ABSTRACT

The diversity of anurans in Okomu oil Extension 2, Odiguetue, Ovia North East LGA, Edo State, Nigeria was studied. A total of 168 anuran individuals belonging to six families, nine genera and thirteen species were encountered. Nine of which were fully identified; one was identified to a generic level while three were different morphological variant of the same species. The overall species richness (d) was 2.342 and the overall species diversity (H’) was 1.717. The Hyperoliidae family was the most dominant family while the Families Bufonidae and Dicroglossidae were the least. The log rank abundance curve showed one abundant species, 4 species of intermediate abundance and 8 rare species. From the snout vent length measurement of anurans encountered, Hyperolius concolor (Phase A) was the smallest anuran species encountered while Hoplobatrachus occipitalis was the biggest in size. More males were encountered compared to the females. The Hyperoliidae family had the highest number of male and female. Afrixalus dorsalis had the highest number of male (46.3%) and female (46.9%) individuals while Sclerophrys maculata, H. occipitalis, H. concolor, H. fusciventris, Phrynobactrachus sp. and P. bibroni had the least number of male individuals being represented by 0.7% each. Hyperolius concolor, H. occipitalis and P. calcaratus had the least number of females (with 3.1% individual each). From the foregoing, it is evident that Okomu oil Extension 2, Odiguetue has a very rich amphibian fauna. Efforts should be made to preserve the vegetation structure in order to protect and maintain the biodiversity status of the region especially the Anuran species.