Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference

Hyperoliinae Laurent, 1943, Bull. Mus. R. Hist. Nat. Belg., 19: 16. Type genus: Hyperolius Rapp, 1842.

Hyperoliidae — Laurent, 1951, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 45: 119.

Hyperoliini — Laurent, 1972, Copeia, 1972: 201.

Kassinini Laurent, 1972, Copeia, 1972: 201. Type genus: Kassina Girard, 1853. Synonymy by Vences, Kosuch, Glaw, Böhme, and Veith, 2003, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 41: 212.

Kassininae — Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 261.

Kassinini — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 34.

Tachycneminae Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 127. Type genus: Tachycnemis Fitzinger, 1843. Synonymy by Vences, Kosuch, Glaw, Böhme, and Veith, 2003, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 41: 212.

Incertae Sedis

Rappia nobrei Ferreira, 1906, J. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat., Lisboa, Ser. 2, 7: 112. Syntypes: MUP (2 specimens) by original designation. Type locality: "Cabiri", Angola.

English Names

African Reed Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 65).

Tree Frogs (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: v).

Reed Frogs (former Hyperoliinae: Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 156).

Pan Frogs (former Kassininae: Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 151).

Running Frogs (former Kassininae: Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 151).

Distribution

Africa and nearby islands south of the Sahara; Madagascar; Seychelles Is. in the Indian Ocean.

Comment

As conceived by Laurent, 1951, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 45: 119, Hyperoliidae contained Astylosterninae, Arthroleptinae, Hemisotinae (as Hemisinae), Hyperoliinae, and, provisionally, Scaphiophryninae. See discussion of previous taxonomy under Arthroleptidae. Liem, 1970, Fieldiana, Zool., 57: 1-145, suggested that Hyperoliidae was derived from an ancestor in Astylosterninae but retained Astylosterninae (as well as Arthroleptinae) in Ranidae. Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1-70, found hyperoliids to be monophyletic but did not support a phylogenetic relationship with the astylosternines or arthroleptines. Until the revision by Liem, Hyperoliidae was included by most authors as a subfamily in Rhacophoridae. See Laurent, 1972, Copeia, 1972: 198-201, for a summary of the taxonomic and nomenclatural history of this group and related ones, to that time. Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 225-284, provided a subfamilial classification of hyperoliids. Drewes, 1984, Occas. Pap. California Acad. Sci., 139: 1-70, did not agree with that subfamilial classification on phylogenetic grounds; he considered Afrixalus to be closely related to Hyperolius, Acanthixalus to be close to the Hyperoliinae, and Nesionixalus (formerly in Leptopelinae; see comment under Hyperolius) to be a synonym of Hyperolius (Hyperoliinae). Drewes also supplied generic synonymies and diagnoses. Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 129, included Afrixalus in Hyperoliinae on the basis of vocal apparatus, webbing, and tadpole morphology. Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116, placed Afrixalus and Kassinula in Hyperoliinae (rather than the Kassininae of earlier authors), and erected a new subfamily, Tachycneminae, for Tachycnemis. The classification of Channing, 1989, S. Afr. J. Zool., 24: 116-131, is followed here, along with more recent taxonomic innovations. Accounts and keys to most of the genera are supplied by Laurent, 1986, in Grassé and Delsol (eds.), Traite de Zool., 14, and by Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.; Schiøtz, 1967, Spolia Zool. Mus. Haun., 25: 1-346 (for West Africa), and Schiøtz, 1975, Treefrogs E. Afr.: 1-232. Dubois, 1999, Alytes, 17: 90-91, provided tables of generic and family-group name priorities that will be very helpful to those attempting nomenclatural revisions. Emerson, Richards, Drewes, and Kjer, 2000, Herpetologica, 56: 209-230, suggested that Hyperoliidae was diphyletic, with Leptopelis being distantly related to the remaining taxa, and with arthroleptids within this larger group. Vences, Kosuch, Glaw, Böhme, and Veith, 2003, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 41: 205-213, noted that Leptopelinae is imbedded in Astylosternidae, and placed Kassininae and Tachycneminae in Hyperoliinae. Vences, Vieites, Glaw, Brinkmann, Kosuch, Veith, and Meyer, 2003, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B, Biol. Sci., 270: 2349, provided additional morphological evidence for polyphyly of a taxon composed of Leptopelinae and Hyperoliinae. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 127-208, provided keys and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Vences, Kosuch, Glaw, Böhme, and Veith, 2003, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 41: 205-215, redefined the subfamily to include all members of the former Hyperoliinae, Kassininae, and Tachycneminae due to the paraphyly of the first two. Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297, reviewed taxonomic history, provided a phylogenetic hypothesis and considered Hyperoliidae as the sister taxon of Arthroleptidae, and together the sister taxon of Brevicipitidae and Hemisotidae. Vitt and Caldwell, 2009, Herpetology, 3rd Ed.: 471, provided a general taxonomic account and map as part of a much more general and extensive overview of amphibian biology. Rödel, Kosuch, Grafe, Boistel, Assemian, Kouamé, Tohé, Gourène, Perret, Henle, Tafforeau, Pollet, and Veith, 2009, Zootaxa, 2044: 23-45, reported on uncertainty in hyperoliid relationships based on molecular data. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543-583, in their study of Genbank sequences, confirmed the placement of Hyperoliidae as the sister taxon of Arthroleptidae and they provided a large tree of estimate phylogenetic relationships within the family: Cryptothylax + (("Kassina" + Semnodactylus + Phlyctimantis) +(Acanthixalus + (Opisthothylax + (Hyperolius + (Morella + (Afrixalus + (Tachycnemis + Heterixalus))))))). Blackburn and Wake, 2011, In Zhang (ed.), Zootaxa, 3148, 3148: 39-55, briefly reviewed the taxonomic history of this taxon. Conradie, Branch, Measey, and Tolley, 2012, Zootaxa, 3269: 1-17, reported on a molecular tree for about 30 species of Hyperolius.

Contained taxa

• Acanthixalus Laurent, 1944 (2 sp.)
• Afrixalus Laurent, 1944 (31 sp.)
• Alexteroon Perret, 1988 (3 sp.)
• Arlequinus Perret, 1988 (1 sp.)
• Callixalus Laurent, 1950 (1 sp.)
• Chrysobatrachus Laurent, 1951 (1 sp.)
• Cryptothylax Laurent and Combaz, 1950 (2 sp.)
• Heterixalus Laurent, 1944 (11 sp.)
• Hyperolius Rapp, 1842 (131 sp.)
• Kassina Girard, 1853 (16 sp.)
• Kassinula Laurent, 1940 (1 sp.)
• Morerella Rödel, Kosuch, Grafe, Boistel, and Veith, 2009 (1 sp.)
• Opisthothylax Perret, 1966 (1 sp.)
• Paracassina Peracca, 1907 (2 sp.)
• Phlyctimantis Laurent and Combaz, 1950 (4 sp.)
• Semnodactylus Hoffman, 1939 (1 sp.)
• Tachycnemis Fitzinger, 1843 (1 sp.)

External Links

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• To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank