Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5759 No. 5: 19 Feb. 2026
Type: Article
Published: 2026-02-19
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5759.5.1
Page range: 501-525
Abstract views: 33
PDF downloaded: 1

A new polymorphic species of Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from southern Ivory Coast, a West African biodiversity hotspot

Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé; Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Tropicale; UFR-Environnement; BP 150; Daloa; Côte d´Ivoire
Institute of Biochemistry and Biology; University of Potsdam; Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25; 14476 Potsdam; Germany; Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science; Invalidenstr. 43; 10115 Berlin; Germany
Amphibia Côte d’Ivoire integrative taxonomy Phrynobatrachus moroedeli sp. nov. Tanoé-Ehy Upper Guinean forests Yakassé-Mé

Abstract

We describe a new species of puddle frog, genus Phrynobatrachus, from southern Ivory Coast. The new species, which we designate as Phrynobatrachus moroedeli sp. nov., exhibits striking variation in colour pattern of the ventral surface with either very few small black dots or large dark or even black blotches along the edges, and differs from all other West African species of the genus by the combination of unique morphological characters: small sized (snout–vent length of 13.9–23 mm), compact-bodied frog with a short rounded to pointed snout; rough to slightly warty dorsal skin with variable colouration; males with greyish dark, deep dark to completely black throats absence of a spiny eyelid tubercle; absence of femoral gland; presence of narrow X-shaped pair of scapular ridges; presence of light or whitish vertebral line or band; distinct black lateral band on flanks; distinct but rudimentary pedal webbing and small but distinct discs on fingers and toes; spinulae on dorsal surfaces of thighs and lower legs. It is further distinguished by mitochondrial 16S rRNA genetic distances ranging from 4.05–11.43% relative to other West African species of Phrynobatrachus, and by the absence of haplotype sharing within the analysed fragment of the nuclear RAG1 gene. Phylogenetically, the new lineage is closely related to but genealogically exclusive from Phrynobatrachus afiabirago, P. fraterculus, P. gutturosus, P. maculiventris, and P. pintoi, all of which are endemic to the Upper Guinean forest zone of West Africa. One formerly recognized distinct lineage (P. aff. gutturosus 1) may further correspond to the newly described species (mean 16S genetic distance 1.96%), but it is currently represented by a single sample from an unvouchered specimen. Additional specimens are thus needed to clarify its taxonomic identity and morphological characteristics.

 

References

  1. Assemian, N.E., Kouamé, N.G., Tohé, B., Gourène, G. & Rödel, M.-O. (2006) The anurans of the Banco National Park, Côte d’Ivoire, a threatened West African rainforest. Salamandra, 42, 41–51.
  2. Avenard, J.-M., Eldin, M., Girard, G., Sircoulon, J., Touchebeuf, P., Guillaumet, J.-L. & Adjanohoun, E. (1971) Le milieu naturel de la Côte d’Ivoire. ORSTOM, Paris, 391 pp.
  3. Bakarr, M., Oates, J.F., Fahr, J., Parren, M., Rödel, M.-O. & Demey, R. (2004) Guinean forests of West Africa. In: Mittermeier, R.A., Gil, P.R., Hoffmann, X., Pilgrim, J., Brooks, T., Mittermeier, C.G., Lamoreux, J. & da Fonesca, G.A.B. (Eds.), Hotspots Revisited: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. Conservation International & CEMEX, Washington, D.C., pp. 123–130.
  4. Bandelt, H.J., Forster, P. & Röhl, A. (1999) Median-joining networks for inferring intraspecific phylogenies. Molecular biology and evolution, 16, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026036
  5. Béligné, V. (1994) Etude de l’état du milieu naturel du Parc National du Banco: recommandation pour sa sauvegarde et son aménagement. Rapport du Fonds Mondial pour la Nature (WWF), Abidjan, 48 pp.
  6. Channing, A. & Rödel, M.-O. (2019) Field guide to the frogs and other amphibians of Africa. Struik Nature, Cape Town, 408 pp.
  7. Ernst, R. & Rödel, M.-O. (2005) Anthropogenically induced changes of predictability in tropical anuran assemblages. Ecology, 86, 3111–3118. https://doi.org/10.1890/04-0800
  8. Ernst, R. & Rödel, M.-O. (2006) Community assembly and structure of tropical leaf-litter anurans. Ecotropica, 12, 113–129.
  9. Fedosov, A., Achaz, G., Gontchar, A. & Puillandre, N. (2022) MOLD, a novel software to compile accurate and reliable DNA diagnoses for taxonomic descriptions. Molecular Ecology Resources, 22, 2038–2053. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13590
  10. Fouquet, A., Gilles, A., Vences, M., Marty, C., Blanc, M. & Gemmell, N.J. (2007) Underestimation of species richness in Neotropical frogs revealed by mtDNA analyses. PLoS ONE, 2 (10), 1109. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001109
  11. Frost, D.R. (2025) Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2. Electronic Database. American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York. Available from: https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org/index.php (accessed 27 October 2025) https://doi.org/10.5531/db.vz.0001
  12. Gongomin, B.A.-I., Kouamé, N.G. & Rödel, M.-O. (2019) New records of the Togo toad, Sclerophrys togoensis, from south-eastern Ivory Coast. Herpetology Notes, 12, 501–508.
  13. Guibé, J. & Lamotte, M. (1963) La Réserve Naturelle Intégrale du Mont Nimba. XXVIII. Batraciens du genre Phrynobatrachus. Mémoire de l’Institut Français d’Afrique Noire, 66, 601–627.
  14. Hall, T.A. (1999) BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symposium Series, 41, 95–98.
  15. Hillers, A., Boateng, C.O., Segniagbeto, G.H., Agyei, A.C. & Rödel, M.-O. (2009) Assessment of the amphibians in the forests of southern Ghana and western Togo. Zoosystematics and Evolution, 85, 127–141. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoos.200800019
  16. Hillers, A. & Rödel, M.-O. (2007) The amphibians of three national forests in Liberia, West Africa. Salamandra, 43, 1–10.
  17. Hillers, A., Veith, M. & Rödel, M.-O. (2008a) Effects of forest fragmentation and habitat degradation on West African leaf-litter frogs. Conservation Biology, 22, 762–772. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00920.x
  18. Hillers, A., Zimkus, B. & Rödel, M.-O. (2008b) A new species of Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from north-western Guinea, West Africa. Zootaxa, 1815 (1), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1815.1.4
  19. IUCN (2017) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-2. IUCN, Gland. Available from: http://www.iucnredlist.org (accessed 14 September 2017)
  20. Kalyaanamoorthy, S., Minh, B.Q., Wong, T.K., Von Haeseler, A. & Jermiin, L.S. (2017) ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature methods, 14, 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
