Tanzaniaherps.org
The herpetofauna of Mountains of Tanzania
Nectophrynoides poyntoni , Menegon, Salvidio & Loader, 2004
IUCN: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED (CR)
type
in Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, Italy, MTSN .....type locality
Mkalazi Valley, Uzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve, Udzungwa MountainsGEOGRAPHIC RANGE
recorded localities
Udzungwa, Udzungwa scarp,
Habitat and Ecology
Specimens of N. poyntoni were found in the Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve at about 1200 m. The site is characterised by a submontane closed moist forest of the Eastern Arc type with a canopy of 30 to 40 m and emergents exceeding 50 m.Toads were active during the first part of the night and were found on leaves 60 -160 cm above ground level. Some specimens were found during the day in their hiding places, under fallen trees and coarse wood debris. The species was rather common along the Mkalazi stream but much less numerous than N. tornieri.
Calls were emitted from the late afternoon, but mainly after sunset, from trees and bushes, never far from streams. The presence of a small number of large yolky eggs suggests this species maybe ovoviviparous.
THREATS
Major Threats
Conservation measures
The species is listed as Crytically Endangered (CR) by IUCN. Is know for a single valley in..........ID
Description and Diagnosis
The only other small toad in the area is N. tornieri that is ready distinguished by its expanded and truncated finger tips and by its different call. N. poyntoni is a medium sized Nectophrynoides (Distance from tip of snout to urostyle 24mm) with slender limbs, and tips of fingers and toes rounded, not expanded or truncated. Tympanum present. Foot shorter than tibia. No webbing on hands. Webbing present on fourth and fifth toes. The parotoid gland is subdivided into an anterior and posterior part, running from the posterior edge of the eye to the scapular region.Colours and markings. Ground colour brown. A black stripe runs from the tip of the snout to the end of parotoid glands, darkening the outer edge of these glands. The sides of the head are pale beige, as well as the upper part of the arms. The dorsum has a light brown coloured mid dorsal stripe with a black border. The stripe is interrupted in the mid-dorsal area by a beige inverted ‘v’ -shaped broad band, which has a black border. Several dorsal glands are marked by condensations of melanophores, often present on the margins of the pale pink areas, forming interrupted stripes. Ventral surface is grey, with a sparse number of melanophores.
Call and Calling bahaviour
The advertisement call is composed of a group of trains of 6 to 8 pulses The train duration is about 1 sec. The pulse duration is about 60 msec with an inter-pulse duration of about 80 msec. Each pulse has a very stable dominant frequency of about 2.9 kHz (mean 2.89 ± 0.03) with a second harmonic emphasized at about 8.7 kHz. The male advertisement call is monophasic and high pitched, consisting of a sequence of similar pulse trains. The pulse duration is about 60 msec, with an inter-pulse interval of about 80 msec. The pulse train duration is about 1 second with an interval of about 2.5–3.5 sec. The call has a very stable dominant frequency of 2.9 kHz (mean 2.89 ± 0.03) with the second harmonic emphasized at 8.7 kHz (Fig. 4). The first pulse always had the highest intensity maxima (mean - 37.04 ± 2.8 dB of the first vs – 41.2 ± 2.1 dB of the second), followed by a series of pulses of lower intensity.mp3 of the call
sonagram of the call
Similar species
Nectophrynoides tornieri; N. vestergaardi; N. minutusDATA SOURCES
Data providers
Selected Bibliography
- Menegon, M., Salvidio, S. & Loader, S. (2004). Five new species of Nectophrynoides Noble 1926 (Amphibia Anura Bufonidae) from Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Tropical Zoology, 17: 97-121.
- Channing, A., Menegon, M., Salvidio, S. & Akker, S. (2005) A new forest toad from the Ukaguru Mountains, Tanzania (Bufonidae: Nectophrynoides). African Journal of Herpetology, 54, 149-157