Arthroleptis adelphus (Perret, 1966)

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

Arthroleptis adelphus (Perret, 1966)

Figure 4A

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Mayombe NP, Miconge; –4.4860, 12.8780; 377 m a.s.l.; FKH 1255 ; GenBank: PQ455662 .

Identification. A medium-sized Arthroleptis (SVL = 30−33.6 mm, Zimkus and Blackburn 2008). The individual could not be clearly assigned to any species by morphology alone. Therefore, the species was identified genetically, being identical or almost identical (0.6% 16S p -distance) to material from Minkébé, Gabon (GenBank: KX289618 ) and Lekoumou, Republic of the Congo (GenBank: KY080052 ). Deichmann et al. (2017) found two different lineages that include material from Cameroon (near the type locality), suggesting that A. adelphus might represent a species complex which needs further investigation.

(photographically) from nearby localities in DRC and Republic of the Congo, with information on

locality and source. Asterisk “*” denotes species originally described from Cabinda Province.

Biology and distribution. The species is widely distributed in the Gulf of Guinea, from Nigeria to the Republic of the Congo ( Nneji et al. 2019; Sánchez-Vialas et al. 2020). This represents the species’ southernmost record, and the first for Angola ( Baptista 2024). As with the other members of the genus, A. adelphus is usually found moving among leaf litter ( Zimkus and Blackburn 2008). The only specimen recovered was found foraging among leaf litter at night in the dry season, and in sympatry with the much more common and closely-related species, A. aff. poecilonotus .

Figures

Figure 4. Species of the families Arthroleptidae, Bufonidae and Dicroglossidae recorded from Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province, Angola. Codes in brackets represent field tissue numbers. A. Arthroleptis adelphus from Miconge, Upper Mayombe (P3.186). B. A. carquejai (P3.123) and C. A. aff. poecilonotus (P3.119) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. D. A. sylvaticus from Miconge, Upper Mayombe (P2.194). E. Cardioglossa leucomystax from Vaku (P2.031) and from F. Miconge (P2.218), Upper Mayombe. G. Leptopelis aubryi from Mbundu, Lower Mayombe (P3.214). H. L. cf. aubryioides (P3.514), I. L. boulengeri (P3.523) and J. L. cf. calcaratus (P3.513) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. K. L. cf. jordani (P3.163) from Lombe River, Vaku, Upper Mayombe. L. L. millsoni (P9.070) from South of Dinge. M. L. ocellatus (P3.113) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. N. L. rufus (P2.045) from Vaku, Upper Mayombe O. Scotobleps gabonicus (P3.139) from Chimbete, Lower Mayombe. P. Trichobatrachus robustus (P2.181) from Miconge, and Q. Nectophryne afra (P2.063) from Vaku, Upper Mayombe. R. N. aff. batesii (P3.224) from Mbundu, Lower Mayombe. S. Sclerophrys sp. (P2.042) from Vaku, Upper Mayombe. T. S. pusilla (P2.094) from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe. U. S. regularis (P1.142) from Tando Zinze. V. S. tuberosa (P3.509) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe. W. Hoplobatrachus occipitalis (P9.073) from South of Dinge. Photographs by PVP (A–J, L, N, P–T, V–W), JLR (K, M, O) and TB (U).