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Anchieta's Tree Frog
Anchieta's tree frog (''Leptopelis anchietae''), also known as the Huila forest treefrog, is a species of frog in the family Arthroleptidae. It is endemic to Angola. It is closely related to the West Cameroon forest tree frog (''Leptopelis nordequatorialis'', formerly ''Leptopelis anchietae nordequatorialis'') and the Garamba forest tree frog (''Leptopelis oryi''). Description Anchieta's tree frog has a brown back and legs. The legs are spotted with white spots, and the sides of its head and body are a darker brown. Male members of the species have pectoral glands; the West Cameroon forest tree frog and other members of the genus ''Leptopelis'' share this characteristic. The function of the pectoral glands is unknown, but they are made of glandules like the glandules in nuptial pads that appear on many species of amphibians. Thus, scientists speculate that the pectoral glands play a role in the frogs' mating process. Etymology The frog was named after José Alberto de Olivei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Vicente Barbosa Du Bocage
José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (2 May 1823 – 3 November 1907) was a Portuguese zoologist, politician, and professor. He served as a professor of zoology and director of the National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon, National Museum of Natural History and Science at the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, where he played a role in the development of Portuguese zoological collections and research. Bocage’s scientific work led to the description of numerous species, particularly of Portuguese and African fauna, and he published extensively on taxonomy, advancing zoological knowledge in Portugal and its overseas territories. Bocage held public offices, including Navy Ministry (Portugal), Minister of the Navy and Oversea. He was involved in colonial and geographical policy, co-founding the Lisbon Geographic Society and representing Portugal at the Berlin Conference, where he advocated for Pink Map, Portuguese claims in Africa. His contributions to Portuguese science and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huíla Province
Huíla is a Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 2,497,422 (2014 census). Lubango is the capital of the province. Basket-making is a significant industry in the province; many make baskets out of reeds. History From the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1975) to Angola's independence, and the Angolan Civil War, subsequent civil war in Angola (1975-2002) Huíla was directly affected only during relatively short periods of time. Cassinga was abandoned by its European supervisors, and the mine fell into neglect during the ensuing Angolan Civil War. The following year it was occupied by the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), military wing of the South West African People's Organization. PLAN subsequently adopted Cassinga as a staging point for insurgent raids on South-West Africa, about 250 kilometres to the south. Their bases soon became a sanctuary for local refugees during the Namibian War of Independence. In 1978, PLAN's presence i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250Myr, million years ago), but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their divergent evolution, divergence from other amphibians may exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthroleptidae
The Arthroleptidae are a family (biology), 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 Guinean forests of central and west Africa, such as the hairy frog ''(Trichobatrachus)''. Taxonomy This family is the phylogenetic sister group of reed frogs, the Hyperoliidae, which together form the lineage Laurentobatrachia, a name that commemorates work on African frogs by the Argentine herpetologist Raymond Laurent. This group is further nested within the Afrobatrachia, an ancient African endemic lineage that includes the Brevicipitidae and Hemisotidae. The Arthroleptidae are separated, based on phylogenetic analyses, into three deeply divergent and dissimilar subfamilies: Arthroleptinae, Astylosterninae, and Leptopelinae. Some consider these to be separate families, while others do not recognize any subfamilies, in particul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of countries and dependencies by population, population and is the List of African countries by area, seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Angola has an Enclave and exclave, exclave province, the province of Cabinda Province, Cabinda, that borders the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital and most populous city is Luanda. Angola has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, Paleolithic Age. After the Bantu expansion reached the region, states were formed by the 13th century and organised into confederations. The Kingdom of Kongo ascended to achieve hegemony among the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Cameroon Forest Tree Frog
