Ericabatrachus Explained

Ericabatrachus is a genus of frogs in the family Ericabatrachidae endemic to the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Ericabatrachus baleensis, commonly known as the Bale Mountains frog.^[1] It was previously included in the family Petropedetidae, but has gotten its own monotypic family, Ericabatrachidae.^[2]

Taxonomy

Ericabatrachus baleensis is monotypic within its genus and family. The phylogenetic relationships of this poorly known species have been debated, but molecular analyses has placed it the family Petropedetidae,^[3] instead of Phrynobatrachidae or Pyxicephalidae, where it has also been placed.^[4] It was updated again in 2021, placing it in the family Ericabatrachidae.

Description

Bale Mountains frogs are small; adult males measure 19mm22mm in snout–vent length and females 23mm27mm. Their fingers are not webbed and toes have rudimentary webbing. Adult males have well-defined femoral glands.^[5]

Habitat and conservation

Its natural habitats are grassy banks of small, fast-flowing streams in giant heath woodland and adjoining Astropanax–Hagenia forest. It is critically endangered because its range is extremely small and the habitat is under threat from trampling of streams, deforestation, and settlement development, despite being located in the Bale Mountains National Park.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ericabatrachus baleensis Largen, 1991 . Frost, Darrel R. . 2014 . Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 . American Museum of Natural History . 23 March 2014.
2. Dubois . Alain . Ohler . Annemarie . Pyron . R. Alexander . 26 February 2021 . New concepts and methods for phylogenetic taxonomy and nomenclature in zoology, exemplified by a new ranked cladonomy of recent amphibians (Lissamphibia) . Megataxa . 5 . 114.
3. Web site: Ericabatrachus Largen, 1991 . Frost, Darrel R. . 2014 . Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0 . American Museum of Natural History . 23 March 2014.
4. 10.1186/1471-2148-14-44. 24612655. Evolutionary relationships of the Critically Endangered frog Ericabatrachus baleensis Largen, 1991 with notes on incorporating previously unsampled taxa into large-scale phylogenetic analyses. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14. 1. 44. 2014. Siu-Ting . K. . Gower . D. J. . Pisani . D. . Kassahun . R. . Gebresenbet . F. . Menegon . M. . Mengistu . A. A. . Saber . S. A. . De Sá . R. . Wilkinson . M. . Loader . S. P. . 4008257. free.
5. 10.1080/03946975.1991.10539483. A new genus and species of petropedetine frog (Amphibia Anura Ranidae) from high altitude in the mountains of Ethiopia. Tropical Zoology. 4. 139–152. 1991. Largen . M. J. .