Hylambates Duméril, 1853

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Hyperoliidae > Subfamily: Kassininae > Genus: Hylambates
5 species

Hylambates Duméril, 1853, Ann. Sci. Nat., Paris, Ser. 3, 19: 162. Type species: Hylambates maculatus Duméril, 1853, by monotypy. See comment. 

Phlyctimantis Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 274. Type species: Hylambates leonardi Boulenger, 1906 "1905", by original designation. Synonymy by Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 223. (Unfortunately I could not find the misrepresentation of what these authors claimed was in ASW, but they are correct on this point–DRF). 

PhlyctimantisDubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 38. Treatment as a subgenus of Kassina.

English Names

African Striped Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 69).

Wot-wots (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 212).

Distribution

Southern Tanzania; Liberia east to Ivory Coast and in eastern Nigeria, western Cameroon, and Bioko (Equatorial Guinea), and rainforest in Dem. Rep. Congo; absent in apparently suitable habitats in Togo, Benin, and western Nigeria.

Comment

Schiøtz, 1967, Spolia Zool. Mus. Haun., 25: 96, doubted the distinctiveness of this genus from Kassina, but Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1–70, treated it as valid and the sister-taxon of Kassina + Kassinula + Paracassina (as Tornierella). Phlyctimantis was regarded as a subgenus of Kassina by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 38. Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116–131, discussed the phylogenetic position of this taxon on the basis of a parsimony analysis (Phlyctimantis (Kassina (Paracassina + Semnodactylus))); see Hyperoliidae account for more information on phylogenetics. See Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 316–323, for accounts of the species. Laurent, 1976, Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Cent., Tervuren, Ser. Octavo, Sci. Zool., 213: 18–30, provided accounts for the species in Congo. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 212–214, provided a key and accounts for the East African species. Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 107–127. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 245–248, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 132–135, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species. Hylambates had been placed in the synonymy of Kassina by Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 271, but recognized as distinct by Laurent and Combaz, 1950, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 43: 274. Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 223, noted that Hylambates has priority over Phlyctimantis

Contained taxa (5 sp.):

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