''Phrynobatrachus gutturosus'', the Chabanaud's river frog or guttural puddle frog, is a species of
frog in the family
Petropedetidae. It is found in
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Ghana,
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 ...
,
Nigeria, possibly
Benin, possibly
Burkina Faso, possibly
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
, possibly
Mali, possibly
Togo, and possibly
Uganda.
Its natural
habitats are
subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Description
TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
, moist
savanna,
swampland, and intermittent freshwater
marshes.
It is threatened by
habitat loss.
Description
The guttural puddle frog is a small frog with a pointed snout and warty skin, growing to a snout-to-vent length of about for males and . The digits do not have enlarged tips and the fingers are unwebbed. The dorsal surface is greenish or brownish with dark blotches, sometimes bordered with black. The limbs are barred with green and the underparts are whitish. The male has a black
vocal sac on the throat and the female has a black patch spotted with white on the throat.
Distribution and habitat
The guttural puddle frog is native to the eastern part of Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria and an isolated population is found in the
Virunga National Park in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitat is rain forest where it is usually found near ponds and other water bodies and during the rainy season it may be found in
gallery forest and temporary
savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
swamps.
[
]
Behaviour
The guttural puddle frog is a terrestrial species and is active by day in the rainy season but it hides under stones or logs by day and feeds by night during the dry season. During the breeding season, the males call near suitable water bodies and the females lay clutches of eggs in these. The eggs and young tadpoles are little studied but the tadpole growth is fast and the animals become mature at four to five months. They have a short lifespan and probably die within a few months of spawning.[
]
Status
The guttural puddle frog is listed by the IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
as being of " Least Concern" as it is a common and adaptable species with a very wide range and its numbers appear to be relatively stable.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q953186
gutturosus
Amphibians described in 1921
Taxa named by Paul Chabanaud
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot