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Acanthixalus Sonjae
''Acanthixalus sonjae'' (common name: Ivory Coast wart frog, or African wart frog) is a species of frog in the family Hyperoliidae. It is found in south-western Ivory Coast (including Taï National Park, its type locality) and in south-western Ghana, and possibly in adjacent Liberia. Etymology The specific name ''sonjae'' honors Sonja Wolters, the person who caught the first specimen of this species and triggered interest on fauna of larger water-filled tree holes. Description Males measure and females in snout–vent length. The body is flattened and the snout is long and pointed. The eyes are protruding with rhomboid pupils. Both the hands and feet are webbed, and the finger and toe tips are enlarged to discs. The back and extremities are clear yellow green in the ground color, broken by numerous black spots and lines and three larger black cross bands. Females can change their color from green to almost black within minutes. Juveniles are more brightly colored, often yello ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 Myr, million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrynobatrachus Guineensis
''Phrynobatrachus guineensis'' is a species of frog in the family Phrynobatrachidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, southern Guinea, Liberia, and western Ivory Coast. Common name Guinea river frog has been coined for it, although it is actually associated with drier parts of primary rainforest. Taxonomy ''Phrynobatrachus guineensis'' was described in 1962. Prior to its description in 2002, ''Phrynobatrachus phyllophilus'' was confused with species; the original species description mixed characteristics of both species. However, the two species can be distinguished morphologically and based on the male advertisement calls. In addition, they mostly occur in different habitats, despite having similar overall distribution: ''Phrynobatrachus guineensis'' is nearly always found in drier parts of the forest, whereas ''Phrynobatrachus phyllophilus'' clearly prefer swampy habitats. Description Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. Many specimens have a verteb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibians Of West Africa
Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frogs Of Africa
The fauna of Africa, in its broader sense, is all the animals living in Africa and its surrounding seas and islands. The more characteristic African fauna is found in the Afrotropical realm. Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and equally to north and south of the equator creates favourable conditions for rich wildlife. Africa is home to many of the world's most famous fauna in human culture such as lions‚ rhinos‚ cheetahs‚ giraffes‚ antelope, hippos, leopards, zebras‚ and African elephants among many others. Origins and history of African fauna Whereas the earliest traces of life in fossil record of Africa date back to the earliest times, the formation of African fauna as we know it today, began with the splitting up of the Gondwana supercontinent in the mid-Mesozoic era. After that, four to six faunal assemblages, the so-called African Faunal Strata (AFSs) can be distinguished. The isolation of Africa was broken intermittently by discontinuous "filter routes" tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acanthixalus
''Acanthixalus'', commonly known as African wart frogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Hyperoliidae. They occur in the rainforests of Western and Central Africa, from Ivory Coast to Congo. Species The genus ''Acanthixalus'' contains two species: * ''Acanthixalus sonjae'' Rödel, Kosuch, Veith, and Ernst, 2003 * ''Acanthixalus spinosus'' (Buchholz and Peters, 1875) Description Both species are very similar in their size and appearance. The only significant morphological difference between then is the wider relative head width in males of ''A. sonjae'' compared to ''A. spinosus''. Average adult size is about in snout–vent length, with largest individuals nearly SVL. Males and females are similar in size, but males have a pair of elongate gular glands, larger discs on toes and fingers, and a large number of tarsal spines. Ecology and behaviour ''Acanthixalus'' live in water-filled cavities of living trees and on tree trunks, from near the ground level to about 5 m above the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ankasa Conservation Area
The Ankasa Conservation Area is an area in southwestern Ghana, in Ghana's Western Region, about 365 kilometres west of Accra near the border with Côte d'Ivoire. It incorporates the Nini Suhien National Park in the North, and the Ankasa Forest Reserve in the South. The park is approximately 500 square kilometers, and consists largely of tropical evergreen rainforest. The Ankasa Conservation Area is the only wildlife protected area in Ghana that is located in the wet evergreen tropical high rainforest belt. The Ankasa, Nini, and Suhien Rivers all pass through the park, and are known for their rapids and waterfalls. The forest has the most biological diversity of any in Ghana, with over 800 vascular plant species, 639 butterfly species, and more than 190 bird species. Animal life includes the elephant, bongo, leopard, chimpanzee, Diana monkey The Diana monkey (''Cercopithecus diana'') is an Old World monkey found in the high canopy forests in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and west ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, a half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines deforestation as the conversion of forest to other land uses (regardless of whether it is human-induced). "Deforestation" and "forest area net change" are not the same: the latter is the sum of all forest losses (deforestation) and all forest gains (forest expansion) in a gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate. The physical factors may include (for example): soil, moisture, range of temperature, and light intensity. Biotic factors will include the availability of food and the presence or absence of predators. Every species has particular habitat requirements, with habitat generalist species able to thrive in a wide array of environmental conditions while habitat specialist species requiring a very limited set of factors to survive. The habitat of a species is not necessarily found in a geographical area, it can be the interior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pupil
The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black because light rays entering the pupil are either absorbed by the tissues inside the eye directly, or absorbed after diffuse reflections within the eye that mostly miss exiting the narrow pupil. The term "pupil" was coined by Gerard of Cremona. In humans, the pupil is round, but its shape varies between species; some cats, reptiles, and foxes have vertical slit pupils, goats have horizontally oriented pupils, and some catfish have annular types. In optical terms, the anatomical pupil is the eye's aperture and the iris is the aperture stop. The image of the pupil as seen from outside the eye is the entrance pupil, which does not exactly correspond to the location and size of the physical pupil because it is magnified by the cornea. On the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperoliidae
The Hyperoliidae, or sedge frogs and bush frogs, are a large family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored frogs which contains more than 250 species in 19 genera. Seventeen genera are native to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the monotypic genus ''Tachycnemis'' occurs on the Seychelles Islands, and the genus ''Heterixalus'' (currently 10 species) is endemic to Madagascar. Hyperoliids range from in body length. Many species have smooth, brightly patterned skin that almost looks enameled. Most hyperoliids are arboreal, but some are terrestrial, including several ''Kassina'' species that move by walking or running rather than hopping. Diets vary widely, with examples including ''Paracassina'', which specializes on snails, and ''Afrixalus fornasini'', the only terrestrial frog known to prey on eggs of other species of anurans. Breeding in this family begins at the start of the rainy season, where hyperoliids congregate at breeding sites. Most hyperoliids lay their eggs in w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Specific Name (zoology)
In zoological nomenclature, the specific name (also specific epithet or species epithet) is the second part (the second name) within the scientific name of a species (a binomen). The first part of the name of a species is the name of the genus or the generic name. The rules and regulations governing the giving of a new species name are explained in the article species description. For example, the scientific name for humans is ''Homo sapiens'', which is the species name, consisting of two names: ''Homo'' is the " generic name" (the name of the genus) and ''sapiens'' is the "specific name". Historically, ''specific name'' referred to the combination of what are now called the generic and specific names. Carl Linnaeus, who formalized binomial nomenclature, made explicit distinctions between specific, generic, and trivial names. The generic name was that of the genus, the first in the binomial, the trivial name was the second name in the binomial, and the specific the proper term for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of . English is the official language, but over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, reflecting the country's ethnic and cultural diversity. The country's capital and largest city is Monrovia. Liberia began in the early 19th century as a project of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. Between 1822 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, more than 15,000 freed and free-born black people who faced social and legal oppression in the U.S., along with 3,198 Afro-Caribbeans, relocated to Liberia. Gradually developing an Americo- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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