''Amietia desaegeri'' is a species of

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-f ...

in the family

Pyxicephalidae The Pyxicephalidae are a family of frogs currently found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in the Eocene, the taxon '' Thaumastosaurus'' lived in Europe. Classification The Pyxicephalidae contain two subfamilies, with a total of 12 genera. This f ...

. It is found west and south of the

Rwenzori Mountains The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range' ...

in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and north-western Rwanda. The common names Byangolo frog and De Saeger's river frog have been coined for it.

Description

Males grow to at least and female to in snout–urostyle length. Skin is smooth but there are two dorso-lateral folds that running from the eyes to the inguinal region. The dorsum is pale beige, with brown infusions but no distinct markings; vertebral stripe is absent. There is a pale band between the eyes and between the tympanum and eye. The nostrils are dark and a thin dark line runs from the nostril to the eye. The tympanum is pale at its centre. The supratympanic fold is cream. The fingers and toes are pale. There are poorly contrasted transverse bars on the femur and tibia are thin.

Habitat and conservation

This species inhabits submontane and montane rainforests at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It lives in and around streams, its presumed breeding habitat. It can be locally abundant and tolerates a high degree of habitat disturbance; no major threats are known. It occurs in the

Virunga National Park , iucn_category = II , iucn_ref = , location = Democratic Republic of the Congo , map = Democratic Republic of the Congo , relief = 1 , coordinates = , area = , established = , nearest_city = Goma , photo =Virunga National Park-107997 ...

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the

Gishwati Forest Gishwati Forest is a forest in the north-western part of Rwanda, not far from Lake Kivu. It is part of Gishwati–Mukura National Park. The area's forests were largely intact in 1978, and substantial forest cover still remained in 1986. During t ...

Reserve in Rwanda.

References

desaegeri Frogs of Africa Amphibians of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Amphibians of Rwanda Amphibians described in 1972 Taxa named by Raymond Laurent {{Ranoidea-stub