Hyperolius adspersus Peters, 1877

Lobón-Rovira, Javier, Lobón-Rovira, Baptista, Ninda L, Clark, Tyron, Verburgt, Luke, Jongsma, Gregory Fm, Conradie, Werner, and, Luis Veríssimo, Vaz, Pedro & Pinto, 2025, Filling the gaps: herpetological checklist of Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province (Angola) shed light on one of the most unexplored corners of tropical Central Africa, African Journal of Herpetology 74 (1), pp. 1-59 : 1-59

Hyperolius adspersus Peters, 1877

Figure 6G

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Tando Zinze ; –5.3241, 12.5073; 29 m a.s.l.; FKH 0583–84 , FKH 0693 ; GenBank: PQ455732–34.

Identification. Hyperolius adspersus is part of a larger H. nasutus species complex of small (SVL = 19−23 mm) green reed frogs with highly conserved morphology and basal to many Hyperolius species ( Channing et al. 2013). In Angola, the group consisting of ‘little green frogs’ remains unresolved, comprising four highly divergent clades, two of which can be confidently ascribed to H. nasutus and H. benguellensis as they include topotypic material ( Baptista 2024). Quite a lot of structure is present within Angolan H. nasutus , but with genetic distance between different lineages below 2% (16S p-distance) ( Baptista 2024). Hyperolius adspersus was originally described from Chinchoxo, Cabinda Province ( Peters, 1877). The material reported here clusters with material of H. adspersus from Plain of Vera (15 km SE Gamba), Gabon (GenBank: JQ863695 ), from which it differs by 1.2% (16S p -distance). However, it also differs from the topotypic material of H. nasutus from Calandula (GenBank: JQ863641 ) by 1.9%, thus raising doubts about the taxonomic status of H. adspersus .

Biology and distribution. Hyperolius adspersus is known to occur in the western lowlands of Central Africa, north of the Congo River ( Channing et al. 2013). The only specimen collected in this study was found on vegetation near water in highly impacted farmland habitat.

Figures

Figure 6. Species of the family Hyperoliidae recorded from Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province, Angola. Codes in brackets represent field numbers. A. Afrixalus aff. dorsalis (P2.068) from Sanga Mongo, B. Mbundu (P3.127), Lower Mayombe and C. Tando Zinze (P1.150). D. Afrixalus osorioi (P3.175) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe. E. Afrixalus paradorsalis (P3.520) from Sanga Wanda, Lower Mayombe and F. Vaku (P2.060), Upper Mayombe. G. Hyperolius adspersus (P1.147) from Tando Zinze. H. Female Hyperolius ocellatus (P9.062) from South of Dinge and I. male H. ocellatus from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe (P2.078) J. Hyperolius olivaceus (P3.173), K. (P2.222) and L. (P2.227) from Miconge, Upper Mayombe, and M. (P3.205) from Lower Mayombe. N. Hyperolius parallelus (P1.298) from Tando Zinze. O. Male Hyperolius pardalis (P3.143) from Chimbete, Lower Mayombe, and P. females of H. pardalis from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe (P2.083) and Q. from South of Dinge (P9.058). R. Hyperolius platyceps (P2.067) and S. (P2.102) from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe. T. Hylambates leonardi (P2.095) in amplexus, from Sanga Mongo, Lower Mayombe. Photographs by PVP (A–I, K–M, O–T), JLR (J) and TB (G, N).