Description
A slender, small Afrixalus (males 17–24 mm, females 19–26 mm) with fine, dense asperities over the entire upper surfaces and in the gular region in males, confined to the head in females. The gular disc is large, squarish to semitriangular, and weakly granular. Bright golden yellow above with a brown lateral band with light speckles. Often a pair of lumbar patches which continues the broad, oblique tibial markings when legs are at rest. Sometimes a weak vertebral line and a broad, poorly defined triangular headspot. Pickersgill (2007) has divided this species into two subspecies of which the above description refers to the nominate form, Afrixalus aureus aureus.

The subspecies A. a. crotalus has reduced asperities and different tibial markings and shows a great geographical variation in pattern, including completely unmarked specimens apart from the lateral band and tibial markings. Tibia with an oblique transverse patch across only part of the exposed surface (Pickersgill 2007).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland

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

The subspecies A. a. aureus occurs in eastern South Africa, and the subspecies A. a. crotalus is found in eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Both subspecies are savanna forms (Pickersgill 2007).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The voice is a series of clicks, about 13-17 per second (Pickersgill 2007).

Eggs are white and deposited in a folded, glued leaf above the water (Schiøtz 1999).

Comments
Updated by A. Schiøtz, 2008.

References

Phaka, F.M., Netherlands, E.C., Kruger, D.J.D., Du Preez, L.H. (2019). Folk taxonomy and indigenous names for frogs in Zululand, South Africa. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 15, 17. [link]

Pickersgill, M. (2007). Frog Search: Results of Expeditions to Southern and Eastern Africa. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main.

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

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2023 Afrixalus aureus: Golden Dwarf Reed Frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/443> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Sep 28, 2023.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2023. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Sep 2023.

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