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

Semnodactylus Hoffman, 1939

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

1 species

Semnodactylus Hoffman, 1939, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 90. Type species: Semnodactylus thabanchuensis Hoffman, 1939 (= Cassina wealii Boulenger, 1882), by monotypy.

Notokassina Drewes, 1985, S. Afr. J. Sci., 81: 190. Type species: Cassina wealii Boulenger, 1882, by original designation. Synonymy with Kassina by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 35. Synonymy with Semnodactylus by Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 184.

Common Names

Weal's Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 70).

Running Frogs (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 192).

Distribution

As for the single species: southern and southeastern Rep. South Africa.

Comment

Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 35 (following Hoffman, 1942, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 161), considered Semnodactylus a synonym of Kassina Girard, 1853, and noted that it had priority over Notokassina. Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1-70, believed this species to be more closely related to Kassinula and Paracassina (as Tornierella) than to Kassina. Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 184, retained Notokassina. Synonymy with Kassina by Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 273. Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116-131, on the basis of a parsimony analysis considered Semnodactylus to be the sister-taxon of Paracassina. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583, suggested that among their exemplar species Semnodactylus is the sister of Kassina senegalensis, rendering Kassina non-monophyletic. Portik and Blackburn, 2016, Evolution, 70: 2017–2032, suggested that Semnodactylus is the sister taxon of Paracassina + (Kassina + Phlyctimantis). Portik, Streicher, and Wiens, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 188 (107907): 66, recovered Semnodactylus within Kassina but took no taxonomic action.

Contained taxa (1 sp.):

Semnodactylus wealii (Boulenger, 1882)

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