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

Leptopelis flavomaculatus (Günther, 1864)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Leptopelinae > Genus: Leptopelis > Species: Leptopelis flavomaculatus

Hyperolius flavomaculatus Günther, 1864, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864: 310. Holotype: BMNH according to Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 129; identified as BMNH 1947.2.9.82, by Gvoždík, Tillack, Menegon, and Loader, 2014, Zootaxa, 3793: 166, originally 1864.1.9.49 by museum records. Type locality: "Rovuma Bay", Tanzania.

Rappia flavomaculata — Günther, 1869 "1868", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868: 481; Tornier, 1896, in Möbius (ed.), Deutsch Ost-Afr., 3: 136.

Megalixalus flavomaculatus — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 128.

Hylambates johnstoni Boulenger, 1897, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1897: 803. Syntypes: BMNH (4 specimens), by original designation, according to museum records, these being 1897.6.9.215 (reregistered 1947.2.10.7) and 1897.6.9.214 (3 specimens, reregistered 1947.2.10.4–6). BMNH 1947.2.10.4 designated lectotype by Gvoždík, Tillack, Menegon, and Loader, 2014, Zootaxa, 3793: 172. Type locality: "Kondowe–Karongoa, and one from the Nyika Plateau", restricted to Kondowe to Karonga, Malawi, by Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 343, and this stabilized by the lectotype designation. Synonymy by Laurent, 1948 "1947", Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 11, 14: 293; Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 329, 343.

Leptopelis johnstoni — Barbour and Loveridge, 1928, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 50: 239; FitzSimons, 1939, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 20: 17-46.

Leptopelis barbouri Ahl, 1929, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1929: 199. Syntypes: MCZ 13661-71; MCZ 13661 designated lectotype by Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 48. Type locality: "Lutindi-Berg (Usambara-Gebirge)" (= Mount Lutindi, Usambara Mountains), Tanzania. Synonymy by Gvoždík, Tillack, Menegon, and Loader, 2014, Zootaxa, 3793: 165.

Leptopelis flavomaculatus — Laurent, 1948 "1947", Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 11, 14: 293; Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 343.

English Names

Brown-backed Tree Frog (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23).

Yellow-spotted Tree Frog (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 143; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 201; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 201; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 94).

Brown Forest Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 69).

Johnston's Treefrog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 201 [alternative name]).

Barbour's Forest Treefrog (Inappropriate name due to a confusion of type: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 68). See comment under Leptopelis grandiceps.

Distribution

Along stream in open semideciduous forest of the East African lowlands below 2000 m from Mozambique north of the Save River, the eastern Zimbabwean escarpment, Malawi, eastern Tanzania, and coastal Kenya.

Geographics occurrence

Natural resident: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Comment

Closely related to Leptopelis christyi according to Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 32. See comment under Leptopelis lebeaui. See accounts by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 168–169, Inger, 1968, Explor. Parc Natl. Garamba, Miss. H. de Saeger, 52: 116, Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 279–280, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 201–203, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 201-202, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 492–496, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 94-95. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 97-99, provided an account for Malawi. See taxonomic and descriptive comments by Gvoždík, Tillack, Menegon, and Loader, 2014, Zootaxa, 3793: 165–187. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 68–71, provided a brief account for eastern Tanzania and coastal Kenya. Ohler and Frétey, 2014, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 103: 80–81, discussed the species in northern Mozambique. Conradie, Bittencourt-Silva, Engelbrecht, Loader, Menegon, Nanvonamuquitxo, Scott, and Tolley, 2016, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 92: 163–180, reported populations from Mounts Mabu and Mount Namuli (Zambezia Province), Mozambique. Quattrini, Kasozi, Polo-Cavia, Márquez, Narins, and Hödl, 2018, Herpetologica, 74: 311–322, discussed the behavioral and morphological differences of sympatric species both identified as this species in northeastern Tanzania. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 8, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 228–229, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Bittencourt-Silva, Bayliss, and Conradie, 2020, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 14 (2: e247): 198–271, reported the species from the top of Mount Socone, Ile District, Zambezia Province, northeast-central Mozambique.

External links:

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For additional sources of information from other sites search Google
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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 related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.