Morphological variation of Ridged Frogs of the Taita Hills, Kenya

Abstract

Comparing of morphological character variation within taxa continues to play an important role in improving species inventories. Using morphometrical and non-meristic morphological adult characters, the diversity of the genus Ptychadena in Taita Hills was studied. Comparative material from elsewhere was not used, and therefore species names were only provisionally allocated to the taxa identified. Avail- able names were discussed on the basis of comparisons with morphological data from other regions. The results revealed that female species are larger in size than males. Two species were identified and for each a standardized diagnosis of 32 characters is provided. Comparison of results with morphological data from related studies done elsewhere reveals that certain characters are of critical importance in differentiating the two Ptychadena species. The power of these morphological characters is discussed, especially for the background of rapid and easy identification of Ptychadena species in the field for conservation purposes.