MARQUES ET AL.; AMPHIBIANS AND TERRESTRIAL REPTILES OF ANGOLA 
61 
ly represents a species that is more widespread and ranging from northern Angola to Cameroon and 
Central African Republic. 
Ocurrences in Angola (Map 3): Occurs 
in the extreme northeast of the country. Lunda 
Norte: “Muita, Luembe E (Muita, Luachimo)” 
[-7.80000, 21.45000] (Laurent 1950a:13; Ruas 
1996:20); “Dundo” [-7.36667,20.83333] (Lau¬ 
rent 1954a:70; Ruas 1996:20); “Lunda Norte 
(probably Dundo or Muita)” (Kobel 1981:120). 
Undetermined Locality: “areas of forest and 
savanna in the north and northeast of Angola” 
(Cei 1977:16). 
Taxonomy and natural history notes: 
The Xenopus amieti subgroup {sensu Evans et 
al., 2015) contains several morphologically 
similar species that mainly occur in Central 
Africa (Wagner et al. 2013; Ernst et al. 2015). 
Previously this group contained X. fraseri, but 
Evans et al. (2015) demonstrated that Central 
African species referred to this taxon instead 
Map 3. Distribution oi Xenopus sp. in Angola. 
represent either X. allofraseri or X. parafraseri. The identity of the Angolan populations of 
Xenopus sp. remains uncertain, but they most likely represent a species within the amieti subgroup. 
Only two species, X. pygmaeus and X. fraseri, have previously been reported from south of the 
Congo Basin (Laurent 1950a, 1954a; Ruas 1996; Wagner et al. 2013). The species X. fraseri has 
frequently been confused withX andrei, a closely related species previously believed to be restrict¬ 
ed to Cameroon, Gabon, and the Central African Republic, but which was recently found in Ango¬ 
la (Ernst et al. 2015). 
Laurent (1950, 1954a) reported many specimens (~133) from Angola, collected in Lunda 
Norte Province, in “Dundo” and “Muita” regions in northeastern Angola, an area bordering the 
Democratic Republic of Congo. Ruas (1996) referred these previously published records from the 
northeastern Angola to X. fraseri although she also provided a complementary map (Ruas 1996) 
with other records for X. fraseri in central and southern Angola, with no further detail, on the basis 
of these records. It is likely that all previous records of X. fraseri in Angola actually refer to other 
species, including X. andrei or recently described species (Evans et al. 2015). Because of the lack 
of corresponding vouchers and tissue samples for genetic analyses, it cannot at this time be deter¬ 
mined to which species these records might be best assigned. 
Xenopus muelleri (Peters, 1844) Muller’s Clawed Frog 
Dactylethra Muelleri Peters 1844:37. Syntypes: ZMB 3556 [3 tadpoles], 3557 [3 speeimens], 6164 [2 speei- 
mens] and MZUT An264 fide Bauer et al. (1995:48) (eolleetor W.C.H. Peters). Type loeality: “Mozam¬ 
bique” (Peters 1844:37), restrieted to “Tete, Zambezi River” [Mozambique] by Loveridege (1953:308). 
Xenopus muelleri'. Conradie et al. (2016:17). 
Global conservation status (lUCN): Least Concern. 
Global distribution: The species is known to occur along the East African coastal belt from 
extreme southern Kenya through Tanzania to the northwestern border of South Africa. There is an 
apparently allopatric population from Burkina Faso eastward across Sudan-Guinea to northeastern 
Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. 