  21. Kouamé, N.G., Konan, J.C.B.Y.N., Adepo-Gourène, A.B., Gourène, G. & Rödel, M.-O. (2014) The amphibians of the Yakassé-Mé village forest, a threatened rainforest of south-eastern Ivory Coast. Herpetology Notes, 7, 657–665.
  22. Kouamé, N.G., Ofori-Boateng, C. & Rödel, M.-O. (2007) A rapid biological assessment of the Atewa Range, eastern Ghana. In: McCullough, J., Alonso, L.E., Naskrecki, P., Wright, H.E. & Osei-Owusu, Y. (Eds.), A rapid biological assessment of the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Eastern Ghana. Conservation International, Washington D.C., RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment, 47, pp. 76–83.
  23. Kouamé, N.G., Tohé, B., Assemian, N.E., Gourène, G. & Rödel, M.-O. (2018) Spatio-temporal distribution of five species of West African leaf-litter frogs. Salamandra, 54, 21–29.
  24. Kpan, T.F., Adeba, P.J., Kouamé, N.G., Koné, I., Kouassi, K.P. & Rödel, M.-O. (2014) The anuran fauna of a Volunteer Nature Reserve: the Tanoé-Ehy Swamp Forests, south-eastern Ivory Coast, West Africa. Zoosystematics and Evolution, 90, 261–270. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.90.8796
  25. Kpan, T.F., Ernst, R., Kouassi, P.K. & Rödel, M.-O. (2019) Prevalence of endoparasitic mites on four West African leaf-litter frogs depends on habitat humidity. Biotropica, 51, 432–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12649
  26. Kpan, T.F., Kouamé, N.G., Barej, M.F., Adeba, P.J., Emmrich, M., Ofori-Boateng, C. & Rödel, M.-O. (2018) A new puddle frog, genus Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae), from the eastern part of the Upper Guinea biodiversity hotspot, West Africa. Zootaxa, 4388 (2), 221–237. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4388.2.5
  27. Lamotte, M. & Xavier, F. (1966) Étude comparée de deux espèces de Phrynobatrachus souvent confondues: Phr. plicatus Günther et Phr. auritus Boulenger. Bulletin de l’Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, Série A, Sciences Naturelles, 28, 1605–1619.
  28. Loveridge, A. (1955) On Amphibia Salientia from the Ivory Coast collected by Dr. V. Aellen. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 62, 129–150. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.75415
  29. Maley, J. (1996) The African rain forest – main characteristics of changes in vegetation and climate from the Upper Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B, Biological Sciences, 104, 31–73. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269727000006114
  30. Mayaux, P., Pekel, J.-F., Desclée, B., Donnay, F., Lupi, A., Achard, F., Clerici, M., Bodart, C., Brink, A., Nasi, R. & Belward, A. (2013) State and evolution of the African rainforests between 1990 and 2010. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 368, 20120300. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0300
  31. Nago, S.G.A., Grell, O., Sinsin, B. & Rödel, M.-O. (2006) The amphibian fauna of the Pendjari National Park and surroundings, northern Benin. Salamandra, 42, 93–108.
  32. Nguyen, L.T., Schmidt, H.A., Von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B.Q. (2015) IQ-TREE: a fast and effective stochastic algorithm for estimating maximum-likelihood phylogenies. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 32, 268–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu300
  33. Ofori-Boateng, C., Leaché, A.D., Obeng-Kankam, B., Kouamé, N.G., Hillers, A. & Rödel, M.-O. (2018) A new species of Puddle Frog, genus Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from Ghana. Zootaxa, 4374 (4), 565–578. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4374.4.6
  34. Ofori-Boateng, C., Oduro, W., Hillers, A., Norris, K., Oppong, S.K., Adum, G.B. & Rödel, M.-O. (2012) Differences in the effects of selective logging on amphibian assemblages in three West African forest types. Biotropica, 45, 94–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2012.00887.x
  35. Padial, J.M., Miralles, A., De la Riva, I. & Vences, M. (2010) The integrative future of taxonomy. Frontiers in zoology, 7, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-7-16
  36. Palumbi, S., Martin, A., Romano, S., McMillan, W.O., Stice, L. & Grabowski, G. (1991) The simple fool’s guide to PCR. Version 2. Honolulu, Hawai, 47 pp.
