Leptopelis Günther, 1859

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Leptopelinae > Genus: Leptopelis
56 species

Leptopelis Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 89. Type species: Hyla aubryi Duméril, 1856, by monotypy.

Pseudocassina Ahl, 1924, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 11: 8. Type species: Pseudocassina ocellata Ahl, 1923, by original designation. Synonymy by Largen, 1977, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 9: 86.

Elaphromantis Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 35: 98. Type species: Hylambates notatus Buchholz and Peters, 1875, by original designation. Coined as a subgenus of Leptopelis though not used subsequently.

Heteropelis Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 35: 99. Type species: Leptopelis parkeri Barbour and Loveridge, 1928, by original designation. Coined as a subgenus of Leptopelis though not used subsequently.

Taphriomantis Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 35: 101. Type species: Cystignathus bocagii Günther, 1865, by original designation. Coined as a subgenus of Leptopelis though not used subsequently.

Habrahyla Goin, 1961, Copeia, 1961: 62. Type species: Habrahyla eiselti Goin, 1961, by original designation. Synonymy by Mertens, 1963, Senckenb. Biol., 44: 175–176.

Common Names

Leaf-frogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Tree Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 6; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 216; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 194; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 192; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 88).

Forest Treefrogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 68).

Distribution

Subsaharan Africa south to Transkei (Eastern Cape Province), Rep. South Africa.

Comment

Taxonomic understanding of this genus falls short of providing suitable data for zoogeographical treatment according to J.C. Poynton In Laurent, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 227. See comment under Afrixalus lindholmi. Species of southern Africa were discussed by Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 167–177. Species of Cameroon were discussed by Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 289–464. Accounts for species of Dem. Rep. Congo were provided by Laurent, 1973, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 202: 1–62, who also suggested species groups. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr., provided accounts for all species. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 194, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 88–101, provided keys and accounts for the species of southern Africa and Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 192–211, provided keys and accounts for the species of East Africa. Menegon, Doggart, and Owen, 2008, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 3: 107–127, reported an undescribed species from the Nguru Mountains of eastern Tanzania. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 94–104, provided accounts and an identification key for Malawi. See accounts for Cameroon by Amiet, 2012, Rainettes Cameroun: 435–562. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 105–123, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Portillo, Greenbaum, Menegon, Chifundera, and Dehling, 2015, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 82: 75–86, reported on species boundaries of species in the Albertine Rift (relevant to Leptopelis anebos, Leptopelis fiziensis, Leptopelis karissimbensis, Leptopelis kivuensis, and Leptopelis mtoewaate). Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 88–1001, provided an identification key and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Reyes-Velasco, Manthey, Freilich, and Boissinot, 2018, Mol. Ecol., 27: 2256–2270, discussed the molecular phylogenetics of the species of the Ethiopian highlands. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 212–231, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Tiutenko and Zinenko, 2021, ZooKeys, 1023: 119–150, discussed the systematics of the Leptopelis gramineus complex in Ethiopia, along with a map and identification key. Goutte, Reyes-Velasco, Kassie Teme, and Boissinot, 2022, ZooKeys, 1128: 63–97, revised and provided an identification key to the Leptopelis gramineus group in Ethiopia. 

Contained taxa (56 sp.):

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