Hyperolius lamottei Laurent, 1958

Lamotte’s Reed Frog

Material: One female, NGK-Nimba 0074 (Fig. 9E), and two males, NGK-Nimba 0081 (Fig. 9F), NGK-Nimba 0082 .

Comments: Hyperolius lamottei is a savannah frog with a patchy distribution, preferring low grass habitats, often in higher altitude, e.g., granite inselbergs in central-southern Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone to Senegal (Arnoult and Lamotte 1958; Lamotte 1969, 1971; Schiøtz 1967; Rödel et al. 2004). Recently, it was reported for the first time from Burkina Faso (Ayoro et al. 2020). In Ivory Coast, the species was recorded from the Lamto Faunal Reserve (Schiøtz 1967) and the Mount Péko National Park (Rödel and Ernst 2003). However, more recently Adeba et al. (2010) failed to re-detect the species in Lamto. We found H. lamottei in large numbers in grassy montane pasture (07°35.258’N, 008°25.052’W; 821 m asl). The species was only active during the rainy season, when males and females became active after sunset. They spent the night perching on high grasses which covered a flooded iron-oxide quartzite ground. During the daytime all frogs hid within the dense herbaceous vegetation. Body size of males ranged from 17.5–19.0 mm (N = 4), females measured 21.5–23.5 mm (N = 3). Color pattern was variable, but within the range described by Schiøtz (1967).