Xenopus petersii Bocage, 1895

Santos, Bruna S., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2021, Herpetological results of Francisco Newton’s Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903 – 1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection, Zootaxa 5028 (1), pp. 1-80 : 9

Xenopus petersii Bocage, 1895

Material (four specimens): Two adult specimens (MHNCUP/ ANF 171–172), collected from unknown locality in 1904; two adult specimens (MHNCUP/ ANF 228–229 , formerly UP-MHNFCP-017354 and UP-MHNFCP-052197; Fig. S1 ), collected from unknown locality, date unknown .

Comments: Xenopus petersii is widespread in western and central Angola, southern Gabon to western Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Namibia ( Marques et al. 2018). A recent study by Furman et al. (2015) on the phylogeny of the X. laevis (Daudin, 1903) group recognized X. petersii as a valid species and supported the revalidation of X. poweri Hewitt, 1927 . According to the distribution provided by the authors, X. petersii occurs in western and central parts of Angola, whereas X. poweri is limited to eastern and southeastern regions ( Furman et al. 2015; Conradie et al. 2016; Marques et al. 2018). None of the extant specimens has associated localities, but they most likely represent those cited by Ferreira (1906) from “Cambondo” and “Rio Luinha”, matching the expected geographical range for the species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Portrait of Francisco Newton (1864–1909) (Source: Arquivo Histórico Museu Bocage).