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

Hyperolius castaneus Ahl, 1931

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hyperoliidae > Subfamily: Hyperoliinae > Genus: Hyperolius > Species: Hyperolius castaneus

Hyperolius castaneus Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 31 Holotype: ZMB unnumbered according to the original publication; lost, according to Laurent, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 208; ZMB 60230 is the holotype according to Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 420. Type locality: "Vulkangebiet nordöstlich des Kivu-Sees" (volcano region northeast of Lake Kivu; clearly the Virunga Mountains according to Roelke and Smith, 2010, Check List, 6: 525–531), along the border between Rwanda and Dem. Rep. Congo.

Hyperolius latifrons Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 65. Holotype: ZMB unnumbered, according to the original publication; ZMB 50278 according to Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 428. Type locality: "Karissimbi, 2400 m hoch". Synonymy by Laurent, 1950, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 64: 26.

Hyperolius rugegensis Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 82. Syntypes: ZMB unnumbered, according to the original publication; ZMB 77721–77722 according to Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 434. Type locality: “Rugege-Wald, 2000 m hoch” (= Nyungwe Forest), Cyangugu Prefecture, West Province, Rwanda. Synonymy by Laurent, 1947, Bull. Mus. R. Hist. Nat. Belg., 23: 1–8; Laurent, 1950, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 64: 26. The description in Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 82, appeared a few weeks later according to unpublished notes by A. Loveridge (fide R. Laurent).

Hyperolius ventrimaculatus Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 107. Holotype: ZMB unnumbered, according to the original publication; ZMB 78563 according to Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 437. Type locality: "Vulkangebiet nordöstlich des Kivu-Sees". Tentative synonymy by Laurent, 1950, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 64: 26.

Hyperolius adolphi-friederici Ahl, 1931, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 17: 116. Holotype: ZMB unnumbered, according to the original publication; Laurent, 1961, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 64: 69, regarded ZMB 36114 as "Type" and Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 416, also recorded it as holotype. Type locality: "Rugegewald [= Rugege Forest], 2000 m", Cyangugu Prefecture, West Province, Rwanda. Synonymy by Laurent, 1950, Explor. Parc Natl. Albert, Miss. G.F. de Witte (1933–1935), 64: 26. The description in Ahl, 1931, Das Tierreich, 55: 399, appeared subsequent to the original publication according to Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 416.

Hyperolius castaneus castaneus — Laurent, 1951, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 44: 368, by implication; Laurent, 1972, Explor. Parc Natl. Virunga, Ser. 2, 22: 63.

Hyperolius castaneus rhodogaster Laurent, 1951, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 44: 368. Holotype: MRAC unnumbered, according to the original publication. Type locality: "Mwana, 1.600 m., Territoire de Mwenga, [South] Kivu", Dem. Rep. Congo. See comment.

Hyperolius adolfifriederici — Laurent, 1961, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 64: 68. Incorrect subsequent spelling.

English Names

Ahl's Reed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 66).

Brown Reed Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 156; Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 204).

Montane Reed Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 156 [alternative name]).

Distribution

Forest swamps in the highlands of western Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda to the highlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park and north to the Lendu Plateau in eastern Dem. Rep. Congo, 1600 to 2850 m elevation.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Rwanda, Uganda

Comment

Closely similar and sometimes indistinguishable from Hyperolius lateralis according to Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 159–160, who provided a brief account. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 156–157, provided an account (in the sense of including Hyperolius constellatus as a synonym). See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status (in the sense of including Hyperolius constellatus) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 283. Greenbaum, Sinsch, Lehr, Valdez, and Chifundera, 2013, Zootaxa, 3731: 473–494, reported on the taxonomy of this species and noted that the status of Hyperolius castaneus rhodogaster is problematic and it may actually be a distinct species or a synonym of Hyperolius lateralis. Lehr, Dehling, Greenbaum, and Sinsch, 2015, ZooKeys, 546: 125–152, reported on embryogeneis and larval morphology. Dehling and Sinsch, 2019, Zool. Anz., 280: 65–77, reported on the evolution of larval and adult morphospace in the Central African Albertine Rift, including this species which they considered to be in the Hyperolius castaneus group. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 204–205, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. See 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, for phylogenetic placement. Tillack, de Ruiter, and Rödel, 2021, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 97: 407–450, discussed the types of Hyperolius castaneus, Hyperolius adolfi-friederici, Hyperolius latifrons, Hyperolius rugegensis, Hyperolius ventrimaculatus, and their provenance. 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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