Afrixalus aff. dorsalis (Peters, 1875)

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

Afrixalus aff. dorsalis (Peters, 1875) complex

Figures 6A–C

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Tando Zinze; –5.3241, 12.5073; 29 m a.s.l.; P1.138, FKH 0586 ; GenBank: PQ455620–21. • Caio Cacongo; –5.0618, 12.2588; 43 m a.s.l.; P2.110; GenBank: PQ455622. • Mayombe NP, Sanga Mongo; –4.6661, 12.4407; 146 m a.s.l.; FKH 0950−51 , P2.070−71; GenBank: PQ455623–26. • Mayombe NP, Mbundu; –4.6875, 12.4981; 127 m a.s.l.; P3.127; GenBank: PQ455627.

Identification. A small reed frog (SVL = 28–30 mm), with diurnal colouration showing a dark brown dorsum and light cream colouration between the eyes that extends as two broad dorsolateral bands towards the anterior insertion of the hindlimbs ( Figure 6A ), and at night a mostly green-yellow dorsum with slightly darker greenish bands. Some individuals may present a light cream vertebral stripe ( Figure 6B ), and rarely complete absence of dark brown coloration on the dorsum ( Figure 6C ). The specimens reported here are genetically identical. However, material from Cabinda Province differs by a minimum of 5% (16S p -distance) from any published material, including material from Mount Kupe, Cameroon (6.5% 16S p -distance; GenBank: KX671711 ), ∼ 100 km north of the type locality (Limbe, Cameroon). Therefore, these results suggest that A. dorsalis represents a species complex that needs further investigation. Due to the large genetic distance between our samples and with other published material and the sub structuring exhibited by this group, we regard the material from Cabinda Province as Afrixalus aff. dorsalis until more information becomes available.

Biology and distribution. The Afrixalus dorsalis complex is widely distributed in West Africa and the lowland forests of Central Africa, from Guinea Bissau to northern Angola ( Channing and Rödel 2019). In Cabinda Province, the species was found on vegetation near water on the edge of gallery forest, often in disturbed habitat in the Littoral Peneplain and Lower Mayombe, but was not recorded from the Coastal Drier Belt and Upper Mayombe. This suggests some ecological segregation between A. aff. dorsalis and the other two Afrixalus species recorded in Cabinda Province ( A. osorioi and A. paradorsalis ).

Figures

Figure 6. Species of the family Hyperoliidae recorded from Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province, Angola. Codes in brackets represent field numbers. A. Afrixalus aff. dorsalis (P2.068) from Sanga Mongo, B. Mbundu (P3.127), Lower Mayombe and C. Tando Zinze (P1.150). D. Afrixalus osorioi (P3.175) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe. E. Afrixalus paradorsalis (P3.520) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe and F. Vaku (P2.060), Upper Mayombe. G. Hyperolius adspersus (P1.147) from Tando Zinze. H. Female Hyperolius ocellatus (P9.062) from South of Dinge and I. male H. ocellatus from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe (P2.078) J. Hyperolius olivaceus (P3.173), K. (P2.222) and L. (P2.227) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe, and M. (P3.205) from Lower Mayombe. N. Hyperolius parallelus (P1.298) from Tando Zinze. O. Male Hyperolius pardalis (P3.143) from Chimbete, Lower Mayombe, and P. females of H. pardalis from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe (P2.083) and Q. from South of Dinge (P9.058). R. Hyperolius platyceps (P2.067) and S. (P2.102) from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe. T. Hylambates leonardi (P2.095) in amplexus, from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe. Photographs by PVP (A–I, K–M, O–T), JLR (J) and TB (G, N).