Taxonomy of the Capensibufo rosei group (Anura: Bufonidae) from South Africa
Author
Channing, A.
Author
Measey, G. J.
Author
De Villiers, A. L.
Author
Turner, A. A.
Author
Tolley, K. A.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4232
2
282
292
journal article
36524
10.11646/zootaxa.4232.2.11
18721cfb-fd84-4caf-9076-db69d1885823
1175-5326
292784
24B25647-2702-4829-9BC8-62CF53DEE4B9
Capensibufo rosei
(Hewitt, 1926)
Material examined.
PEM
A5132,
Muizenberg Mountains
(
lectotype
) (Conradie
et al.
2015) (the original description did not specify a
holotype
)
;
PEM
A5134–39,
SAM
4261
Silvermine River Valley
or
Muizenberg Mountains
;
SAM
50008–9
Silvermine Plateau
;
SAM
17858,
SAM
43270,
SAM
43812,
Table Mountain
;
SAM
50010–2
Olifantsbos
;
SAM
50004–7
2.5 km
ESE
Kommetjie
.
GenBank
sequences.
FN652340
–41,
FN650136
–
7,
Silvermine
(
Tolley
et al.
2010
);
HG321460
–69,
HG321470
–
82, Silvermine and
Cape
of Good Hope (
Cressey
et al.
2014
); and an additional 16S sequence
KF665475
, Steenberg Plateau (Silvermine) (
Liedtke
et al.
2016
).
Diagnosis.
There is no tympanum in
C. rosei
, which distinguishes it from
C. tradouwi
and
C. deceptus
. In preservative, the dorsal spots in
C. rosei
have a brown centre, surrounded by incomplete dark rings.
Capensibufo deceptus
and
C. tradouwi
lack a thin outer white ring.
Capensibufo magistratus
and
C. selenophos
have incomplete black rings with a thin white outer ring. The umbraculum is rounded, while
C. deceptus
and
C. magistratus
have angular umbracula. The parotid is widest in the anterior third, which distinguishes it from
C. magistratus
,
C. selenophos
and
C. tradouwi
. There is usually no vertebral stripe in
C. rosei
while the other species have thin to broad pale vertebral stripes and/or bands. The belly is immaculate to lightly speckled, while
C. tradouwi
has flecks on the belly that may fuse to form short lines;
C. magistratus
and
C. selenophos
have white spots on a darker background. The ratio of parotid length/SUL is over 0.18, which distinguishes it from
C. tradouwi
,
which has a ratio less than 0.18. The intraspecific uncorrected p distances for 16S are 0–0.4 (n=12), and 2.6–4.0 between
C. rosei
and the other three species previously included in this species, and 2.4–4.5 from
C. tradouwi
(
Table 1
). In life the frogs are sometimes very dark, and pattern elements are difficult to discern.
Advertisement call.
This species has no advertisement call and makes no distress call when disturbed.
Distribution.
This species is limited to the
Cape
Peninsula, currently known only from both the Silvermine and
Cape
of Good Hope sections of the Table Mountain National Park. No specimens have been found on Table Mountain itself since 1983 (
Cressey
et al.
2014
). DNA sequences were available from Silvermine and
Cape
of Good Hope, and museum material was examined from Table Mountain, the Muizenberg Mountains (Silvermine), and the "
Cape
Peninsula" (
Fig. 1
).
Remarks.
The distribution of this species was previously thought to extend to the mountains west of the Breede River Valley (
Grandison 1980
). Here we restrict it to the
Cape
Peninsula, from Table Mountain to the
Cape
of Good Hope (
Fig. 1
).