A new species of Rain Frog (Brevicipitidae, Breviceps) endemic to Angola

Abstract

Recent molecular phylogenetic work has found that Breviceps Merrem, 1820 comprises two major clades, one of which, the B. mossambicus group, is widely distributed across southern sub-Saharan Africa. This group is notable for harboring abundant cryptic diversity. Of the four most recently described Breviceps species, three are members of this group, and at least five additional lineages await formal description. Although Breviceps has long been known to occur in Angola, no contemporary material has been collected until recently. The three most widespread taxa, B. adspersus, B. mossambicus, and B. poweri, may all occur in Angola, but accurate species assignment remains challenging given the rampant morphological similarity between these taxa, and, until recently, the lack of genetic resources. Phylogenetic, morphological, and acoustic analyses of recently collected samples from disparate localities within Angola provide evidence for an undescribed species that is sister to B. poweri. The new species can be diagnosed from its sister taxon by lacking pale spots along the flanks, a pale patch above the vent, and a short, dark band below the nares (all present in B. poweri). Additionally, the male advertisement call differs from the three other Breviceps that might occur in Angola in having both a longer interval between consecutive calls and a higher average dominant frequency. We here describe this lineage as a distinct species, currently only known from Angola, and discuss the presence of other Breviceps taxa within Angola.

An updated herpetofaunal species inventory of Iona National Park in southwestern Angola

“…This is a morphologically distinctive fossorial snake (SVL 263-310 mm) with marked cranial differences relative to closely related species (Heinicke et al 2020). However, the specimens listed here, and first reported by Branch (1998), confirm the species occurrence in Iona NP and were included in a phylogenetic study where they clustered with additional material from Kunene region, Namibia (Heinicke et al 2020). Biology and distribution.…”

“…Bocage (1873) ascribed Angolan material from both the coast and inland to this species, but those specimens were subsequently re-evaluated by Boulenger (1915) and assigned to a new species, P. angolensis, based on lower number of subcaudal scales. However, recent phylogenetic analysis of the genus revealed two well-differentiated clades within P. frontalis, one from northern Namibia and Angola (including material listed here) and the other from central Namibia southwards to South Africa (Heinicke et al 2020). More work is needed to resolve the taxonomic status of Angolan material.…”

“…With a resurgence of Angolan herpetological research in the last decade, there has been a remarkable increase in knowledge of the herpetofauna, with the addition of numerous new country occurrence records (Branch and Conradie 2013;Conradie and Bourquin 2013;Ernst et al 2014Ernst et al , 2015Branch et al 2019a;Conradie et al 2020a), the rediscovery of species (Vaz Pinto et al 2019;Baptista et al 2020), and the description of 33 new species (Conradie et al 2012a(Conradie et al , 2012b(Conradie et al , 2020bStanley et al 2016;Ceríaco et al 2018aCeríaco et al , 2020aCeríaco et al , 2020bCeríaco et al , 2020cCeríaco et al , 2021Marques et al 2019aMarques et al , 2019bMarques et al , 2020Marques et al , 2022Branch et al 2019bHallerman et al 2020;Nielsen et al 2020;Lobon-Rovira et al 2021;Parrinha et al 2021;Baptista et al 2021;Wagner et al 2021). This renaissance of knowledge came about only after the improvement in political and social stability that followed more than two decades of civil war (Huntley and Ferrand 2019).…”

A new species of feather-tailed leaf-toed gecko, Kolekanos Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the poorly explored savannah of western Angola

“…Access to newly-collected material from these regions has brought new opportunities to understand the evolutionary patterns of African herpetofauna, especially African gekkonids. This is particularly noteworthy in terms of the remarkable increase in knowledge of Angolan herpetofauna, with the description of 34 new species (Conradie et al 2012a(Conradie et al , b, 2013(Conradie et al , 2020a(Conradie et al , 2022aStanley et al 2016;Ceríaco et al 2018aCeríaco et al , 2020aCeríaco et al , b, c, 2021Branch et al 2019aBranch et al , 2021Marques et al 2019aMarques et al , b, 2020Marques et al , 2022aHallermann et al 2020;Nielsen et al 2020;Baptista et al 2021;Parrinha et al 2021;Wagner et al 2021) and several new country records (Branch and Conradie 2013;Conradie and Bourquin 2013;Ernst et al 2014Ernst et al , 2015Branch et al 2019b;Conradie et al 2020bConradie et al , 2021Lobón-Rovira et al 2022c) in the last decade. This increase has been especially evident within gekkonids, where the number of taxa has risen to over 45 recognised species for the country (Marques et al 2020;Ceríaco et al 2020a, b;Branch et al 2021;, 2022c) including two endemic leaf-toed gecko genera, Kolekanos (Heinicke et al 2004) and Bauerius (Lobón-Rovira et al 2022a).…”