AmphibiaWeb - Hyperolius olivaceus
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Hyperolius olivaceus Peters, 1876
Olive Reed Frog
family: Hyperoliidae
genus: Hyperolius
Species Description: Peters, W. C. H. (1876). "Eine zweite Mittheilung über die von Hrn. Professor Dr. R. Buchholz in Westafrica gesammelten Amphibien." Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1876: 117–123.
 
Taxonomic Notes: Resurrected from subspecies status in Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris by: Bell, R.C., Parra, J.L., Badjedjea, G., Barej, M.F., Blackburn, D.C., Burger, M., Channing, A., Dehling, J.M., Greenbaum, E., Gvozdik, V., Kielgast, J., Kusamba, C., Loetters, S., McLaughlin, P.J., Nagy, Z., Roedel, M.-O., Portik, D.M., Stuart, B.L., VanDerWal, J., Zassi-Boulou, A.G., Zamudio, K.R. (2017). "Idiosyncratic responses to climate-driven forest fragmentation and marine incursions in reed frogs from Central Africa and the Gulf of Guinea Islands." Molecular Ecology 26, 5223–5244 doi:10.1111/mec.14260

© 2017 Rayna Bell (1 of 1)
Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None

   

 

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Description
Hyperolius olivaceus is a small to medium-sized Hyperolius with a male snout-vent length of 19 – 28 mm and a female snout-vent length of 19 – 27 mm. Males have a rather small gular flap. The pupil is horizontal (Bell pers. communication).

Hyperolius olivaceus can be differentiated from other reed frogs of the region based on coloration, ecological niche, and genetics. More specifically, H. olivaceus is sexually dichromatic (females are green and males are tan with bright yellow dorsolateral lines) while H. drewesi and H. veithi are sexually monochromatic (H. drewesi is green and H. veithi are tan with bright yellow dorsolateral lines, respectively). Hyperolius olivaceus is smaller (19 – 28 mm snout-vent length) than H. thomensis (36 – 41 mm snout-vent length), and H. thomensis has a marbled black/orange belly, while H. olivaceus has a uniform white belly. Hyperolius molleri differs from H. olivaceus by the former having an red/orange coloration on the dorsal and ventral sides of the thigh (Bell 2016). Hyperolius olivaceus can be differentiated from H. cinnamomeoventris, from which it was split, by geography and the environmental niche it occupies. Hyperolius olivaceus are found in lower Guinean forest while H. cinnamomeoventris are found in Congolian forests (Bell et al. 2017).

In life, males are brownish to green, usually with a white to tan dorsolateral line. The females have a uniform green dorsum delimited from the white ventrum by an irregular black lateral line (Bell 2016).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Gabon

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
Hyperolius olivaceus is found in coastal forest habitats in Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and western Democratic Republic of the Congo (Bell et al. 2017).

Trends and Threats
Under the name H. cinnamomeoventris, H. olivaceus is listed as "Least Concern" as it is common and has no known threats. The two species, assessed together, are found in several protected area (IUCN 2016).

Comments
The species authority is: Peters, W. C. H. (1876). “Eine zweite Mittheilung über die von Hrn. Professor Dr. R. Buchholz in Westafrica gesammelten Amphibien.” Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1876: 117–123.

Multilocus molecular data, including mitochondrial and nuclear sequences, indicate that H. olivaceus is in the genus Hyperolius and is part of the H. cinnamomeoventris species complex, which at the time of H. olivaceus's elevation to full species, included six described species: H. cinnamomeoventris, H. olivaceus, and H. veithi from continental Africa, H. molleri and H. thomensis endemic to São Tomé Island, and H. drewesi endemic to Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea archipelago (Schick et al. 2010; Bell et al. 2015, Bell 2016, Bell et al. 2017). Hyperolius olivaceus was considered a subspecies of H. cinnamomeoventris by Laurent (1943), however, Bell et al. (2017) resurrected H. olivaceus from subspecies status based on their findings that H. cinnamomeoventris and H. veithi are sister lineages and H. olivaceus and the island endemics are sister lineages. Additionally, H. cinnamomeoventris and H. olivaceus occupy different environmental niches. The species tree reconstruction also strongly supported the finding that H. veithi, H. cinnamomeoventris and H. olivaceus were distinct lineages (Bell et al. 2017).

References

Bell RC, Drewes, RC, Channing A, Gvozdik V, Kielgast J, Lötters S, Stuart BL, Zamudio KR (2015). ''Overseas dispersal of Hyperolius reed frogs from Central Africa to the oceanic islands of Sao Tome and Principe.'' Journal of Biogeography, 42(1), 65-75. [link]

Bell RC, Parra JL, Badjedjea G, Barej MF, Blackburn DC, Burger M, Channing A, Dehling JM, Greenbaum E, Gvozdík V, Kielgast J, Kusamba C, Lötters S, McLaughlin PJ, Nagy ZT, Rödel M-O, Portik DM, Stuart BL, VanDerWal J, Zassi-Boulu, A-G, Zamudio KR (2017). ''Idiosyncratic responses to climate-driven forest fragmentation and marine incursions in reed frogs from Central Africa and the Gulf of Guinea Islands.'' Molecular Ecology, 26(19), 5223-5244. [link]

Bell, R.C. (2016). ''A new species of Hyperolius (Amphibia: Hyperoliidae) from Príncipe Island, Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe.'' Herpetologica , 72(4), 343-351. [link]

IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2016). ''Hyperolius cinnamomeoventris.'' The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T16854256A16854265. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T16854256A16854265.en. Downloaded on 25 November 2019.

Schick S, Kielgast J, Rödder D, Muchai V, Burger M, Lötters S. (2010). ''New species of reed frog from the Congo basin with discussion of paraphyly in Cinnamon-belly reed frogs.'' Zootaxa, 2501(1), 23-36. [link]



Originally submitted by: Rayna C. Bell (first posted 2019-11-25)
Edited by: Ann T. Chang (2020-08-21)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2020 Hyperolius olivaceus: Olive Reed Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/8681> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 28, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Mar 2024.

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