Vissoke River Frog

general

This species was named for Dr. Joseph Charles Bequaert, who was an Entomolgist, Malacologist, and Botanist working as the Curator of Insects at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University at the time of the publication of this species description.

African Amphibians

morphology

Habit is moderate. Tongue is as broad as long or slightly longer than broad with a median conical papilla. Snout is rounded, projecting slightly beyond the mouth, and shorter than the diameter of the orbit. The nostril is equidistant from the orbit and snout top. The interorbital space is considerably broader than the upper eyelid. The tympanum is very distinct. Fingers are moderate with the digit I shorter than II, which is slightly shorter than III. Digit III is approximately twice the length of the first. Manual webbing is absent. Toes are moderate, approximately one-third webbed, except for toe IV which exhibits a narrow fringe, leaving 2 phalanges free of web. Zimkus (unpublished) examined speciments with 3-3.5 digits free of webbing on toe IV. Tips of the fingers are toes are slightly expanded. Subarticular tubercles are well developed. Small inner and outer metatarsal tubercles, as well as a tarsal tubercle, are present. The tarsal tubercle is as far from the inner metatarsal tubercles as the inner is from the outer. A slight skin fold is present from the tarsal tubercle to the inner metatarsal tubercle. The tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the nostril, eye, or somewhere i

African Amphibians

biology

Phrynobatrachus bequaerti is a small species (SVL > 25 mm) of puddle frog from montane regions of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, western Rwanda and north-western Burundi. Members of this genus are identified by the presence of a midtarsal tubercle, elongate inner metatarsal tubercle, and outer metatarsal tubercle. Phrynobatrachus bequaerti is characterized by a distinct tympanum, moderate pedal webbing, and tips of the fingers are toes that are slightly expanded.

African Amphibians

conservation

The IUCN Red List (2009) categorizes this species as Vulnerable because its Extent of Occurrence is less than 20,000 km2, its distribution is severely fragmented, and the quality and extent of its forest habitat in the Albertine Rift is declining (Pickersgill and Drewes, 2004).

African Amphibians