Hopping into the weekend with FROG FRIDAY!! This beautiful green critter is a Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis). This stunning frog is a species of low-altitude savannah woodland, bush land, grassland and thicket, often occurring in coastal habitats. It adapts to some altered habitats, including certain types of farmland, golf courses and parks. It breeds in reed beds on the periphery of swamps and rivers, as well as dense vegetation around pans, temporary pools and dams.
The Tinker Reed Frog is a large reed frog with a broad head and a sharply pointed snout. Most individuals are solid yellow, tan or near translucent green, but some may be marked with a faint hourglass figure on the dorsum or a light triangle between the eyes. The throat is bright yellow in males and pale yellow in females. The insides of the legs are red.
The Tinker Reed Frog ranges from Lake Mbaratumu in south-central Kenya, through eastern and southern Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe, to Swaziland to KwaZulu-Natal Province in eastern South Africa, south as far as Port Edward. It is a low-altitude species that is recorded up to 1,000 m above sea level in Tanzania.
Have you seen this frog?? Then please submit your photos to FrogMAP.
Reference: Minter, L.R., Burger, M., Harrison, J.A., Braack, H.H., Bishop, P.J. and Knoepfer, D. 2004. Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. SI/MAB Series No. 9, Washington, D.C.
Frog Fridays celebrate the amazing diversity of frogs and toads in the southern African region. Click here to learn more about Frog Friday and the Animal Demography Unit.