Summary ⁵

Hyperolius tuberilinguis is a species of frog in the Hyperoliidae family. It is found in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, water storage areas, and ponds. It is...

Description ⁶

A rather large Hyperolius (males 25-33 mm, females 30-35 mm) from the eastern lowlands of Africa with a long snout. Pupil horizontal. Dorsum uniform green or yellowish with an indistinct hourglass pattern. The southern populations especially can be separated into a phase J, straw-coloured with hourglass-pattern, and a uniform light tan to lemon yellow or light green phase F.

Although lacking distinctive characters adult H. tuberilinguis are easily recognisable among the east African lowland fauna by their pointed snout. H. tuberilinguis is quite similar to H. kivuensis, met further inland in eastern Africa, but the latter has a more pointed snout and a conspicuous dark lateral band.There is a great similarity in morphology, voice and "general appearance" between H. concolor, H. balfouri, H. kivuensis and H. tuberilinguis. They can be regarded as members of the same superspecies (Schiøtz 1975).

The tadpole reaches a length of up to 46 mm (14+32) with a tooth formula of 1/3. It is brown with golden and bronze spots on the light underside.

This species shows developmental changes in patterning, with two phases, J (juveniles and many mature males) and F (mature females and some mature males). All newly metamorphosed individuals are phase J, which is normally brownish to green with paired light dorsolateral lines, or an hourglass pattern. All females, and some males, develop into phase F before the first breeding season. Phase F is often colorful and variable, showing the diagnostic color characteristics for the species or subspecies. Either well-defined morphs may be present, or graded variation.

This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Phil Bishop, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hyperolius_tuberilinguis.jpg
2. (c) bryanmaritz, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by bryanmaritz
3. (c) shivanparusnath, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
4. (c) Ryanvanhuyssteen, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Hyperolius-tuberilinguis-.jpg
5. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperolius_tuberilinguis
6. (c) AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2015 The Regents of the University of California, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/34269234

More Info

• iNat taxon page
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• AmphibiaWeb
• Animal Diversity Web
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• HerpMapper
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