# General Topics > Fieldwork >  Frogs in South Africa

## Nick Evans

These are some of the frogs I have found in KZN, South Africa, this season. 

Painted Reed Frog (Hyperolius marmoratus taeniatus)                                                                         

 



Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis)
 



Waterlily Frog (Hyperolis pusilis)




Bronze Caco (Cacosternum nanum)





Greater Leaf-folding Frog (Afrixalus fornasinii)

 


Delicate Leaf-folding Frog (Afrixalus delicatus)




Natal Tree Frog (Leptopelis natalensis)




Southern Foam-Nest Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina)





Common Platanna (Xenopus laevis)

 


African or Edible Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus edulis)      





Banded Rubber Frogs (Phrynomantis bifasciatus) mating




Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog (Hemisus marmoratus)





Snoring Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus natalensis)




Dwarf Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus mababiensis)                                            

 




Mascarene Grass Frog (Ptychadena mascareniensis)





Broad-banded Grass Frog (Ptychadena mossambica)


 


Sharp-nosed Grass Frog (Ptychadena oxyrhynchus)




Common River Frog (Amietia angolensis)






Crab eating a Bubbling Kassina (Kassina Senegalensis)





Guttural Toad (Amietophrynus gutturalis)

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## Lynn

Thank You for sharing
These are great ! 
I love the _Natal_

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## Terry

Hi Nick, welcome to Frog Forum  :Smile:  Great album of photos you have. South African amphibians have always interested me. I worked at a zoo and cared for a variety of African and Madagascar frogs. There is another FF member from KZN (bugboy99). World like to hear more stories from the field.

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## bill

very cool. thanks for sharing Nick. excellent pics. i love the one of the banded rubber frogs. i have one myself, very cool frogs  :Smile:

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## Nick Evans

Thanks, glad you like the photos. :Smile:

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## BugBoy99

Hello Nick, and welcome

I like your photos. I've tried the whole photography thing myself, but I'm more interested in the rearing of amphibians. 

I don't know if you are interested in crabs, but the crab eating your _Kassina_, is a species of _Potamonautes_(African Freshwater Crab), probably _P. warreni.

_Sincerely,
Joh

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## Nick Evans

Hi Joh

Thanks a lot! Are there many different species of freshwater crabs in KZN?

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## exasperatus2002

Great pics!  I used to own Kassina maculata. Its a nice frog. chocolate brown with black circles and orange-red  on the legs.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

Wow!!! Gorgeous photos!!! I wish I could do more field work like that. It never fails to amaze me how many beautiful species of Frogs and Toads that are out there in different countries. Thank you for sharing!!  :Smile:

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## BugBoy99

Hi Nick, I believe that there are 8 species of _Potamonautes_ in SA. Not sure, but it is somewhere between 8 and 12 species. However, _P. warreni_ and _P. sidneyi_ are most common in KZN, and _P. sidneyi_ has a white stripe over its carapace, so I'm guessing that it is a _P. warreni._ This is an interesting genus of crabs, because it fills the niche that is filled by crayfish in the New World, and it is also the only genus of freshwater crab found in South Africa.

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## Nick Evans

Thanks

I saw Kassina maculata recently, unfortunately I didn't get a photo!

Joh, I'll look a bit more carefully when I see a crab now, and try to identify it!

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## BugBoy99

Please do! Whereabouts in KZN are you located? You might live close by.

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## Nick Evans

I live in Durban. I see you're in Northern KZN, lot's of frogs there! Most of the frog photos I posted were in Hluhluwe, on a game farm called Hakuna Matata. Great spot.

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## BugBoy99

Oh, I've never actually been to Hluhluwe, but I hear that its quite interesting. Most of my frog and toad tads, are just caught in random places with lots of water.  There's a nice little stream nearby, and then the opportunistic breeders breed in the puddles. I caught some Ptychadena tads in a puddle just the other day.

Thanks for the photos, I hope you feel very welcome here, and become a regular contributor in our frogging community.

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## Nick Evans

Thanks :Smile:  I'll try to post more!

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## Heather

Hi Nick. Beautiful Frogs! Great photography! It's nice to see frogs I've not ever been introduced to. So pretty. I'd love to have one of each  :Smile: . 

