Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Afrixalus spinifrons (Cope, 1862)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hyperoliidae > Subfamily: Hyperoliinae > Genus: Afrixalus > Species: Afrixalus spinifrons

Hyperolius spinifrons Cope, 1862, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 14: 342. Holotype: ANSP 11320, according to Malnate, 1971, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 123: 353. Type locality: "Umvoti", KwaZulu-Natal, Rep. South Africa; reported, apparently in error as "Umvoti, W. Africa" by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 130.

Megalixalus ? spinifrons — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 130.

Megalixalus spinifrons — Ahl, 1930, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1930: 94; FitzSimons, 1946, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 20: 373.

Megalixalus fornasinii spinifrons — Power, 1935, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1935: 342.

Afrixalus spinifrons — Guibé, 1948, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 2, 20: 500, by implication; Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 109; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 182.

Afrixalus spinifrons spinifrons — Pickersgill, 1996, Durban Mus. Novit., 21: 51.

Afrixalus spinifrons intermedius Pickersgill, 1996, Durban Mus. Novit., 21: 55. Holotype: SMF unnumbered (M. Pickersgill 534), by original designation. Type locality: "Mooi River floodplain at Rosetta (alt. 1410 m), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa".

English Names

Golden Spiny Reed Frog (Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 195; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 236).

Natal Leaf-folding Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 236; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 234).

Natal Banana Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 66).

Natal Spiny Reed Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 141).

Distribution

KwaZulu-Natal midlands to Eastern Cape coast, Rep. South Africa, below 1500 m elevation; possibly into Lesotho.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: South Africa

Likely/Controversially Present: Lesotho

Endemic: South Africa

Comment

See brief account by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 182, in which he details taxonomic history, and accounts by Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 141–142, Pickersgill, Burger, and Bishop, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 131–133, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 432–434, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 234–235. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 281. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 143, suggested the possible presence of this species in Lesotho. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 191, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 80–81, provided a brief account and map and suggested that the nominal subspecies, Afrixalus spinifrons intermedius, is intermediate in most characters between Afrixalus spinifrons spinifrons and Afrixalus knysnae and on this basis questioned the recognition of Afrixalus knysnae from Afrixalus spinifrons. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 162–163, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.

External links:

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For access to general information see Wikipedia
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For images search CalPhoto Images and Google Images
To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.