Description
A rather large Kassina (32-44 mm) from the dry savanna of north-eastern Africa, with large digital discs. Dorsum greyish-olive with rather diffuse dark, red-brown spots. The largest of these is a blotch in the shoulder region, normally X or dumb-bell shaped but sometimes broken medially. K. maculifer resembles K. fusca from further west, but differs in its larger size and the much larger digital discs.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

This little-known species is recorded from the very dry savanna in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia and north-eastern Kenya.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The voice is a typical Kassina call, but, according to the sonogram published by Tandy and Drewes (1985), of a very short duration and a very steeply rising frequency-intensity maximum.

Comments
Largen (2001) has re-examined the type specimen, originally described as Megalixalus maculifer Ahl 1924, and found it to be conspecific with Kassina parkeri (Scortecci 1932). The name Kassina maculifer has priority (Largen 2001).

This account was taken from "Treefrogs of Africa" by Arne Schiøtz with kind permission from Edition Chimaira publishers, Frankfurt am Main. Updated by A. Schiøtz, 2008.

References

Largen, M. J. (2001). ''Catalogue of the amphibians of Ethiopia, including a key for their identification.'' Tropical Zoology, 14, 307-402.

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

Scortecci, G. (1932). ''Nuove specie di anfibi e rettili della Somalia italiana.'' Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali, e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano, 71, 264-269.

Tandy, M. and Drewes, R.C. (1985). ''Mating calls of the 'kassinoid' genera Kassina, Kassinula, Phlyctimantis and Tornierella (Anura: Hyperoliidae).'' South African Journal of Zoology, 81, 191-195.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Kassina maculifer <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5710> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Jan 5, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 5 Jan 2025.

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