''Strongylopus kilimanjaro'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family

Pyxicephalidae The Pyxicephalidae are a Family (biology), family of frogs currently found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in the Eocene, the taxon ''Thaumastosaurus'' lived in Europe. Classification The Pyxicephalidae contain two subfamilies, with a total of 1 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and only known from a narrow alpine range on the middle slopes of

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

, within the

East African montane moorlands The East African montane moorlands is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion which occupies several high mountain peaks in Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Geography The ecoregion occupies an area of , covering several small moun ...

ecoregion. It is known only from three specimens collected in 1936. The lack of recent records is probably a reflection of very limited survey effort in the area since then.

Description

Three adult males in the

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

measure in snout–vent length. The body is stocky. The snout is short. The tympanum is visible. There is a pronounced, light vertebral band, containing an inner pair of darker, somewhat irregular and discontinuous longitudinal stripes. The border of the light band coincides with discontinuous skin ridges. The rest of the remainder of the dorsum is brown with sparse darker mottling. There is also a dark lateral line, running over the loreal region, continuing as a narrow strip below the eye, expanding behind the eye to cover the tympanic area, and continuing a very irregular dark band on the flanks. The fingers have fringes but no webbing. The toes are extremely elongated, albeit relatively short compared to other ''Strongylopus''. The toes have some basal webbing.

Habitat and conservation

The type series was collected at around

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It is presumably associated with cold mountain streams (where it probably breeds) in alpine African moorland. It occurs in well-protected habitat, in the

Kilimanjaro National Park Kilimanjaro National Park (''Hifadhi ya Taifa ya Kilimanjaro'', in Swahili) is a national park of Tanzania located south of the equator in the Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. The park is located near the region of Moshi. The park includes the ...

. Climate change might be a threat.

References

kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Tanzania Endemic fauna of Tanzania Amphibians described in 2005 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Ranoidea-stub