Xenopus fischbergi Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015

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

Xenopus (Xenopus) fischbergi Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 39. Holotype: CAS 255060, by original designation. Type locality: "from breeding colony established by specimens from Federal Republic of Nigeria, Plateau State, Jos". Zoobank publication registration: F9F51F48-7477-4AEB-90B8-4388142D1577

Xenopus alboventralis Salamone, 2006, Bull. Soc. Zool. Genève, 147: 2. Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Evans, Carter, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Kelley, McLaughlin, Pauwels, Portik, Stanley, Tinsley, Tobias, and Blackburn, 2015, PLoS One, 10(12): e0142823: 39. 

English Names

Fischberg's Clawed Frog (original publication). 

Distribution

Wide range in western Africa, extending from southern Mali, Burkina Faso, northwestern Ghana, Ivory Coast, northeastern Chad (Guelta d’ Archei), Nigeria, northern Cameroon, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Uganda; likely to be found in Niger, Togo, and extreme southwestern Sudan. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda

Likely/Controversially Present: Sudan, Togo

Comment

A tetraploid species in the Xenopus muelleri group, and previously confused with Xenopus muelleri, according to the original publication. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 50–51, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Ayoro, Segniagbeto, Hema, Penner, Oueda, Dubois, Rödel, Kabré, and Ohler, 2020, Zoosystema, 42: 547–582, discussed records, identification, and habitat in Burkina Faso, and suggested that earlier records of Xenopus muelleri from Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Togo are referable to this species. Padial and De la Riva, 2004, Rev. Esp. Herpetol., 18: 96, suggested that this species (as Xenopus muelleri) will be found in southern Mauritania. Schiøtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 14-15, provided records (as Xenopus muelleri) for Nigeria. Rödel, 2000, Herpetofauna W. Afr., 1: 42-46, provided an account (as Xenopus muelleri) and countries within its range. Gansa, Agadjihouèdé, and Hounkanrin, 2023, Afr. Zool., 58: 39–56, reported the species from the lower Ouémé Valley, southeastern Benin, and briefly descried habitat preference. 

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