Afrixalus aureus Pickersgill, 1984

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

Afrixalus aureus Pickersgill, 1984, Durban Mus. Novit., 13: 206. Holotype: BMNH 1983.1151, by original designation. Type locality: "Mhlatuze River valley, 6 km north of Eshowe on the Melmoth road in [KwaZulu-]Natal, South Africa".

Afrixalus aureus aureusPickersgill, 2005, Steenstrupia, 29: 22.

Common Names

Golden Dwarf Reed Frog (Lambiris, 1988, in Branch (ed.), South Afr. Red Data Book, Amph. Rept.: 86).

Golden Banana Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 65).

Golden Spiny Reed Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 130).

Golden Leaf-folding Frog (Pickersgill and Bishop, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 123; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 240).

Golden Dwarf Leaf-folding Frog (Pickersgill and Bishop, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 123 [secondary name]).

Distribution

Mhlatuze Valley in KwaZulu-Natal through the eastern Transvaal (Rep. South Africa), Eswatini, and southern Mozambique.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa

Comment

Similar to Afrixalus knysnae according to Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 191, who provided a short account. Distinctiveness from Afrixalus delicatus doubted by Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 130. Confused with Afrixalus brachycnemis brachycnemis by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 180, according to Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 78–80, who provided a brief account and map. See accounts by Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 190–191, Lambiris, 1988, in Branch (ed.), South Afr. Red Data Book, Amph. Rept.: 86–87, and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 130–131, Pickersgill and Bishop, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 123–124, and Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 448–452. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 186, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 37, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 240–241, provided an account, including a polygon range map, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 166–167, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.  

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