''Phrynobatrachus pygmaeus'' 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

Phrynobatrachidae ''Phrynobatrachus'' is a genus of Sub-Saharan frogs that form the monogeneric family Phrynobatrachidae. Their common name is puddle frogs, dwarf puddle frogs, African puddle frogs, or African river frogs. The common name, puddle frog, refers to ...

. 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 ...

to the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

and is only known from its type locality, Bouala (originally spelled "Buala"), 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 ...

on the

Ouham River The Ouham River is a river in Central Africa, and one of the main headwaters of the Chari River. The Ouham originates in the Central African Republic between the prefecture Nana-Mambéré and the prefecture Ouham-Pendé, crossing into Chad where i ...

. Common name Chad river frog has been coined for this species. This name presumably reflects the earlier assumption that the type locality was in Chad, into which the Ouham River flows.

Etymology

Presumably, this species is named for the Latin ''pygmaeus'', meaning "dwarfish".

Taxonomy

''Phrynobatrachus pygmaeus'' was described by German zoologist

Ernst Ahl Christoph Gustav Ernst Ahl (1 September 1898 – 14 February 1945) was a German Zoology, zoologist, born in Berlin. He was the director of the department of ichthyology and herpetology in the Museum für Naturkunde. He was also the editor in chi ...

in 1925 based a single specimen, the

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 ...

. ''Phrynobatrachus pygmaeus'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus ''Micrarthroleptis'' erected in 1938 by . However, the genus is currently considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''Phrynobatrachus''.

Description

''Phrynobatrachus pygmaeus'' has tympanum that is indistinct. Dorsal skin is warty and has two X-shaped ridges in the scapular region.

Ecology

There are no observations of this species after its discovery, and its ecology is essentially unknown.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2244253 pygmaeus Frogs of Africa Amphibians of the Central African Republic Endemic fauna of the Central African Republic Amphibians described in 1925 Taxa named by Ernst Ahl Taxonomy articles created by Polbot