| Hyperolius quadratomaculatus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hyperoliidae |
| Genus: | Hyperolius |
| Species: | H. quadratomaculatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Hyperolius quadratomaculatus Ahl, 1931 | |
Hyperolius quadratomaculatus is a species of frog in the family Hyperoliidae. It is endemic to Mohorro, Tanzania. Its natural habitats are rivers, freshwater marshes, and intermittent freshwater marshes. It presumably breeds in waterbodies and has a larval development breeding strategy. [1]
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforests. There are over 7,000 recorded species, accounting for over 85% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history.
The Hyperoliidae, sedge and bush frogs, are a large family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored frogs which contains more than 250 species in 19 genera. Seventeen genera are native to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the monotypic genus Tachycnemis occurs on the Seychelles Islands, and the genus Heterixalus is endemic to Madagascar.
Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.
