The status of Tomopterna pulchra Boulenger, 1896 (Anura: Pyxicephalidae) Author Willems, Frank 0000-0001-9617-4344 Kigelia Solutions / Frank Willems Guiding and Ecology, Chisamba Park, PO Box 12, Fringilla, Zambia. Author Channing, Alan 0000-0002-6250-2415 Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa text Zootaxa 2023 2023-11-17 5374 3 361 389 https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5374.3.3/52294 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5374.3.3 1175-5326 10150521 4FEAC6E6-32A8-4F01-BC7F-C85D11431936 Tomopterna tuberculosa ( Boulenger, 1882 ) Western Beaded Sand Frog Pyxicephalus rugosus Ģnther, 1865:479. Rana tuberculosa Boulenger, 1882:30 . Rana (Tomopterna) signata Ahl, 1927:43 . Synonymy by Laurent (1954) . Rana (Tomopterna) cacondana Ahl, 1927:44 . Synonymy by Laurent (1954) . Pyxicephalus tuberculosus — Parker 1936:100 . Rana (Tomopterna) tuberculosa — Monard 1937:44 . Tomopterna cacondana — Deckert 1938:142 . Tomopterna rugosa — Laurent 1954:72 . Tomopterna tuberculosa — Laurent 1964:133 . Tomopterna (Tomopterna) tuberculosa — Dubois 1987:57 . Tomopterna tuberculosa ( Deckert, 1938 ) — Lobón-Rovira et al . (2022) . Attributed to Deckert (1938) in error. Tomopterna tuberculosa was described by Ģnther (1865) as Pyxicephalus rugosus based on two specimens collected by Dr. Welwitsch from Pungo Andongo in Angola . Pyxicephalus rugosus was replaced by Boulenger (1882) , as it was preoccupied by Rana rugosa Temminck & Schlegel, 1838 . In the description, Ģnther emphasises the glandular folds that commence behind each superciliary, converging toward the midline before curving outwards behind the neck. His detailed illustration ( Fig. 2 ) shows the rough dorsum and the characteristic contrasting pattern. Laurent synonymised T. signata ( Ahl, 1927 ) and T. cacondana ( Ahl, 1927 ) as the specimens were collected near the type locality of T. tuberculosa and were essentially indistinguishable from that species. Advertisement calls from Ongongo and Cuima have a mean dominant frequency of 2639 Hz (2608–2670 Hz), with a mean note rate of 10.5 s- 1 (8.6– 12.3 s- 1) n=2, at an ambient temperature of 24°C. Sequenced specimens attributable to T. tuberculosa do not possess a pale vertebral stripe, but in body proportions and tubercles are similar to T. pulchra . Poynton & Broadley (1985) noted that some Angolan specimens were brown overall, rather than patterned dorsally. At Ongongo in Namibia about 80% of calling males were brown, with the remainder showing the highly contrasting pattern. One of each pattern is illustrated in Fig. 2 . Tomopterna tuberculosa has only been genetically confirmed from western Angola and northwest Namibia ( Fig. 7 ).