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

Phrynomantis bifasciatus (Smith, 1847)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Microhylidae > Subfamily: Phrynomerinae > Genus: Phrynomantis > Species: Phrynomantis bifasciatus

Brachymerus bifasciatus Smith, 1847, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Part 26): pl. 63. Type(s): Not traced; Smith's material in BMNH may be syntypes although they do not correspond exactly with the description, according to Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 513. Type locality: "country to the east and north-east of the Cape Colony .... [for example:] On the banks of the Limpopo River, close to the tropic of Capricorn", Limpopo Province, Rep. South Africa.

Dendrobates inhambanensis Bianconi, 1849 "1848", Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat., Bologna, Ser. 2, 10: 107. Syntypes: MZUB 100177, 100177a, according to Bonfitto, 1991, Boll. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 9: 366. Type locality: "Mozambico"; restricted to "Inhambane, Mozambico" by Bonfitto, 1991, Boll. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 9: 366. Synonymy by Peters, 1882, Naturwiss. Reise Mossambique, Zool. 3: 172.

Bombinator (Brachymerus) bifasciatus — Schlegel, 1858, Handl. Dierkd., 2: 58.

Phrynomantis bifasciata — Peters, 1867, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1867: 35; Cope, 1867, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Ser. 2, 6:192; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 172.

Phrynomerus bifasciatus — Noble, 1926, Am. Mus. Novit., 237: 3; Power, 1927, Trans. R. Soc. S. Afr., 14: 415

Phrynomerus bifasciatus nyasalandensis Hoffman, 1944, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 181. Holotype: NMB A2633, by original designation. Type locality: "Chitiala [= Chitala River], Nyasaland", Malawi, according to Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 395; Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 513, who considered this a synonym of Phrynomantis bifasciatus bifasciatus (following Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 329).

Phrynomerus bifasciatus bifasciatus — Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 329, 395.

Phrynomantis bifasciatus — Dubois, 1988, Alytes, 7: 1–5.

Common Names

Red-banded Rubber Frog (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 81; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 75; Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 53).

Two-striped Frog (Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 175).

Red-banded Frog (Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 126; Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 111; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 22; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 33; Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 108).

Two-banded Frog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Banded Rubber Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 108; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 234-235; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 228; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 288).

South African Snake-necked Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 91).

Distribution

Extreme southern coastal Somalia, southern Kenya, and Dem. Rep. Congo (Katanga Province) to northeastern Rep. South Africa and northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana and and southwestern Angola; eastern lowlands of Rwanda.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Comment

See comment under Phrynomantis microps. See Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 513-514 (as Phrynomerus microps), and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 234-235. Auerbach, 1987, Amph. Rept. Botswana: 39, provided a summary account and grid map for Botswana. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 228-230, Du Preez, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 199-201, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 64-66, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 288-289, provided accounts. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 216-217, provided an account for Malawi. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 254–255, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 224–2225, provided a brief account and photograph. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 310–311, provided an account, including a polygon range map for southern Africa, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Ohler and Frétey, 2014, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 103: 91, provided a brief note of a collection from northern Mozambique. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 80–81, provided a map for Angola and provided a brief account. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 49, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 29, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 108–109, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Baptista, António, and Branch, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (e203): 96–130, reported on specimens from Bicuar National Park, southwestern Angola. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda. Becker and Channing, 2024, Afr. J. Herpetol., 73: 105–117, described the advertisement call, provided range extensions, and a dot and polygon distribution map. Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 53, provided an account addressing identification, natural history, conservation status, and range, including a polygon map.

External links:

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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.