  37. Parren, M.P.E. & de Graaf, N.R. (1995) The quest for natural forest management in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia. Tropenbos Series 13. The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, 199 pp.
  38. Penner, J., Wegmann, M., Hillers, A., Schmidt, M. & Rödel, M.-O. (2011) A hotspot revisited – a biogeographical analysis of West African amphibians. Diversity and Distributions, 17, 1077–1088. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00801.x
  39. Perret, J.-L. (1985) Description of Kassina arboricola n. sp. (Amphibia, Hyperoliidae) from Ivory Coast and Ghana. South African Journal of Science, 81, 196–199.
  40. Poynton, J.C. (1999) Distribution of amphibians in sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and Seychelles. In: Duellman, W.E. (Ed.), Patterns of distribution of amphibians, a global perspective. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland,pp. 483–539.
  41. Rödel, M.-O. (2000) Herpetofauna of West Africa. Vol. I. Amphibians of the West African Savanna. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt/F., 335 pp.
  42. Rödel, M.-O. & Agyei, A.C. (2003) Amphibians of the Togo-Volta highlands, eastern Ghana. Salamandra, 39, 207–234.
  43. Rödel, M.-O., Bangoura, M.A. & Böhme, W. (2004) The amphibians of south-eastern Republic of Guinea (Amphibia: Gymnophiona, Anura). Herpetozoa, 17, 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/03946975.2004.10531206
  44. Rödel, M.-O., Barej, M.F., Hillers, A., Leaché, A.D., Kouamé, N.G., Ofori-Boateng, C., Assemian, N.E., Tohé, B., Penner, J., Hirschfeld, M., Doumbia, J., Gonwouo, L.N., Nopper, J., Brede, C., Diaz, R., Fujita, M., Gil, M., Segniagbeto, G.H., Ernst, R. & Sandberger, L. (2012a) The genus Astylosternus in the Upper Guinean rainforests, West Africa, with the description of a new species (Amphibia: Anura: Arthroleptidae). Zootaxa, 3245 (1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3245.1.1
  45. Rödel, M.-O., Boateng, C.O., Penner, J. & Hillers, A. (2009a) A new cryptic Phrynobatrachus species (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from Ghana, West Africa. Zootaxa, 1970 (1), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.1970.1.2
  46. Rödel, M.-O., Burger, M., Zassi-Boulou, A.G., Emmrich, M., Penner, J. & Barej, M.F. (2015) Two new Phrynobatrachus species (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from the Republic of the Congo. Zootaxa, 4032 (1), 55–80. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4032.1.3
  47. Rödel, M.-O., Doherty-Bone, T., Kouete, M.T., Janzen, P., Garrett, K., Browne, R., Gonwouo, N.L., Barej, M.F. & Sandberger, L. (2012b) A new small Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from southern Cameroon. Zootaxa, 3431 (1), 54–68. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3431.1.4
  48. Rödel, M.-O., Doumbia, J., Kouamé, N.G. & Sandberger, L. (2011) A new small Phrynobatrachus pintoi Hillers, Zimkus & Rödel, 2008 (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae): additional morphological and distribution data. Zootaxa, 3098 (1), 59–63. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3098.1.6
  49. Rödel, M.-O. & Ernst, R. (2003) The amphibians of Marahoué and Mont Péko National Parks, Ivory Coast. Herpetozoa, 16, 23–39.
  50. Rödel, M.-O. & Ernst, R. (2004) Measuring and monitoring amphibian diversity in tropical forests. An evaluation of methods with recommendations for standardization. Ecotropica, 10, 1–14.
  51. Rödel, M.-O., Gil, M., Agyei, A.C., Leaché, A.D., Diaz, R.E., Fujita, M.K. & Ernst, R. (2005) The amphibians of the forested parts of south-western Ghana. Salamandra, 41, 107–127.
  52. Rödel, M.-O., Kosuch, J., Grafe, T.U., Boistel, R., Assemian, N.E., Kouamé, N.G., Tohé, B., Gourène, G., Perret, J.-L., Henle, K., Tafforeau, P., Pollet, N. & Veith, M. (2009b) A new tree-frog genus and species from Ivory Coast, West Africa (Amphibia: Anura: Hyperoliidae). Zootaxa, 2044 (1), 23–45. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2044.1.2
  53. Rödel, M.-O. & Spieler, M. (2000) Trilingual keys to the savannah-Anurans of the Comoé National Park, Ivory Coast. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Serie A, 620, 1–31.
