Hyperolius nitidulus
Summary 2
Hyperolius nitidulus is a species of frog in the Hyperoliidae family. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, possibly Chad, possibly Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly Guinea-Bissau, possibly Liberia, possibly Mauritania, possibly Niger, and possibly Togo. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical...
Description 3
This species measures 23-29 mm in SVL for adult males and 24-32 mm for adult females (Lampert 2001). Hyperolius have horizontally elliptical pupils and narrow heads with a blunt snout (Adler and Halliday 2002). The body shape is slender and half-cylindrical with long thin limbs (Kobelt and Linsenmair 1995). Skin folds are present, allowing frogs to hide their feet underneath while aestivating (Geise and Linsenmair 1986). Fingers and toes have circummarginal discs. Males have a median subgular vocal sac (Lampert 2001).
Adults exhibit metachrosis (change in color) with coloration varying throughout the day, in response to factors such as temperature, humidity, light intensity, and stress (Adler and Halliday 2002). At night, H. nitidulus are uniformly beige (Lampert 2001). During the day, the skin color varies between beige and bright colors like yellow and orange, with dark markings present on the flanks (Lampert 2001).
Juveniles are beige in ground color and display a dark lateral stripe along the body from snout to vent (Lampert 2001). During the dry season, juveniles become white when they aestivate and the skin on the inside of their limbs becomes red due to the underlying capillary network (Geise and Linsenmair 1986).
Member of the Hyperolius viridiflavus superspecies and also treated under that name (see H. viridiflavus account for description). Sometimes regarded as a separate species.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Marco Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Marco Schmidt
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperolius_nitidulus
- (c) AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2015 The Regents of the University of California, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/34269141
