Description
A large (Males 41-51 mm) savanna-living Kassina from Zambia and Angola. Dorsum dark with indistinct darker spots, or uniformly dark. Ventrum light, sometimes with indications of dark reticulation. Hidden parts of legs marbled in red and grey. Gular disc round rather than strap-like. Tips of toes and finger not dilated. Inner metatarsal tubercle large, equal to internarial distance. In northern Zambia, within the range of K. kuvangensis, the local populations of K. senegalensis are also large and spotted. It would be desirable to have field studies of the mechanisms which separate the two species. Morphological distinguishing characters seem to be that the width of the inner metatarsal tubercle is markedly greater than the width of the subarticular tubercle of the first toe in K. kuvangensis, and that it lacks a distinct outer metatarsal tubercle, while in K. senegalensis the inner metatarsal tubercle is smaller than the subarticular tubercle of the first toe, and there is a distinct outer metatarsal tubercle. K. kuvangensis and K. senegalensis have not been observed on the same locality.
Voice. - The males call in great numbers from flat open grasslands covered with a few cm of water. The call is a very fast, somewhat irregular series of rather unmelodic quoicks. The single figures have a structure similar to that of other members of the genus.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Angola, Zambia

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Known from northern and western Zambia and southern Angola.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Development. - Females lay up to 130 eggs in a sticky clump. They are greenish with a dark pole. The tadpole is large, up to 102 mm with a very high fin. Tooth formula 1/1+1,1. Tadpoles are bright yellow with darker mottling.

Comments
This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main.

References

Schiøtz, A. (1999). Treefrogs of Africa. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Kassina kuvangensis: Kuvangu kassina <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/3688> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 23, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 23 Nov 2024.

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