Afrixalus Laurent, 1944

Common Names

Spiny Reed Frogs (Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 120; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 70; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 157; Pickersgill, 2005, Steenstrupia, 29: 3; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 130).

Cat's-eye Reed Frogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Leaf-folding Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 232; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 70; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 222).

Banana Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 35; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 65).

Cat's Eye Reed Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7).

Distribution

Subsaharan Africa in forest, brushland, and savanna.

Comment

See Schiøtz, 1974, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 137: 9-18, for a revision and review of the East African forms, and Laurent, 1982, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 235: 1-58, for a revision of the Central African forms. Schiøtz, 1974, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 137: 9-18, showed two species (or species groups), termed Afrixalus pygmaeus and Afrixalus brachycnemis. Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 187, and Pickersgill, 1992, Steenstrupia, 18: 145-148, accepted this division, but termed Schiøtz's Afrixalus pygmaeus as Afrixalus brachycnemis and Schiøtz's Afrixalus brachycnemis as Afrixalus sp. Pickersgill, 1996, Durban Mus. Novit., 21: 49-59, diagnosed four complexes of so-called eastern dwarf Afrixalus: (1) Afrixalus brachycnemis complex (Afrixalus brachycnemis, Afrixalus delicatus); (2) Afrixalus sylvaticus complex (Afrixalus sylvaticus, Afrixalus aureus, Afrixalus crotalus); (3) Afrixalus spinifrons complex (Afrixalus spinifrons, Afrixalus knysnae); (4) Afrixalus septentrionalis complex (Afrixalus morerei, Afrixalus septentrionalis). Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 46-84, provided accounts for all species. Pickersgill, 2005, Steenstrupia, 29: 1-38, revised the Afrixalus stuhlmanni group and discussed misidentifications and misapprehensions of relationships in previous studies. See Perret, 1976, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 99: 19-28, for revision of some West and Central African forms. Laurent, 1972, Copeia, 1972: 198-201, and Laurent, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 1-6, considered Afrixalus to be related to the kassinoid genera, on the basis of subjective weighting of some characters, contrary to the view of Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1-70, and Liem, 1970, Fieldiana, Zool., 57: 1-145, who considered Afrixalus to be the sister-taxon of Hyperolius. See comment under Hyperoliidae. See Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 185-193, for discussion of species of south-central Africa, and Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 129-134, for species in KwaZulu-Natal. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 222-235, provided a key and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Transferred from the Kassininae by Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 130-146, provided a key and account for the species of East Africa. Poynton, 2007 "2006", Afr. J. Herpetol., 55: 167-169, discussed the systematics of dwarf spiny reedfrogs (Afrixalus delicatus, Afrixalus stuhlmanni, Afrixalys brachycnemis, and Afrixalus sylvestris) in the eastern lowlands of Tanzania. Amiet, 2009, Rev. Suisse Zool., 116: 53-92, discussed the taxonomic issue of Afrixalus in Cameroon. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 139-152, provided accounts and an identification key for the species of Malawi. See account for Cameroon by Amiet, 2012, Rainettes Cameroun: 65-123, provided accounts for the Cameroonian species. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 185–195, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 238–251, provided and identification keys and accounts for the species of southern Africa, including polygon range maps, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and calls. Lawson, Liedtke, Menegon, and Loader, 2018, Herpetol. Notes, 11: 873–879, summarized clutch size, egg diameter, male and female adult SVL. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 152–166, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Portik, Bell, Blackburn, Bauer, Barratt, Branch, Burger, Channing, Colston, Conradie, Dehling, Drewes, Ernst, Greenbaum, Gvoždík, Harvey, Hillers, Hirschfeld, Jongsma, Kielgast, Kouete, Lawson, Leaché, Loader, Lötters, van der Meijden, Menegon, Müller, Nagy, Ofori-Boateng, Ohler, Papenfuss, Rößler, Sinsch, Rödel, Veith, Vindum, Zassi-Boulou, and McGuire, 2019, Syst. Biol., 68: 859–875 (supplemental fig. 1) suggested that Afrixalus is likely paraphyletic with respect to Tachymenis + Heterixalus, with Afrixalus enseticola being closer to that group than to other nominal Afrixalus. Greenbaum, Portik, Allen, Vaughan, Badjedjea, Barej, Behangana, Conkey, Dumbo, Gonwouo, Hirschfeld, Hughes, Igunzi, Kasumba, Lukwago, Masudi, Penner, Reyes, Rödel, Roelke, Romero, and Dehling, 2022, Zootaxa, 5174: 201–232, provided a ML tree of the species of Afrixalus. Portik, Streicher, and Wiens, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 188 (107907): 66, in their molecular study found Kassinula within a paraphyletic Afrixalus but took no taxonomic action. 

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Contained taxa (37 sp.):

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