Hyperolius olivaceus Peters, 1876

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 olivaceus Peters, 1876

Figures 6J–M

Material. ANGOLA – Cabinda Province • Caio Cacongo; –5.0618, 12.2588; 43 m a.s.l. ; P2.109; GenBank: PQ455758. • Lagoa Massabi; –5.0603, 12.0488; 10 m a.s.l.; P2.121; GenBank: PQ455759. • Fazenda Mandarim; –5.0553, 12.0610; 14 m a.s.l.; P4.079−80; GenBank: PQ455756–57. • Tando Zinze; –5.3241, 12.5073; 29 m a.s.l.; P1.139, FKH 0585 , FKH 0694 ; GenBank: PQ455760–62. • Mayombe NP, Sanga Mongo; –4.6661, 12.4407; 146 m a.s.l. ; FKH 0952 , FKH 0964−65 , P2.087−88, P2.092−93; GenBank: PQ455763–69. • Mayombe NP, Mbundu; –4.6875, 12.4981; 127 m a.s.l. ; FKH 1235 , P4.097; GenBank: PQ455770, PQ455774. • Mayombe NP, Chilito Mbundu; –4.7280, 12.50681; 85 m a.s.l. ; P3.541; GenBank: PQ455771. • Mayombe NP, Sanga Wanda; –4.6253, 12.4583; 221 m a.s.l.; FKH 1263 ; GenBank: PQ455772. • Mayombe NP, Bata Lunhuca; –4.5981, 12.4597; 215 m a.s.l. ; P4.094; GenBank: PQ455773. • Mayombe NP, Miconge; –4.4860, 12.8780; 377 m a.s.l.; FKH 1055 , FKH 1059−60 , P3.173; GenBank: PQ455775–78. • Mayombe NP, Vaku; –4.6323, 12.8937; 319 m a.s.l. ; FKH 0925−26 , FKH 0944 ; GenBank: PQ455779–81. • Mayombe NP, Lombe River , Vaku; –4.6403, 12.935; 269 m a.s.l. ; P3.161; GenBank: PQ455782.

Identification. A medium-sized reed frog (SVL = 28−33 mm) which can display polymorphic colour patterns. Most specimens from Cabinda Province are rather large, do not display sexual dimorphism, and are typically bright green-yellow at night ( Figure 6J ), turning darker green during the day, with bright red inner thighs ( Figure 6K ). Some male specimens may be orangey to dark brown ( Figure 6L ), and rarely some morphs are mottled displaying a dorsal hourglass pattern resembling that of H. platyceps ( Figure 6M ). Material recovered from the study area is genetically identical (16S p -distance) to material from Lekoumou and Kouilou, Republic of the Congo (GenBank: KY080172, KY080174 ), while only differing by 1.5% (16S p -distance) from material from Sahoue, Gabon (Genbank: KY080177 ), ∼ 150 km from the type locality .

Biology and distribution. The species is distributed from Equatorial Guinea to northern Angola ( Channing and Rödel 2019; Ernst et al. 2020). In Cabinda Province, H. olivaceus is the most abundant species of Hyperolius and was recorded in almost all sites surveyed, and across all four ecological zones considered. The species was found in many different habitats, from mangroves (sea level) to highly disturbed savannah and farmland, to moist rainforest at higher elevations (above 300 m a.s.l.). It was also recorded in sympatry with all the other Hyperolius reported in this work.

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).