''Arthroleptis reichei'' 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

Arthroleptidae The Arthroleptidae are a family of frogs found in sub-Saharan Africa. This group includes African treefrogs in the genus ''Leptopelis'' along with the terrestrial breeding squeakers '' Arthroleptis'', and several genera restricted to the Guinea ...

. It is found in the mountains of eastern and southern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and northern

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

. It has several vernacular names: Poroto screeching frog, large-toad squeaker, Poroto Mountains screeching frog, and Reiche's squeaker. The specific name ''reichei'' honours

Karl Friedrich Reiche Karl Friedrich Reiche ( es, Carlos Reiche, October 31, 1860 – February 26, 1929) was a German botanist who worked as a university professor in Chile and Mexico. Life Reiche was born in Dresden and earned his doctorate in 1885 in Leipzig. He ...

, a German botanist.

Description

''A. reichei'' is a small ''Arthroleptis'' species: adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The head is narrow and the legs are long. The tympanum is small and is oval in shape. The finger and the toe tips are expanded. The dorsum is brown, usually with a darker hourglass pattern and a pale line or triangle between the eyes. The male advertisement call consists of irregular repetition of a single whistling note, with a duration of up 30 seconds and consisting of maximally 64 notes. The note repetition rate is about 2.3 per second. There is a dominant frequency at about 3400–3500 Hz.

Habitat and conservation

''Arthroleptis reichei'' occurs in montane forests 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 is a leaf-litter species living on the forest floor. Males call from low shrubs and in wild banana plants. As other members of the genus, it probably breeds by direct development (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage). It is relatively abundant within its known range, but is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by agricultural activities, small-scale wood extraction, and expanding human settlements. It is known to occur in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2237180 reichei Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Malawi Amphibians of Tanzania Taxa named by Fritz Nieden Amphibians described in 1911 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot