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

Kassina Girard, 1853

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hyperoliidae > Subfamily: Kassininae > Genus: Kassina

15 species

Eremiophilus Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 32. Type species: Cystignathus senegalensis Duméril and Bibron, 1841, by original designation. Suppressed by Opinion 1364, Anonymous, 1985, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 42: 355–356, for the purpose of conserving the name Kassina.

Kassina Girard, 1853, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 6: 421. Type species: Cystignathus senegalensis Duméril and Bibron, 1841, by monotypy. To have priority over Hylambates Duméril, 1853, when considered synonyms according to Opinion 849, Anonymous, 1968, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 25: 20–21.

Cassina — Cope, 1864, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 16: 182. Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 131. Incorrect subsequent spelling of Kassina Girard, 1853.

Cassiniopsis Monard, 1937 "1936", Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 62: 41. Type species: Cassiniopsis kuvangensis Monard, 1937, by original designation. Synonymy by Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 273.

Common Names

Kassinas (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 224; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 186; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 272).

Kassin's Frogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Pan Frogs (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 151).

Running Frogs (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 7; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 151; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 68).

Distribution

Subsaharan Africa.

Comment

Although Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 269–276, were the first to note the close relationship between Hylambates and Kassina, Laurent, 1976, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 213: 18–21, had reservations about the appropriateness of the synonymy by Van Dijk, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 265, and Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 60. See also Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 225–284. Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1–70, found "Hylambates maculata" to be a member of the genus Kassina. Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 37–38, considered Semnodactylus Hoffman, 1939, and Kassinula Laurent, 1940, to be junior synonyms of Kassina, and Paracassina Peracca, 1907, and Phlyctimantis Laurent and Combaz, 1950, to be subgenera of Kassina. Species of southern Africa discussed by Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 178–184. Kassinula was transferred to Hyperoliinae by Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 187, provided a key to the species of southern Africa. Laurent, 1976, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 213: 33–67, discussed the species of Congo. Rödel, Grafe, Rudolf, and Ernst, 2002, Copeia, 2002: 800–814, discussed the species of West Africa and provided a key. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 229–247, provided accounts for the species. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 188–192, provided a key and accounts for the species of East Africa. Msuya, Howell, and Channing, 2007 "2006", Afr. J. Herpetol., 55: 113–122, provided an estimate of phylogeny of species in the genus. Pauwels and Rödel, 2007, Herpetozoa, Wien, 19: 135–148, noted "Kassina sp." (which they regarded as unnamed) from Gabon. Amiet, 2007, Rev. Suisse Zool., 114: 87–126, reviewed the species of Cameroon. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 272–280, provided a key and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, suggested this taxon to be non-monophyletic, with Kassina senegalensis closely related to Semnodactylus wealii and Kassina maculata close to Phlyctimantis verrucosus, among their exemplars. See accounta for Cameroon by Amiet, 2012, Rainettes Cameroun: 372–412. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 228–239, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 136–145, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Portik, Streicher, and Wiens, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 188 (107907): 66, suggested that Kassina is paraphyletic with respect to Semnodactylus but took no taxonomic action.

Contained taxa (15 sp.):

Kassina arboricola Perret, 1985

Kassina cassinoides (Boulenger, 1903)

Kassina cochranae (Loveridge, 1941)

Kassina decorata (Angel, 1940)

Kassina fusca Schiøtz, 1967

Kassina jozani Msuya, Howell, and Channing, 2007

Kassina kuvangensis (Monard, 1937)

Kassina lamottei Schiøtz, 1967

Kassina maculifer (Ahl, 1924)

Kassina maculosa (Sternfeld, 1917)

Kassina mertensi Laurent, 1952

Kassina schioetzi Rödel, Grafe, Rudolf, and Ernst, 2002

Kassina senegalensis (Duméril and Bibron, 1841)

Kassina somalica Scortecci, 1932

Kassina wazae Amiet, 2007

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