The taxonomic status of two West African Leptopelis species: L. macrotis Schiøtz, 1967 and L. spiritusnoctis Rödel, 2007 (Amphibia: Anura: Arthroleptidae)

Abstract

We herein examine the taxonomic status of two West African forest-dwelling Leptopelis species. The small L. spiritusnoctis, described from the Upper Guinean forests of West Africa, was recently synonymized with L. aubryi, described from Gabon. The large L. macrotis, known from Ghana to Sierra Leone, was downgraded to a subspecies of L. millsoni, ranging from the Niger Delta to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. These taxonomic decisions are in contrast to the general biogeographic pattern of African forest anurans and we consequently tested if the morphologically similar taxon pairs are indeed conspecifics by applying acoustic and molecular techniques. Both techniques confirmed that populations from West Africa differ significantly from their Central African morphological equivalents. Consequently, we herein resurrect L. spiritusnoctis as a valid species. The acoustic data indicate that L. aubryi may comprise a complex of cryptic species. We further advocate using the name L. macrotis for West African and L. millsoni for Central African populations of these larger arboreal frogs. However, we had neither genetic nor acoustic data from the type locality of L. millsoni available and could not clarify if these frogs belong to the more western or eastern taxon or even represent a Nigerian endemic. Thus, it is possible that West African populations need to be termed L. millsoni in the future. For populations east of the Cross River, Nigeria, the name L. guineensis would be available.