Afrixalus quadrivittatus (Werner, 1908)

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

Megalixalus leptosomus quadrivittatus Werner, 1908 "1907", Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Phys. Math. Naturwiss. Kl., 116: 1900. Syntypes: Including NHMW 3723, according to Häupl, Tiedemann, and Grillitsch, 1994, Kat. Wiss. Samml. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 9: 29. Type locality: On the Nile near Khor Attar, Sudan. This locality is about 30 km southeast of Tonga, Sudan, on the Nile, not to be confused with the location of the same name on the Red Sea coast; see map provided by Werner, 1919, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturwiss. Kl., 96: 437–509 (E. Greenbaum, personal commun., 10 Nov 2014). 

Afrixalus quadrivittatus — Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 76. Perret, 1976, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 99: 19-28.

Common Names

Four-lined Spiny Reed Frog (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 156–157). 

Distribution

Western Ethiopia and South Sudan to Uganda, northern Zambia, southwestern Kenya, and Tanzania; eastern Dem. Rep. Congo and Rwanda. See comment for Central and West African populations assigned by some to this taxon. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

Comment

Removed from the synonymy of Afrixalus fulvovittatus by Köhler, Scheelke, Schick, Veith, and Lötters, 2005, Afr. Zool., 40: 132, where it had been placed by Laurent, 1982, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 235: 45. Köhler, Scheelke, Schick, Veith, and Lötters, 2005, Afr. Zool., 40: 127–142, discussed confusion with Afrixalus leptosomus and Afrixalus fulvovittatus and the uncertainty of the range as well as describing the advertisement call. The composition and range of this taxon is highly controversial. See comments under Afrixalus "quadrivittatus" for provisional assignments of other nominal taxa to this and related species.  See account, photograph, and map for Ethiopia by Largen and Spawls, 2010, Amph. Rept. Ethiopia Eritrea: 111. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 156–157, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See comment under Afrixalus "quadrivittatus" for comments on nominal West and Central African populations. Kako-Wanzalire, Mongo, Ilonga, Mapoli, Mbumba, Neema, Tungaluna, Itoka, and Bogaert, 2021, Tropicultura, 39 (1: 1709): 1–19, discussed habitat preference in Tshopo, north-central Dem. Rep. Congo, but did not discuss the identification. Badjedjea, Masudi, Akaibe, and Gvoždík, 2022, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 16 (1: e301): 49, commented on a population (their Afrixalus cf. quadrivittatus) from the Kokolopori Bonobo Nature Reserve, Tshuapa Province, Dem. Rep. Congo and the taxonomic disarray of the systematics of the Afrixalus fulvovittatus/Afrixalus quadrivittatus/Afrixalus dorsalis complex in Central Africa.  Lötters, Wagner, Bwong, Schick, Malonza, Muchai, Wasonga, and Veith, 2007, Fieldguide Amph. Rept. Kakamega Forest: 28-29, provided an account for a Kenya population. Nečas, Kielgast, Nagy, Chifundera, and Gvoždík, 2022, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 174 (107514): 1–11, provided a molecular tree that suggests that this nominal species is composed of at least 2 species and probably more. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 66, discussed briefly the single record of this species from Rwanda and provided an account on p. 27. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda.

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