Astylosternus fallax

Description. Long slender tadpole with long, muscular tail (Fig. 4); body oval in dorsal and lateral view; snout rounded in dorsal and lateral view; body length 36.3 + / - 2.6 % of total length; body height 40.3 + / - 3.3 % of body length; body width 56.2 + / - 4.4 % of body length; eyes positioned dorsolaterally, eye diameter 11.4 + / - 0.5 % of body length; nostrils positioned dorsolaterally, closer to snout tip than to eyes; inter-nostril distance 74.1 + / - 7.0 % of interorbital distance; tail fins narrow, dorsal and ventral fin originating from tail base; ventral fin height narrower, 68.9 + / - 11.5 %, than dorsal fin height; highest part of tail approximately in the middle of the tail; body height 96.6 + / - 14.8 % of maximum tail height; tail axis width 45.6 % + / - 10.0 % of body width; tail axis height 69.3 + / - 4.7 % of maximum tail height; tail tip pointed; vent tube dextral; body with large lateral sacs, extending from spiracle to end of body; short spiracle, sinistral; mouth positioned rostroventral, narrower than interorbital distance; keratodont formula 1: 2 + 2 / 2 + 2: 1; anterior lip with lateral papillae and big rostral gap; posterior lip with 2 or 3 rows of app. 20 triangular papillae (Fig. 4 c), papillae of inner row (or rows) shorter than in the marginal row; black jaw sheaths massive and serrated; upper jaw sheath with a small medial fang, lower jaw U-shaped with a broad medial notch. The tadpoles (all Gosner stage 25) ranged from 45 mm to 74 mm total length.

Material examined. ZMB 82868 (GenBank MK 318849), 3 tadpoles, Gosner stage 25, Cameroon, Ebo Forest, Njuma, 373 m, 4 ° 20 ' 54.66 " N, 10 ° 14 ' 24.3 " E, 16 July 2011, leg. M. Dahmen & M. Hirschfeld; ZMB 82869 (GenBank MK 318850), 1 tadpole, Gosner stage 25, Cameroon, Ebo Forest, Njuma, 306 m, 4 ° 20 ' 35.64 " N, 10 ° 14 ' 0.54 " E, 29 September 2010, leg. M. Hirschfeld & M. - O. Roedel. All tadpoles were caught in forest streams. The description is mainly based on ZMB 82868. Genotyped tadpoles have been compared with an adult from Bekop, Ebo forest, Cameroon (ZMB 82787; GenBank MK 318851). The two tadpoles and the adult were genetically identical.