Description
A medium-sized forest Leptopelis (males 35-42 mm, females 46-57 mm) characterised by a white spur on the heel (see also L. omissus). Webbing extensive. Canthus rostralis angular. Dorsum greyish with a dark triangle on the head reaching the eyelids and with the apex pointing backwards. A broad dark dorsal band often split up into bars or lateral spots. Often a white spot under eye. The general coloration in life is in the white-grey-black colour range, rather than the warm brownish hues of other Leptopelis.

Laurent has established two very similar subspecies: (1) L. c. calcaratus from Eastern Nigeria, Cameroun and R. D. Congo north of Congo River: Spur on heel well developed, webbing less developed. (2) L. c. meridionalis Laurent 1973 from the forests of R. D. Congo south of Congo River, spur on heel less developed, webbing more extensive. There are other small morphological differences between the two.

The tadpole has the typical Leptopelis appearance and reaches a maximum length of 56 mm (17+39). The smallest tadpoles have a tooth formula of 1,1+1/ 3, older tadpoles 1,2+2/ 3 and the largest the typical formula of 1,3+3/3.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria

View distribution map using BerkeleyMapper.

In trees in dense forest from eastern Nigeria to eastern R. D. Congo.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The voice is a quiet, inconspicuous series of clacks. Sometimes another voice is heard, a double clack repeated a dozen times. This call is repeated by all the males in the vicinity and is similar to that of L. boulengeri, but with a different tonal quality and repeated more times.

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.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Leptopelis calcaratus <http://amphibiaweb.org/species/3643> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jul 19, 2019.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2019. <http://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 19 Jul 2019.

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