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

Strongylopus grayii (Smith, 1849)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Strongylopus > Species: Strongylopus grayii

Rana grayii Smith, 1849, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Part 28): pl. 78, fig. 2. Holotype: possibly in BMNH although not mentioned specifically by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 54. Type locality: "western districts of the Cape Colony, and even close to Cape Town", Rep. South Africa. Placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology by Opinion 713, Anonymous, 1964, Bull. Zool. Nomencl., 21: 352.

Strongylopus grayi — Steindachner, 1867, Reise Österreichischen Fregatte Novara, Zool., Amph.: 21; Van Dijk, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 259.

Rana grayi var. dorsalis Werner, 1910, Denkschr. Med. Naturwiss. Ges. Jena, 16: 297. Syntypes: Collection not noted. Type locality: "Tafelberg bei Kapstadt" and "Tafelbai" [Cape Town area, Rep. South Africa]. Synonymy by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 113.

Rana grayi grayi — Hewitt, 1933, Occas. Pap. Natl. Mus. S. Rhodesia, 6: 12.

Dicroglossus grayi — Deckert, 1938, Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1938: 138.

Strongylopus grayii grayii — Van Dijk, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 259, by implication; Channing, 1979, Ann. Natal Mus., 23: 797–831; Channing, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 334; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 346.

Rana grayii grayii — Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 138.

Rana (Stronglylopus) grayii — Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233, by implication; Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 50; Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 334.

Strongylopus springbokensis Channing, 1986, Ann. Cape Prov. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 16: 128. Holotype: PEM A963, by original designation. Type locality: "Springbok in Namaqualand", Western Cape Province, Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Channing, Schmitz, Zancolli, Conradie, and Rödel, 2022, Rev. Suisse Zool., 129: 243.

Rana (Stronglylopus) springbokensis — Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 334.

Common Names

Gray's Grass Frog (Hewitt, 1937, Guide Vert. Fauna E. Cape Province, Rept. Amph. Fishes: 96; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 34; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 138;).

Spotted Rana (Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 1428; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 138).

Clicking Stream Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 138; Channing, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 311-312; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 424).

Gray's Frog (Rose, 1950, Rep. Amph. S. Afr.: 36; Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 162; Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 40; Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 138).

Gray's Spotted Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 107).

Gray's Stream Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 356).

Springbok Frog (Stronglyopus sprinbokensis [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 109).

Namaqua Stream Frog (Stronglyopus sprinbokensis [no longer recognized]: Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 360; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 428).

Distribution

South of the Limpopo River in the south, southwest, and east of Rep. South Africa; Lesotho; Naukluft, central Namibia (possibly introduced and possibly now extinct); records on the Botswana borders of South Africa require confirmation; introduced on St. Helena I.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa

Likely/Controversially Present: Botswana

Introduced: Namibia, Saint Helena

Comment

See Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 136–137, who suggested that the features of Rana grayii rhodesiana (now Strongylopus rhodesianus) were due either to introgression with Rana fasciata, or a close relationship to it. Channing, 1986, Ann. Cape Prov. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 16: 128, summarized adult morphology and call (as Srongylopus springbokensis. See account by Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 98–100, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 353 (as both Stronglyopus grayii and Strongylopus springbokensis), Bauer and Branch, 2001, Herpetol. Nat. Hist., 8: 125, who commented on the range in western South Africa, Channing, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 311–316 (as both Stronglyopus grayii and Strongylopus springbokensis), Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 90–91, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 424–429 (as both Stronglyopus grayii and Strongylopus springbokensis). Barbour, 1934, Copeia, 1934: 183, noted the St. Helena population. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 225–226, commented on the St. Helena population as well. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 135–137, discussed the species in Lesotho. Tolley, Braae, and Cunningham, 2010, Afr. J. Herpetol., 59: 17–32, reported on molecular phylogeography and the likelihood that this nominal taxon is composed of at least two species. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, in their study of Genbank sequences, but excluding RAG-2, found Strongylopus grayii to be imbedded within Amietia, while van der Meijden, Crottini, Tarrant, Turner, and Vences, 2011, Afr. J. Herpetol., 60: 1–12, employing somewhat more sequence (RAG-2), found Strongylopus grayii to be well within Strongylopus. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status (as Strongylopus springbokensis) in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 516. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 352–355, provided information on comparative larval morphology (as Strongylopus grayii and Strongylopus springbokensis). Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 452–453 (as Stronglyopus grayii), 456–457 (as Strongylopus springbokensis) provided accounts, including polygon range maps, photographs, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 70, provided a photograph, Zululand regional maps, and a brief account of life history and identification. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 360–363, provided brief accounts (as Strongylopus sprinkbokensis and Strongylopus grayii), photographs, and range maps. Channing, Schmitz, Zancolli, Conradie, and Rödel, 2022, Rev. Suisse Zool., 129: 243–281, reported on molecular phylogenetics, morphology, distribution, and advertisement call. Dorse and Dorse, 2023, Field Guide Fynbos Fauna: 50–51, provided a brief account, polygon range map fo the Cape region of South Africa, and photograph.

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For access to general information see Wikipedia
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To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
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.