Aubria masako Ohler and Kazadi, 1990

Badjedjea, Gabriel, Masudi, Franck M., Akaibe, Benjamin Dudu & Gvoždík, Václav, 2022, Amphibians of Kokolopori: an introduction to the amphibian fauna of the Central Congolian Lowland Forests, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 301) 16 (1), pp. 35-70 : 62

Aubria masako Ohler and Kazadi, 1990

Fig. 10H .

Area: Bechuchuu, Yalokole.

Season/survey: Wet (May 2018, Nov 2018), dry (Jul 2020).

Material: CSB:Herp: RNBK 253, 818, 822–826, 837; IVB-H-CD 18170, 18230, 18365, 18366.

Comments: This species was described from the Masako Forest Reserve , near Kisangani, DRC ( Ohler and Kazadi 1990). It seems to be confined to swampy rainforests of the Congo Basin ( Channing and Rödel 2019). There is an ontogenetic shift in the coloration of the venter, with juveniles having a black venter with white spots, later changing into gray with yellow spots, and finally to a mostly yellow venter. This robust frog occupies swamps, often in flooded forests, but sometimes in places where cassava is macerated by villagers. The local people of Kokolopori occasionally collect these frogs as bushmeat, especially children and women, but the collection is not intensive. Males were well hidden when calling, sitting in burrows under tree roots or even underwater. Their advertisement call resembles the sound of a pig.

Figures

Fig. 10. Phrynobatrachids (Phrynobatrachus), ptychadenids (Ptychadena), and a pyxicephalid (Aubria). (A) Phrynobatrachus sp. aff. auritus (male). (B) Ph. cf. giorgii (male). (C) Ph. cf. auritus (male). (D) Ptychadena aequiplicata (female). (E) Pt. christyi (male), extralimital specimen from Mosite (0.956°N, 23.560°E). (F) Pt. perreti (male). (G) Pt. sp. aff. mascareniensis (male). (H) Aubria masako (male).