Hyperolius obstetricans Ahl, 1931a: 90.

Tillack, Frank, Ruiter, Ronald de & Roedel, Mark-Oliver, 2021, A type catalogue of the reed frogs (Amphibia, Anura, Hyperoliidae) in the collection of the Museum fuer Naturkunde Berlin (ZMB) with comments on historical collectors and expeditions, Zoosystematics and Evolution 97 (2), pp. 407-450 : 407

Hyperolius obstetricans Ahl, 1931a: 90.

Holotype.

ZMB 77755, “Bipindihof” [Bipindi village, Océan Department, South Province, Cameroon], coll. Georg August Zenker.

Present name.

Hyperolius obstetricans (Ahl, 1931a).

Remarks.

Photo in Ahl (1931b: 365, fig. 240, horizontally mirrored) showing the specimen on a leaf with 39 eggs. The type previously was regarded as lost, however, we rediscovered the specimen, still sitting on the leaf with the eggs (see Fig. 8 ). In accordance with Article 75.8 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999), the rediscovery of the holotype in the ZMB collection in 2012 renders the neotype designation by Perret invalid (1966: 410; MHNG 995.48 from "Foulassi, rivière Lobô”). Since 1988 the species was a member of the genus Alexteroon Perret, 1988. However, recently Ernst et al. (2021) revised the systematic position of Alexteroon and assigned the three species to the genus Hyperolius .

The German naturalist, botanist and gardener Zenker joined the German colonial service as taxidermist in 1889. He was manager of the colonial station Jaunde ( Yaoundé, Mfoundi Department, Centre Region, Cameroon) from 1890-1895 ( Zenker 1890). In 1896 he settled in Bipindi on the Lokundje River where he collected natural history and ethnological objects extensively and managed different plantations until his death on 6 February 1922. The main part of his zoological collection is at ZMB ( Mildbraed 1923; Frahm and Eggers 2001).

Figures

Figure 8. Holotype of Hyperolius obstetricans, ZMB 77755 from " Bipindihof ", coll. Zenker.