Chiromantis xerampelina Peters, 1854

Common Names

African Gray Treefrog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 168).

Large Grey Tree Frog (Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 104).

Grey Tree Frog (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 80; Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 182; Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 119; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 34; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 202).

Grey Treefrog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Foam Nest Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 6; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 202).

Foam Nest Treefrog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 16).

Foam Nest Tree Frog (Van den Elzen, 1980, Rev. Fr. Aquar. Herpetol., 7: Insert page 1).

Southern Foam Nest Tree Frog (Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 23; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 202).

Great African Grey Tree Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 202).

Grey Foam-nest Frog (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 139).

African Gray Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 111).

Southern Foam-nest Frog (Boycott and Theron, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 331; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 458; Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 129).

Distribution

Savannas of coastal southeastern Kenya, southwestern Angola (see comment) and northeastern Namibia south to KwaZulu-Natal, Rep. South Africa, northern Mozambique and western and southwestern Botswana and adjacent Rep. South Africa; extreme southern Somalia; likely in extreme southern Dem. Rep. Congo.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Introduced: South Africa

Comment

Discussed by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 157–158, Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 119, and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 375–378. See also account by Van den Elzen, 1980, Rev. Fr. Aquar. Herpetol., 7: 2 p. (who suggested that the species extended to southern Somalia). Auerbach, 1987, Amph. Rept. Botswana: 57, provided a summary account and grid map for Botswana. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 38–39, provided a brief account. Boycott and Theron, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 331–333, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 339–341, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 296–299, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 458–459, provided an account. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 301–303, provided an account for Malawi. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 369–371, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 294–295, provided a brief account and photograph. Ohler and Frétey, 2014, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 103: 103–104, provided a brief discussion of a collection from northern Mozambique. Conradie, Bittencourt-Silva, Engelbrecht, Loader, Menegon, Nanvonamuquitxo, Scott, and Tolley, 2016, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 92: 163–180, reported a population from Mount M'pàluwé, Nampula Province, Mozambique. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 486–487, provided an account, including a polygon range map, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn, and Bauer, 2018, Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 4, 65 (Suppl. II): 162, provided a map for Angola and brief discussion of the literature. Baptista, Conradie, Vaz Pinto, and Branch, 2019, In Huntley, Russo, Lages, and Ferrand (eds.), Biodiversity in Angola: 258, suggested that the record for southwestern Angola required confirmation. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 75, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 13, for comment on population in western Zambia. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 49, provided a photograph, range map, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 210–211, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Spawls, Mazuch, and Mohammad, 2023, Handb. Amph. Rept. NE Afr.: 129–130, provided an account addressing identification, natural history, conservation status, and range, including a dot map. Miguel, Kaiser, Vargas, and Borges-Martins, 2025, Herpetol. Notes, 18: 635–650, reported records from eastern Gilé National Park, eastern Zambesia, Mozambique, and briefly discussed the identification, range, and habitat in Mozambique. Gedow Amira and Hussein Numin, 2026, Checklist Amph. Rept. Somalia, 1st Ed.: 27, detailed the known distribution in Somalia by administrative region (gobol). Kopij, 2026, Biology, 15: 1–27, noted a release in the Western Cape of South Africa, but that but no viable population now found. Kopij, 2026, Biology, 15: 1–27, noted small but inviable populations in the Cape Town region of South Africa.   

External links:

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• For access to general information see Wikipedia
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• For access to relevant technical literature search Google Scholar
• For images search CalPhoto Images and Google Images
• 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 related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist