Merlin's dwarf gray frog (''Pseudhymenochirus merlini''), or Merlin's clawed frog, 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

Pipidae The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. The 41 species in the family Pipidae are found in tropical South America (genus ''Pipa'') and sub-Saharan Africa (the three other genera). Description Pipid frogs are highly aquatic and ...

. It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

within the genus ''Pseudhymenochirus''. It is found in southern

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

, western

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 ...

, and southern

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Taxonomy and evolution

Genus ''Pseudhymenochirus'' has also been placed as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

in ''Hymenochirus'' ( African dwarf frogs), although it is geographically widely separated from that genus. At any rate, these two genera are probably

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

s. In most species in the family Pipidae, sound production occurs without externally visible movements of the flanks or throat and is based on a different mechanism than in anurans in general. This is interpreted as an adaptation to their aquatic lifestyle. However, within pipids, ''Hymenochirus'' appears to be an exception, and sound production is based on moving air in a more conventional anuran manner. Nevertheless, molecular and morphological analyses show that sound production in ''Hymenochirus'' is an evolutionary novelty that represents a reversal to the ancestral condition of air-driven sound production.

Habitat and conservation

''Pseudhymenochirus merlini'' is a largely aquatic frog that lives in aquatic habitats with shade, e.g., still water in lowland forests and agricultural land, and in small, very slow-moving rocky streams. It avoids waterbodies with many fish. It can colonize newly created aquatic habitats by migrating overland. ''Pseudhymenochirus merlini'' is common where it occurs. It is harvested for local food consumption, which is posing some threat to it. Also logging of shading trees and introduced predatory fish can locally have negative impacts, but overall this species in not threatened.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q785138 Pipidae Amphibians described in 1920 Articles containing video clips Amphibians of West Africa Taxa named by Paul Chabanaud Taxonomy articles created by Polbot