Description
A large Hyperolius (males 32-35 mm) from open farmland in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Males green. Dorsum light green in males with minute bronze spots. Upper eyelid dark bronze. Pupil horizontal. Yellow-green dorsolateral and canthal stripe. Gular sac bluish when dilated, yellow green when in rest. Ventrum, hands and feet yellowish green. Females are unknown.

Similar to H. argus, but less webbed and with a very different voice, a fast series of very loud clicks. The morphological differences from H. argus, a coastal lowland form, are very small. In view of the great similarity it would be interesting to secure females of H. pseudargus to compare them with the distinctive female pattern of H. argus. H. kachalolae is also somewhat similar. It has a thin red canthal and dorsolateral line, a different calling site and a different voice.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Tanzania, United Republic of

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (2 records).

Very open farmland in Udzungwa Mts in Tanzania.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The males call from leaves of floating vegetation and from peripheral vegetation on the edges of small ponds. The call is a fast series of very loud, harsh clicks in a somewhat accelerating rhythm, about 10 per second and decelerating towards the end. The calling sequence can be long, 10-16 seconds. This voice is acoustically quite different from that of other Hyperolius in the area.

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 Hyperolius pseudargus <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5808> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 30, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 30 Nov 2024.

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