Ptychadena taenioscelis Laurent, 1954

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

Ptychadena taenioscelis Laurent, 1954

Figure 7Q

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Tando Zinze ; –5.3241, 12.5073; 29 m a.s.l.; P1.141; GenBank: PQ455938 .

Identification. A small (SVL = 35–40 mm) grass frog with a compact body and long legs. Dorsum brownish with distinctive and continuous skin folds from the posterior part of the eye to lower back. Red to yellow thin vertebral stripe surrounded by numerous black spots ( Channing and Rödel 2019). The specimen reported here is identical (16S p -distance) to material from Nyanga, Gabon (GenBank: KY080398 ) and almost identical (0.2% 16S p -distance) to material from Likouala, Republic of the Congo (GenBank: KY080399 ). However, the species was originally described from Tanganyika Province, DRC, from where genetic material is not available. Therefore, due to the high diversification of this group we recommend future efforts to obtain topotypic material from Lukuka, Tanganyika Province, DRC, to compare against this available material from west Central Africa. Nevertheless, a preliminary 16S ML tree clusters in the Cabinda Province material with material from Gabon, which has been regarded as nominotypical P. taenioscelis ( Conradie 2024) .

Biology and distribution. Ptychadena taenioscelis is widely distributed in humid savannahs, woodlands and secondary forest in the southern rim of the Congo Basin ( Channing and Rödel 2019). In Cabinda Province, the species was only found in the Littoral Peneplain near plantations and degraded secondary forest.

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).