The Hyperoliidae, or sedge frogs and bush frogs, are a large family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s which contains more than 250

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

in 19

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. Seventeen genera are native to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus ''

Tachycnemis The Seychelle Islands treefrog or Seychelles treefrog (''Tachycnemis seychellensis'') is a species of frog in the family Hyperoliidae. It is endemic to Seychelles. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, rivers, s ...

'' occurs on the Seychelles Islands, and the genus '' Heterixalus'' (currently 10 species) is endemic to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

. Hyperoliids range from in body length. Many species have smooth, brightly patterned skin that almost looks enameled. Most hyperoliids are arboreal, but some are terrestrial, including several ''

Kassina ''Kassina'' is a genus of hyperoliid frogs, commonly referred to as running frogs or kassinas. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. They are characterized by preferring a distinctive "walking" with the back legs instead of the more trad ...

'' species that move by walking or running rather than hopping. Diets vary widely, with examples including '' Paracassina'', which specializes on snails, and '' Afrixalus fornasini'', the only terrestrial frog known to prey on eggs of other species of anurans. Breeding in this family begins at the start of the rainy season, where hyperoliids congregate at breeding sites. Most hyperoliids lay their eggs in water, although foam nesting, tree-hole breeding, and laying of eggs in vegetation above water are all known behaviors. '' Afrixalus'' builds leaf nests for its eggs, by folding and gluing the edges of the leaves.

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

s are pond type larvae with large dorsal fins on their tails. No fossil hyperoliids are known.

Classification

As of mid-2022, there are 17 genera with 224 species, more than half of them in the very species-rich ''Hyperolius'': The genera are divided between three subfamilies, with three genera unplaced. * Subfamily Acanthixalinae Dubois, Ohler & Pyron, 2021 (2 species) ** '' Acanthixalus'' - African wart frogs (2 species) * Subfamily Hyperoliinae Laurent, 1943 (196 species) ** '' Afrixalus'' - banana frogs (35 species) ** '' Congolius'' - Congo frogs (1 species) ** '' Cryptothylax'' - wax frogs (2 species) ** '' Heterixalus'' - Madagascan reed frogs (11 species) ** ''

Hyperolius ''Hyperolius'' (commonly known as the African reed frogs or reed frogs) is a large genus of frogs in the family Hyperoliidae from Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa t ...

'' - African reed frogs (143 species) ** '' Kassinula'' - clicking frogs (1 species) ** '' Morerella'' - blue-eyed frogs (1 species) ** '' Opisthothylax'' - grey-eyed frogs (1 species) ** ''

'' - Seychelles Islands frogs (1 species) * Subfamily Kassininae Laurent, 1972 (23 sp.) ** '' Hylambates'' - African striped frogs (5 species; formerly '' Phlyctimantis) ** ''

'' - running frogs (15 species) ** '' Paracassina'' - common striped frogs (2 species) ** '' Semnodactylus'' - Weal's frogs (1 species) * Subfamily ''incertae sedis'' ** '' Arlequinus'' - Mebebque frogs (1 species) ** '' Callixalus'' - African painted frogs (1 species) ** '' Chrysobatrachus'' - Itombwe golden frogs (1 species)

References

External links

African Tree Frogs Herpetology (images)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q55476 Amphibian families Taxa named by Raymond Laurent Afrotropical realm fauna

Classification

References

Further reading

External links