AmphibiaWeb - Leptopelis grandiceps
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(Translations may not be accurate.)

Leptopelis grandiceps Ahl, 1929
family: Arthroleptidae
genus: Leptopelis
Species Description: Ahl E 1929 Zur Kenntnis der afrikanischen Baumfrosch-Gattung Leptopelis. Sitz Ges Naturf Freunde Berllin 1929: 185-222. Revalidation by Gvozdik V, Tillack F, Menegon M, Loader SP 2013 The status of Leptopelis barbouri Ahl, 1929 and eleven other nomina of the current tree-frog genus Leptopelis (Arthroleptidae)described from East Africa, with a redescription of Leptopelis grandiceps Ahl, 1929. Zootaxa 3793: 165-187.

© 2008 Arne Schiotz (1 of 8)
Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account Vulnerable (VU)
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None

   

 

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Description
A rather small Leptopelis (males 34-39 mm, females 38-43 mm) from dense forests in the Eastern Arc Mountains with reduced webbing. In life translucent green, sometimes with minute golden spots. Throat of males blue-green. Males with pectoral glands. Tympanum small, indistinct. Although L. uluguruensis and L. barbouri seem very similar in morphology, they are quite easy to separate in the field. The voice and calling site are different, and the dense green dorsal colour of L. uluguruensis is quite distinct from the translucent green colour of L. barbouri.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Tanzania, United Republic of

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
A forest species only known from the Usambara and Udzungwas; abundant in the latter mountains, but the species should be searched for in the Ulugurus.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The males call from heights of 2-6 m in branches near streams. The voice is a brief buzzing with an indistinct frequency-intensity maximum at about 1500 cps. and a rate of about 100 figures per second. A pair was found in copulation buried in sloping ground with only their heads visible where no puddles could form, about 10 m from a small stream. To reach water must be a formidable journey for the tadpoles.

Comments
This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main.

References

Schiøtz, A. (1999). Treefrogs of Africa. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.



Originally submitted by: Arne Schiøtz (first posted 2014-05-13)
Edited by: Kellie Whittaker (2014-05-13)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2014 Leptopelis grandiceps <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/8172> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 28, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Mar 2024.

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