in western Liberia. Poynton, Loader, Conradie, Rödel, and Liedtke, 2016, Zootaxa, 4098: 73–94, distinguished this species from Sclerophrys pusilla on molecular and morphological grounds as well as providing a range map. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 60–62, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Mali, Laudisoit, Yendema, Badjedjea, Mukobya, Ewango, Katuala, Akaibe, Bongo, Anio, Ngbolua, and Tungaluna, 2019, Asian J. Res. Zool., 2(4): 1–11, reported specimens so identified from the Lendu Plateau of northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo; this identification requires confirmation. Ayoro, Segniagbeto, Hema, Penner, Oueda, Dubois, Rödel, Kabré, and Ohler, 2020, Zoosystema, 42: 547–582, discussed records, identification, and habitat in Burkina Faso. Sánchez-Vialas, Calvo-Revuelta, Castroviejo-Fisher, and De la Riva, 2020, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 66: 144, regarded records from Equatorial Guinea to be referrable to Sclerophrys latifrons. 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 north-central and northeastern Dem. Rep. Congo. 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.

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