Meeting Abstract

35.3  Tuesday, Jan. 5  The natural history, taxonomic status, and conservation biology of the endangered African treefrog, Leptopelis karissimbensis ROELKE, Corey E.*; GREENBAUM, Eli B; The University of Texas at Arlington; The University of Texas at El Paso croelke@uta.edu

Leptopelis karissimbensis is a treefrog species endemic to the Albertine Rift of central Africa and is considered endangered by the IUCN. Some authors have considered the species conspecific with a morphologically similar species, L. kivuensis. Many authors have stated that the known range L. karissimbensis is restricted only to the Virunga Mountains. We present evidence that L. karissimbensis and L. kivuensis are distinct species and include a review of characters historically used to diagnose the two species. We provide new molecular, behavioral, and morphological characters that can be used to diagnose the two species. Leptopelis karissimbensis has a distinct advertisement call, unique defensive behavior, an amino acid deletion in a nuclear gene, and several morphological characters that serve to distinguish it from L. kivuensis. We also extend the known range of L. karissimbensis to the West and provide a review of the known distribution of the species. Based on observations that the species occurs over a much wider range than previously thought, we recommend that the IUCN downgrade the frog’s endangered status so as not to overestimate the perceived rarity of the species.