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

Lobón-Rovira, Javier, Lobón-Rovira, Baptista, Ninda L, Clark, Tyron, Verburgt, Luke, Jongsma, Gregory Fm, Conradie, Werner, and, Luis Veríssimo, Vaz, Pedro & Pinto, 2025, Filling the gaps: herpetological checklist of Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province (Angola) shed light on one of the most unexplored corners of tropical Central Africa, African Journal of Herpetology 74 (1), pp. 1-59 : 1-59

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

Figure 7J

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Mayombe NP, Sanga Wanda; –4.6253, 12.4583; 221 m a.s.l.; P3.121, FKH 1231 ; GenBank: PQ455958–59 .

Identification. A medium-sized (SVL = 38–48 mm) flattened frog with four claws on the feet and smooth skin on the head and dorsum. As with several other members of the group, this species can only be distinguished based on molecular data, calls and subtle morphological features ( Evans et al. 2015). Material from Cabinda Province differs by 0.6% (16S p -distance) from the type material from Bioko, Equatorial Guinea (GenBank: KT728120 –28) and is identical to material from Bas-Congo Province, DRC (GenBank: KT728112 ) ascribed to this species.

Biology and distribution. An aquatic species widely distributed in forested areas in the Gulf of Guinea from Cameroon to Cabinda Province ( Baptista2024). These records represent the first records of the species in Angola ( Baptista 2024), and the southernmost for the species. The specimens reported here were collected at night in a small pond on a dirt road after a rainstorm, in primary rainforest in Lower Mayombe. The species was found in sympatry with X. andrei .

Figures

Figure 7. Species of the families Phrynobatrachidae, Pipidae, Ptychadenidae, Ranidae and Rhacophoridae recorded from from Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province, Angola. Codes in brackets represent field numbers. A. Phrynobatrachus auritus (P2.057) and B. (P2.033) from Vaku, Upper Mayombe, C. (P3.141) from Chimbete and D. (P3.191) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. E. P. aff. parvulus (P2.115) from Caio Cacungo. F. Amplectant pair of P. aff. parvulus from Sanga Wanda, G. (P3.135) from Chimbete, and H. (P3.124) Mbundu, Lower Mayombe. I. Phrynobatrachus sp. (P2.196) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe. J. Xenopus (Xenopus) allofraseri (P3.121) and K. Xenopus (Xenopus) andrei (P3.533) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. L. Xenopus (Silurana) mellotropicalis (P3.176), from Quissoki, Upper Mayombe. M. Hymenochirus feae (P3.544) from Mbundo, Lower Mayombe. N. Ptychadena anchietae (P3.107) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. O. Ptychadena mascareniensis OUT 6 (P3.168), Lombe River, Vaku, Upper Mayombe. P. Ptychadena perreti (P2.214) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe Q. Ptychadena taenioscelis (P1.141) from Tando Zinze. R. Hylarana (Amnirana) albolabris (P3.154) from Quissoki and S. Hylarana (Amnirana) aff. lepus (P2.187) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe. T. Chiromantis rufescens (P9.072) from South of Dinge. Photographs by PVP (A–E, G–T), JLR (F).