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 pusillus (Cope, 1862)

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

Crumenifera pusilla Cope, 1862, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 14: 343. Type(s): Not designated; ANSP 11323 is holotype according to Malnate, 1971, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 123: 352. Type locality: "Umvoti", KwaZulu-Natal, Rep. South Africa. Given, apparently in error as "Umvoti, W. Africa" by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 127.

Hyperolius heuglini Steindachner, 1864, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 14: 244. Type(s): NHMW 32923 tentatively listed as holotype by Tiedemann and Grillitsch, 2000 "1999", Herpetozoa, Wien, 12: 148. Type locality: Abyssinia [= Ethiopia]. Provisional synonymy with Hyperolius microps by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 127.

Rappia pusilla — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 127; Barbour, 1911, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 54: 133.

Hyperolius pusillus — Noble, 1924, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 49: 251, 328; Loveridge, 1936, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 79: 407; Loveridge, 1953, Q. J. Florida Acad. Sci., 16: 147.

Hyperolius translucens Power, 1935, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1935: 339. Syntypes: MMK (2 specimens); BMNH records have 1947.2.11.29–39 (formerly 1934.10.8.8–10) as syntypes but this requires confirmation. Type locality: "Port St. Johns", Pondoland, Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Loveridge, 1936, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 79: 372; Loveridge, 1938, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 51: 213–214; and Ohler and Frétey, 2014, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 103: 87.

Hyperolius milnei Loveridge, 1935, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 79: 18. Holotype: MCZ 20025, by original designation. Type locality: "Witu, Coast Province, Kenya Colony". Synonymy by Loveridge, 1942, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 91: 379, 412.

Common Names

Translucent Tree Frog (Hewitt, 1937, Guide Vert. Fauna E. Cape Province, Rept. Amph. Fishes: 111; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 250).

Transparent Pigmy Sedge Frog (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 73).

Water Lily Frog (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 81; Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 204; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 24; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 35; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 250; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 167; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 262).

Water Lily Reed Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 178).

Lily Pad Frog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Dwarf Reed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 68).

Water Lily Reed Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 176).

Distribution

Open swamp vegetation of southernmost coastal Somalia south along coastal lowlands of Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique) to extreme eastern Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa; inland through Malawi and into Zimbabwe through the Zambesi Valley.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Comment

Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 205, noted that Zambian records are referable to Hyperolius viridis. See brief taxonomic discussion of Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 191–192, and accounts by Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 185–186, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 176–177, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 178–179, Alexander, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 146–147, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 346–349 (who implied a cryptic species exists in Malawi), and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 262–263. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 183–185, provided an account for Malawi. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 220–221, discussed comparative larval morphology. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 198–199, provided a brief account and photograph. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 111–112, provided a map for Angola and a brief account, noting that the Angolan specimens needed to be reviewed and also implied that the records likely were misidentifications. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 44, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 23, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. See Hyperolius albofrenatus which is a likely synonym.

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For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.