  54. Schätti, B., Perret, J.-L. & Mariaux, J. (2002) Catalogue commenté des types d’amphibiens et de reptiles du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Genève. Version 4.0. Geneva, Switzerland. Available from: www.vill-ge.ch/musinfo/mhng/erpi/catl (accessed 24 January 2002)
  55. Schiøtz, A. (1964) A preliminary list of amphibians collected in Ghana. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening, 127, 1–17.
  56. Schiøtz, A. (1967) The treefrogs (Rhacophoridae) of West Africa. Spolia Zoologica Musei Haunienses, 25, 1–346.
  57. Soro, N., Kouamé, A.M., Adepo-Gourène, A.B. & Rödel, M.-O. (2019) Morerella cyanophthalma (Anura: Hyperoliidae) in south-eastern Ivory Coast: Additional data and implications for the species’ conservation. Herpetology Notes, 12, 1215–1223.
  58. Spieler, M. & Linsenmair, K.E. (1999) The larval mite Endotrombicula pillersi (Acarina: Trombiculidae) as a species-specific parasite of a West African savannah frog (Phrynobatrachus francisci). American Midland Naturalist, 142, 152–161. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(1999)142[0152:TLMEPA]2.0.CO;2
  59. Stephens, M., Smith, N.J. & Donnelly, P. (2001) A new statistical method for haplotype reconstruction from population data. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 68, 978–989. https://doi.org/10.1086/319501
  60. Thompson, J.D., Gibson, T.J., Plewniak, F., Jeanmougin, F. & Higgins, D.G. (1997) The ClustalX windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Research, 24, 4876–4882. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/25.24.4876
  61. Vences, M., Miralles, A., Brouillet, S., Ducasse, J., Fedosov, A., Kharchev, V., Kostadinov, I., Kumari, S., Patmanidis, S., Scherz, M.D. & Puillandre, N. (2021) iTaxoTools 0.1: Kickstarting a specimen-based software toolkit for taxonomists. BioRxiv, 2021-03. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.26.435825
  62. Vences, M., Patmanidis, S., Fedosov, A., Miralles, A. & Puillandre, N. (2024a) iTaxoTools 1.0: Improved DNA Barcode Exploration with TaxI2. In: DeSalle, R. (Ed.), DNA Barcoding: Methods and Protocols. Springer US, New York, New York, pp. 281–296. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3581-0_18
  63. Vences, M., Patmanidis, S., Schmidt, J.C., Matschiner, M., Miralles, A. & Renner, S.S. (2024b) Hapsolutely: a user-friendly tool integrating haplotype phasing, network construction, and haploweb calculation. Bioinformatics Advances, 4, vbae083. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbae083
  64. Vieites, D.R., Wollenberg, K.C., Andreone, F., Köhler, J., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2009) Vast underestimation of Madagascar’s biodiversity evidenced by an integrative amphibian inventory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 8267–8272. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810821106
  65. Wohltmann, A., du Preez, L., Rödel, M.-O., Köhler, J. & Vences, M. (2007) Endoparasitic mites of the genus Endotrombicula Ewing, 1931 (Acari: Prostigmata: Parasitengona: Trombiculidae) from African and Madagascan anurans, with description of a new species. Folia Parasitologica, 54, 225–235. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2007.031
  66. Zimkus, B.M., Lawson, L., Loader, S.P. & Hanken, J. (2012) Terrestrialization, miniaturization and rates of diversification in African puddle frogs (Anura: Phrynobatrachidae). PloS ONE, 7 (4), e35118. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035118
  67. Zimkus, B.M., Rödel, M.-O. & Hillers, A. (2010) Complex patterns of continental speciation: molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of sub-Saharan puddle frogs (Phrynobatrachus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 55, 883–900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2009.12.012

How to Cite

Kouamé, N.G. & Petzold, A. (2026) A new polymorphic species of Phrynobatrachus (Amphibia: Anura: Phrynobatrachidae) from southern Ivory Coast, a West African biodiversity hotspot. Zootaxa, 5759 (5), 501–525. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5759.5.1