''Leptopelis nordequatorialis'', also known as the West Cameroon forest treefrog, is a species of frog in the family Arthroleptidae. It is found in central and western Cameroon ( Bamileke Plateau, Bamenda Highlands, and Adamawa Plateau) and eastern Nigeria (Mambilla Plateau). It is closely related to '' Leptopelis anchietae'' and '' Leptopelis oryi''. Description Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The digits have neither discs nor webbing. Males have conspicuous pectoral glands. The dorsum is green and has a dark brown lateral stripe that runs from the snout to the groin. Sometimes there are rows of dark spots that form two dorsolateral lines. The tibia are short. The tadpoles reach in total length. The male advertisement call is a very sonorous clack lasting about one tenth of a second, sometimes uttered twice. Habitat and conservation ''Leptopelis nordequatorialis'' occurs in montane grassland and pastureland at elevations of above sea level ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garamba Forest Tree Frog
''Leptopelis oryi'', also known as the Garamba forest treefrog and Ory's tree frog, is a species of frog in the family Arthroleptidae. It is found in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northwestern Uganda, and adjacent South Sudan. It is morphologically similar to ''Leptopelis nordequatorialis'' from Cameroon, and has also been considered its synonym, but is currently treated as a distinct species. The specific name ''oryi'' honours Albert Ory, warden in the Garamba National Park, the type locality of this species. Description Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The overall appearance is stout. The head is as wide as the body or narrower. The snout is rounded. The tympanum is distinct. The tips of the digits are dilated into distinct discs. The fingers have no webbing whereas the toes have reduced webbing. Males do not have pectoral glands (present in ''L. nordequatorialis''). The dorsum is pale brown with three narrow darker dorsal a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuptial Pads
A nuptial pad (also known as thumb pad, or nuptial excrescence) is a secondary sex characteristic present on some mature male frogs and salamanders. Triggered by androgen hormones, this breeding gland (a type of mucous gland) appears as a spiked epithelial swelling on the forearm and prepollex that aids with grip, which is used primarily by males to grasp (or clasp) females during amplexus. They can also be used in male–male combat in some species. Historical background Austrian biologist Paul Kammerer experimented on midwife toads' nuptial pads. He used the offspring's apparent enlargening from generation-to-generation as evidence of Lamarckian evolution. Examples Many amphibian species manifest nuptial pads for use in amplexus, an example being the rough-skinned newt The rough-skinned newt or roughskin newt (''Taricha granulosa'') is a North American newt known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin. Appearance A stocky newt with rounded snout, it ranges from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Alberto De Oliveira Anchieta
José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (variations José d'Anchieta, José Anchieta, José de Anchieta - b. October 9, 1832 in Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal, d. September 14, 1897 in Caconda, Portuguese Angola) was a 19th-century Portuguese explorer and naturalist who, between 1866 and 1897, travelled extensively in Portuguese Angola, Africa, collecting animals and plants. His specimens from Angola and Mozambique were sent out to Portugal, where they were later examined by several zoologists and botanists, chiefly among them J.V. Barboza du Bocage. Life Anchieta was born in 1832, in Lisbon, and started his studies in mathematics at the University of Coimbra. Due to his fierce independence and eccentric character, however, he did not adapt well and moved to the Escola Politécnica de Lisboa (Polytechnic School of Lisbon). In 1857, one of his closest friends moved to Portuguese Cape Verde, a Portuguese colony and a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, and Anchieta went ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the south and southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte, and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo. Between the 7th and 11th centuries, a series of Swahili port towns developed on that area, which contributed to the development of a distinct Swahili culture and dialect. In the late medieval period, these towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India. The voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498 marked the arrival of the Portuguese Empire, Portuguese, who began a gradual process of colonisation and settlement in 1505. After over four centuries of Portuguese Mozambique, Portuguese rule, Mozambique Mozambican War of Indepen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptopelis
''Leptopelis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Arthroleptidae. They are found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ..., excluding Madagascar. It is placed in Monotypic taxon, monotypic subfamily Leptopelinae, although this subfamily is not always recognized. They have a number of common names, including forest treefrogs, tree frogs, leaf-frogs, and big-eyed frogs. Description ''Leptopelis'' are mostly medium-sized frogs (snout–vent length ), but ''Leptopelis palmatus'' can reach . Tympanum (anatomy), Tympanum is present. Most species have expended digit tips. Ecology ''Leptopelis'' are mainly Arboreal locomotion, arboreal, but some species, especially in more arid areas, are terrestrial or even subfossorial. Breeding typically starts wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
