Arthroleptella Hewitt, 1926

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Arthroleptella
10 species

Arthroleptella Hewitt, 1926, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., 20: 426. Type species: Arthroleptis lightfooti Boulenger, 1910, by original designation.

Arthroleptella — Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 208. Consideration as a subgenus of Phrynobatrachus.

English Names

Chirping Frogs (Rose, 1950, Rep. Amph. S. Afr.: 104; Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 71; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 6; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 190).

Bandit Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 98).

Moss Frogs (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 274; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 346).

Distribution

Western and Eastern Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal, Rep. South Africa.

Comment

Channing, Hendricks, and Dawood, 1994, S. Afr. J. Zool., 29: 240–243, briefly discussed phylogenetic relationships and differences among the four species of the western Cape region. Regarded as a subgenus of Phrynobatrachus by Laurent, 1941, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 34: 192–234. Dawood and Channing, 2000, J. Herpetol., 34: 375–379, provided a discussion of the phylogeny of the species. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 274–284, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 346–361, provided keys and accounts of the species. Turner, De Villiers, Dawood, and Channing, 2004, Afr. J. Herpetol., 53: 1–12, provided a cladogram based on mtDNA which provided the topology: (Arthroleptella lightfooti + Arthroleptella villiersi) ((Arthroleptella bicolor + Arthroleptella subvoce)(Arthroleptella drewesii + Arthroleptella landdrosia + Arthroleptella unnamed species)). Turner and Channing, 2008, Afr. J. Herpetol., 57: 1–12, also provided a molecular tree that included the new species Arthroleptella rugosa close to Arthroleptella lightfooti and Arthroleptella villiersi. Dawood and Stam, 2006, S. Afr. J. Sci., 102: 249–253, discussed the phylogenetics of the taxon. See comment under Anhydrophryne. van der Meijden, Crottini, Tarrant, Turner, and Vences, 2011, Afr. J. Herpetol., 60: 1–12, suggested that Arthroleptella is the sister taxon of Natalobatrachus, a result confirmed by Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583. Turner and Channing, 2017, Afr. J. Herpetol., 66: 53–78, provided a Bayesian molecular consensus tree of the relationships within Arthroleptella. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 364–367, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. 

Contained taxa (10 sp.):

Arthroleptella atermina Turner and Channing, 2017
Arthroleptella bicolor Hewitt, 1926
Arthroleptella draconella Turner and Channing, 2017
Arthroleptella drewesii Channing, Hendricks, and Dawood, 1994
Arthroleptella kogelbergensis Turner and Channing, 2017
Arthroleptella landdrosia Dawood and Channing, 2000
Arthroleptella lightfooti (Boulenger, 1910)
Arthroleptella rugosa Turner and Channing, 2008
Arthroleptella subvoce Turner, de Villiers, Dawood, and Channing, 2004
Arthroleptella villiersi Hewitt, 1935

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