A New Miniature Species of <i>Arthroleptis</i> (Anura: Arthroleptidae) from Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda

A new, very small-sized species of <i>Arthroleptis</i> is described from western Rwanda. The new species occurs locally endemic in Nyungwe Forest and Cyamudongo Forest, where it inhabits the leaf litter of montane forests between 1800 and 2200 m a.s.l. It differs from all other members o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: J. Maximilian Dehling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-10-01
Series:Diversity
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/10/1104
Description
Summary:A new, very small-sized species of <i>Arthroleptis</i> is described from western Rwanda. The new species occurs locally endemic in Nyungwe Forest and Cyamudongo Forest, where it inhabits the leaf litter of montane forests between 1800 and 2200 m a.s.l. It differs from all other members of the genus by a unique combination of morphological characters, including size (SVL of adult males 16.0–16.5 mm), skin texture, length of hindlimbs, and ventral colour pattern; by characteristics of its advertisement call that consists of a single note lasting 17.4 ± 6.4 [11–32] ms and has a dominant frequency of 5861 ± 188 [5531–6029] Hz; and also in the sequence of the 16S rRNA gene that differs from available homologous sequences of other species of the genus by an uncorrected p-distance of at least 4.6%. Details of the natural history as well as two additional call types are described.
ISSN:1424-2818