Afrixalus osorioi Ferreira, 1906

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 osorioi Ferreira, 1906

Figure 6D

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Mayombe NP, Miconge; –4.4860, 12.8780; 377 m a.s.l.; FKH 1253 ; GenBank: PQ455628 .

Identification. A medium-sized reed frog (SVL = 31–35 mm), with shorter body than the other two congeners occurring in Cabinda Province (see Afrixalus aff. dorsalis and A. paradorsalis species accounts). Dorsum with light golden-brown color with a dark brown central blotch ( Channing and Rödel 2019). Originally described from Angola, the single specimen of A. osorioi recorded from Cabinda Province is almost identical (0.2% 16S p -distance) to other material from neighbouring Mayongongo, Republic of the Congo (GenBank: KY079930 ). Additionally, it differs ≥3% from material from northern DRC (GenBank: KY079929 ), Kenya (GenBank: MK509538 ) and Uganda (GenBank: MH378405 ), which suggests cryptic diversification. Furthermore, Baptista (2024) reported structuring between populations north and south of the Congo River that needs further investigation.

Biology and distribution. Afrixalus osorioi is widely distributed from northwestern Angola northwards to Ogooué River in Gabon and eastwards through the northern rim of the Congo River, to southern Uganda ( Channing and Rödel 2019). In Cabinda Province we only collected one specimen, a male found in the rainy season, calling from vegetation near a slow-flowing forest stream in Upper Mayombe.

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).