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Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862
Stenorhynchus Smith, 1849, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Appendix): 23. Type species: Stenorhynchus natalensis Smith, 1849, by monotypy. Preoccupied by Stenorhynchus Hemprich, 1820. Synonymy by Günther, 1865 "1864", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864: 481; Günther, 1865, Zool. Rec., 1: 128; Peters, 1882, Naturwiss. Reise Mossambique, Zool. 3: 16; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 111. Placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology by Opinion 1921, Anonymous, 1999, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 56: 96-100.
Heteroglossa Hallowell, 1858 "1857", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 9: 64. Type species: Heteroglossa africana Hallowell, 1858 "1857", by monotypy. Junior homonym of Heteroglossa Hallowell, 1858 "1857". Synonymy by Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 238.
Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1862: 190. Type species: Phrynobatrachus natalensis Günther, 1862, by monotypy. Placed on the Official List of Generic Name by Opinion 1921, Anonymous, 1999, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 56: 96-100.
Hemimantis Peters, 1863, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1863: 451. Type species: Hemimantis calcaratus Peters, 1863, by monotypy. Synonymy by Peters, 1875, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1875: 211. Placed on the Official List of Generic Name by Opinion 1921, Anonymous, 1999, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 56: 96-100.
Leptoparius Peters, 1863, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1863: 452. Replacement name for Stenorhynchus Smith, 1849, which is preoccupied by Stenorhynchus Bernhauer, 1917. Placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology by Opinion 1921, Anonymous, 1999, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 56: 96-100.
Dimorphognathus Boulenger, 1906, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, 17: 321. Replacement name for Heteroglossa Hallowell, 1858 "1857". Synonymy by Scott, 2005, Cladistics, 21: 531; Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 238.
Pararthroleptis Ahl, 1925 "1923", Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1923: 90. Type species: Pararthroleptis nanus Ahl, 1925 "1923", by subsequent designation of Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 166. Synonymy with Arthroleptis by Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 128. Synonymy with Phrynobatrachus by Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 253.
Hylarthroleptis Ahl, 1925 "1923", Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1923: 98. Type species: Hylarthroleptis accraensis Ahl, 1925 "1923", by subsequent designation of Loveridge, 1957, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 117: 346. Synonymy by Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 163.
Phrynodon Parker, 1935, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 10, 16: 402. Type species: Phrynodon sandersoni Parker, 1935, by original designation. Synonymy by Scott, 2005, Cladistics, 21: 531; Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 238.
Pseudarthroleptis Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 158. Type species: Hemimantis calcaratus Peters, 1863, by original designation. Synonymy with Pararthroleptis Ahl, 1925 "1923" (as a subgenus) by Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 203; with Phrynobatrachus by Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 253.
Micrarthroleptis Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 159. Type species: Arthroleptis pygmaeus Ahl, 1925 "1923", by original designation. Considered a subgenus of Phynobatrachus by Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 208. Synonymy with Phrynobatrachus by Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 253.
Common Names
Puddle Frogs (Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 117; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 164; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 302; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 268).
Toad Frogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5).
African River Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 103).
Hook Frogs (Phrynodon [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 104).
African Swamp Frogs (Dimorphognathus [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 98).
Distribution
Africa south of the Sahara, excluding northwestern Rep. South Africa.
Comment
See Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 192-210, and Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 137-144, for generic definition and discussions. See Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 157-172, for species of south-central Africa. Perret, 1988, Arch. Sci., Genève, 41: 275-294, reviewed the species with a spine on the upper eyelid. Rödel, 2000, Herpetofauna W. Afr., 1, discussed the species of the west African savannas and noted that the taxon is in great need of revision. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 302-313, provided a key and accounts for the species of southern Africa, and Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 268-298, provided a key and account for the species of East Africa. Zimkus and Blackburn, 2008, Breviora, 513: 1-12, discussed the external characteristics that separate Phrynobatrachus from Arthroleptis (Arthroleptidae) and provided a data matrix of the species for morphology. Frétey, 2008, Alytes, 25: 99-172, discussed the distinctiveness of Arthroleptis and Phrynobatrachus and provided a nomenclator for both groups. Zimkus, 2009, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 157: 796-813, discussed the biogeography and phylogenetics of Cameroonian species. Zimkus, Rödel, and Hillers, 2010, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 55: 883-900, discussed molecular phylogenetics, ecological and historical biogeography, and discerned three major clades within Phrynobatrachus, for which the name Phrynodon Parker, 1935, is available for their group A, Hemimantis Peters, 1863, for their group B, and Phrynobatrachus Günther, 1862, for their group C. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 218-240, provided accounts and an identification key for the species of Malawi. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 273–284, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Zimkus and Gvoždík, 2013, Zool. Scripta, 42: 591–611, discussed the phylogenetics and biogeography of the Cameroonian highlands. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 312–321, provided accounts and an identification key to the species of southern Africa. Goutte, Reyes-Velasco, and Boissinot, 2019, ZooKeys, 824: 53–70, provided a phylogenetic tree of the species based solely on 16s mtDNA and provided species groups noted in the species records. Larson and Zimkus, 2018, Herpetol. Conserv. Biol., 13: 248, noted what appears to be an unnamed species from Gabon. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 9–11, briefly discussed unnamed species of Phrynobatrachus in western Zambia. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 270–313, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Gvoždík, Nečas, Dolinay, Zimkus, Schmitz, and Fokam, 2020, PeerJ, 8 (e8393): 1–52, discussed the species of the northern Cameroon Volcanic Line of Cameroon and Nigeria, their systematics, morphology, larvae, and life history.
Contained taxa (96 sp.):
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