Mozambique Forest Tree Frog
Leptopelis mossambicus
Summary 2
The Mossambique forest tree frog, Leptopelis mossambicus, is a species of frog in the Hyperoliidae family found in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and possibly Botswana. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grasslands, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grasslands, swamps, freshwater marshes, and intermittent freshwater marshes. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Description 3
A large Leptopelis (males up to 52 mm, females to 63 mm) from south-eastern Africa, with moderately developed digital discs. Reduced webbing between toes, virtually none between fingers. Inner metatarsal tubercle large, more then 80% of length of inner toe. Horizontal diameter of tympanum more than half the diameter of eye. Dorsum brown with a conspicuous 'n' shaped dark dorsal pattern. This pattern is less evident and may be absent in northern specimens. Sometimes a dark patch over the eye. Males with pectoral glands. Juveniles uniform green.
The tadpole is dark and elongated, up to 60 mm (18+42) in length. Tooth formula 1,3+3/3.
In 1985 when Poynton described this species he referred a bewildering array of hitherto mis-identified forms to his new taxon, namely L. johnstoni (Parker 1930), L. concolor (Poynton 1964, Wager 1965), L. cinnamomeus (Poynton 1966, Schiøtz 1975, with reservations), L. lebeaui (Stevens 1974, Schiøtz 1975, with reservations).
This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Nick Schaller, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Nick Schaller
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptopelis_mossambicus
- (c) AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2015 The Regents of the University of California, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/34269725
