Red Banded Rubber Frog Yellow Variation

[tgampper]

I didn't realize that the stripes were of different colors either. All I have seen were red. Here are some notes:

From Passmore and Carruthers (South African Frogs): "The pattern is fairly consistant although some variation is found in the degree of ventro-lateral mottling and the dorso-lateral stripes are sometimes broken. Lighting conditions and attitude bring about considerable colour changes. The black ground colour can take on a gold sheen and dorsal markings change from deep crimson to almost white."

Does this mean that they can change color based on their "mood" and environmental conditions or are they referring to populations that display different colors?

From du Preez and Carruthers (A Complete Guide to the Frogs of Southern Africa): "...bands and spots varying from deep crimson to almost white."

From Channing and Howell (Amphibians of East Africa): "The back has an orange or red patch above the vent, and two broad bands of the same color..."

From Channing (Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa): see Channing and Howell.

Hope this helps and I would love to see pictures of the yellow variation. I really like these frogs and considering getting one for my collection.

Here is a picture I scanned from du Preeze and Carruthers. This frog is also from Swaziland. I wonder if the yellow variation is more common in northeastern South Africa and southeastern Botswana and Mozambique (just a guess).