''Phrynobatrachus bequaerti'' is a species of frog in the family Phrynobatrachidae. It is found in the mountains of north-western

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and western

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''bequaerti'' honours

Joseph Charles Bequaert Joseph Charles Bequaert was an American naturalist of Belgian origin, born 24 May 1886 in Torhout (Belgium) and died on 12 January 1982 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Clench WJ (1982). "Joseph Charles Bequaert". '' The Nautilus'' 96(2)page 35 Caree ...

, a Belgian botanist, entomologist, and malacologist and who collected the holotype from Mount Vissoke. Common name Vissoke river frog has been coined for this species.

Description

Specimens in the type series measure in snout–vent length; the largest specimens are all females. The snout is rounded. The tympanum is very distinct. The fingers have no webbing whereas the toes are about one-third webbed; the tips of the digits are slightly dilated. Skin has many small but prominent spiny tubercles. The dorsum is uniform brown, except for chocolate-brown vertebral stripe present in about half of individuals. The lower parts vary from almost immaculate white to having few drown spots to dusky mottling or vermiculation.

Habitat and conservation

''Phrynobatrachus bequaerti'' lives in montane forests, grasslands, and wetlands 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 ...

. Breeding presumably takes place in swamps. It seems to be common in suitable habitat, although populations appear to be declining, and only a single specimen was found from the

Nyungwe Forest National Park The Nyungwe Forest () is located in southwestern Rwanda, on the border with Burundi, where it is contiguous with the Kibira National Park to the south, and Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. The Nyungwe rainfore ...

during surveys in 2010–2011. The species is suffering from habitat loss and degradation caused by expanding agriculture, grazing of livestock, timber extraction, and expanding human settlements. It is recorded from the Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of Congo) and the Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2697549 bequaerti Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Burundi Amphibians of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Amphibians of Rwanda Taxa named by Thomas Barbour Taxa named by Arthur Loveridge Amphibians described in 1929 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot