''Leptopelis crystallinoron'' 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and only known from the area its type locality near the Barrage de

Tchimbélé Tchimbélé is a waterfall in the Woleu-Ntem area of northwestern Gabon. The waterfall is fed by the Komo River The Komo is a river of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It flows for . It rises in Equatorial Guinea in the southwestern part of the W ...

in the central Monts de Cristal (Crystal Mountains). Only one specimen was known until five specimens were captured in the

Crystal Mountains National Park Crystal Mountains National Park (french: Parc National des Monts de Cristal) is a twin park and one of the 13 national parks of Gabon. It is situated in the Monts de Crystal on the western edge of the Woleu-Ntem Plateau, between Equatorial Gui ...

in 2009. It is probable that this species is endemic to the Monts de Cristal and that its range extends into

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

Description

The only known specimen (

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

) is an adult female measuring in snout–vent length. The body is robust. The snout is truncate in dorsal view and rounded laterally. No tympanum is present. Skin is granular throughout. All fingers and toes bear discs, have lateral fringes, and are webbed (toes have more webbing than fingers). Colouration is brilliantly green dorsally and creamy white ventrally. There are few diffused tan–dark brown markings on the back, outer extremities, and around the cloacal region. The outer parts of the limbs are whitish. The flanks have white spots in the lower parts. The

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

is bronze and has a black ring around it.

Habitat and conservation

The holotype was collected in an altered but good standing forest at

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 ...

, away from open water sources. The specimen was active during the night at above the ground. The type locality falls within the

. There are no known threats to this species. Two of the five specimens captured in 2009 tested positive for the fungus ''

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ''Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' ( ), also known as ''Bd'' or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Since its discovery in 1998 by Lee Berger, the disease devastated amphibian popul ...

'', the pathogen causing

chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi ''Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and ''Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extincti ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1593414 crystallinoron Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Gabon Endemic fauna of Gabon Amphibians described in 2005 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot