Frogs in South Africa

[Nick Evans]

These are some of the frogs I have found in KZN, South Africa, this season.

Painted Reed Frog (Hyperolius marmoratus taeniatus)





Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis)




Waterlily Frog (Hyperolis pusilis)




Bronze Caco (Cacosternum nanum)





Greater Leaf-folding Frog (Afrixalus fornasinii)




Delicate Leaf-folding Frog (Afrixalus delicatus)




Natal Tree Frog (Leptopelis natalensis)




Southern Foam-Nest Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina)





Common Platanna (Xenopus laevis)




African or Edible Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis)





Banded Rubber Frogs (Phrynomantis bifasciatus) mating




Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog (Hemisus marmoratus)





Snoring Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus natalensis)




Dwarf Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus mababiensis)






Mascarene Grass Frog (Ptychadena mascareniensis)





Broad-banded Grass Frog (Ptychadena mossambica)





Sharp-nosed Grass Frog (Ptychadena oxyrhynchus)




Common River Frog (Amietia angolensis)






Crab eating a Bubbling Kassina (Kassina Senegalensis)





Guttural Toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis)

[flybyferns]

Thank You for sharing
These are great !
I love the Natal

[tgampper]

Hi Nick, welcome to Frog Forum Great album of photos you have. South African amphibians have always interested me. I worked at a zoo and cared for a variety of African and Madagascar frogs. There is another FF member from KZN (bugboy99). World like to hear more stories from the field.

[deranged chipmunk]

very cool. thanks for sharing Nick. excellent pics. i love the one of the banded rubber frogs. i have one myself, very cool frogs

[Nick Evans]

Thanks, glad you like the photos.

[BugBoy99]

Hello Nick, and welcome

I like your photos. I've tried the whole photography thing myself, but I'm more interested in the rearing of amphibians.

I don't know if you are interested in crabs, but the crab eating your Kassina, is a species of Potamonautes(African Freshwater Crab), probably P. warreni.

Sincerely,
Joh

[Nick Evans]

Hi Joh

Thanks a lot! Are there many different species of freshwater crabs in KZN?

[exasperatus2002]

Great pics! I used to own Kassina maculata. Its a nice frog. chocolate brown with black circles and orange-red on the legs.

[GrifTheGreat]

Wow!!! Gorgeous photos!!! I wish I could do more field work like that. It never fails to amaze me how many beautiful species of Frogs and Toads that are out there in different countries. Thank you for sharing!!

[BugBoy99]

Hi Nick, I believe that there are 8 species of Potamonautes in SA. Not sure, but it is somewhere between 8 and 12 species. However, P. warreni and P. sidneyi are most common in KZN, and P. sidneyi has a white stripe over its carapace, so I'm guessing that it is a P. warreni. This is an interesting genus of crabs, because it fills the niche that is filled by crayfish in the New World, and it is also the only genus of freshwater crab found in South Africa.

[Nick Evans]

Thanks

I saw Kassina maculata recently, unfortunately I didn't get a photo!

Joh, I'll look a bit more carefully when I see a crab now, and try to identify it!

[BugBoy99]

Please do! Whereabouts in KZN are you located? You might live close by.

[Nick Evans]

I live in Durban. I see you're in Northern KZN, lot's of frogs there! Most of the frog photos I posted were in Hluhluwe, on a game farm called Hakuna Matata. Great spot.

[BugBoy99]

Oh, I've never actually been to Hluhluwe, but I hear that its quite interesting. Most of my frog and toad tads, are just caught in random places with lots of water. There's a nice little stream nearby, and then the opportunistic breeders breed in the puddles. I caught some Ptychadena tads in a puddle just the other day.

Thanks for the photos, I hope you feel very welcome here, and become a regular contributor in our frogging community.

[Nick Evans]

Thanks I'll try to post more!

[Heatheranne]

Hi Nick. Beautiful Frogs! Great photography! It's nice to see frogs I've not ever been introduced to. So pretty. I'd love to have one of each .

Nice to meet you and welcome. Thank you for sharing .

[Heatheranne]

P.S. You should make a calendar or post cards, truly .

[Nick Evans]

Thanks Heather I made a calendar for family members with these photos!

[Nick Evans]

Just thought I would add this photo to the post. It's two male Greater Leaf-folding Frogs (Afrixalus fornasinii) pushing each other off a leaf! They weren't very close so I had to zoom in, that's why the photo is a bit blurred. I had never seen this kind of behavior before.

[Heatheranne]

Awe .

Any chance you'll be selling calendars in the future?

You are so lucky to have so many pretty species near by.