Nice to meet you and welcome. Thank you for sharing  :Smile: .

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## Heather

P.S. You should make a calendar or post cards, truly  :Smile: .

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## Nick Evans

Thanks Heather :Smile:  I made a calendar for family members with these photos!

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## Nick Evans

Just thought I would add this photo to the post. It's two male Greater Leaf-folding Frogs (Afrixalus fornasinii) pushing each other off a leaf! They weren't very close so I had to zoom in, that's why the photo is a bit blurred. I had never seen this kind of behavior before.

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## Heather

Awe  :Smile: . 

Any chance you'll be selling calendars in the future?

You are so lucky to have so many pretty species near by.

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## Nick Evans

Hopefully I will be selling calendars one day! Thanks again!

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## Heather

You're welcome  :Smile:

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## Nick Evans

Just come back from holiday where I saw some nice frogs and some that I haven't seen before!

Brown-backed Tree Frog (Leptopelis mossambicus)


Common Platanna (Xenopus laevis)


Red Toad (Schismaderma carens)


Sharp-nosed Grass Frog (Ptychadena oxyrhynchus)


Tremolo Sand Frog (Tomopterma cryptotis)


Eastern Olive Toad (Amietophrynus garmani)


Dwarf Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus mababiensis)


Banded Rubber Frog (Phrynomantis bifasciatus)


Bubbling Kassina (Kassina senegalensis)


Southern Foam-nest Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina)


Natal Tree Frog (Leptopelis natalensis)

Brown phase of L.natalensis


Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis)

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## Heather

Your photographs always amaze me! Beautiful  :Smile:

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## Nick Evans

Thanks a lot :Smile:

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## Heather

You're welcome  :Smile: .

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## deeishealthy

Love love LOVE this thread.

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## exasperatus2002

> Thanks
> 
> I saw Kassina maculata recently, unfortunately I didn't get a photo!
> 
> Joh, I'll look a bit more carefully when I see a crab now, and try to identify it!


Can you post a pic of K. maculata's typical habitat?  Im curious. Mine was healthy and well fed. But when I got him back in the mid 90's, I didnt know anything of its natural habitat.

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## Nick Evans

Here's a photo of the habitat where I found a couple of K.maculata.

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## Gorgonopsia

Phantastic !!

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## Nick Evans

I have found a few more frogs recently :Smile: 

Delicate Leaf-folding Frogs (Afrixalus delicatus)




Painted Reed Frog (Hyperolius marmoratus taeniatus)



Tinker Reed Frog (Hyperolius tuberilinguis)


Red-legged Kassina (Kassina maculata)


Southern Foam Nest Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina)



Snoring Puddle Frog (Phrynobatrachus natalensis)


Water Spider eating a Painted Reed Frog


While frogging I found this 2.5m African Rock Python!

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## Heather

Awesome photos, once again!  :Smile:  I love when you share photos with us. Thank you  :Smile: . There really are some amazing frogs there. Does it take you long to find them?

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## Nick Evans

Thanks very much  :Smile:   No it doesn't really take long, unless it's quite a rare frog.

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## Heather

You're welcome  :Smile: . I'd love to take a stroll there sometime. It takes a good long walk here to find that many.

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## Nick Evans

That's interesting. My favorite place for frogs is a small game reserve. It has 3 small dams next to each other. I just walk around them a few times and see a lot! Have to be careful though, there's a crocodile that watches you!

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## Heather

> That's interesting. My favorite place for frogs is a small game reserve. It has 3 small dams next to each other. I just walk around them a few times and see a lot! Have to be careful though, there's a crocodile that watches you!


Oh goodness!!! Lol! It sounds pretty awesome though. This past spring we took a walk back through the forest here. It's woodsy and damp, but not too many frogs. We did see a bunch of red spotted efts though  :Smile: . Too small to live with our adult newts though.

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## Nick Evans

Those are awesome!

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## Nick Evans

Last night, I went looking for the endangered Kloof Frog (Natalobatrachus bonebergi), and found 4! I also found 2 clumps of eggs that were on vegetation above water.

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## Carlos

Hello Nick!  Thanks for sharing your great photos with us  :Big Applause:  .

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