''Afrixalus morerei'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family

Hyperoliidae The Hyperoliidae, or sedge frogs and bush frogs, are a large family of small to medium-sized, brightly colored frogs which contain more than 250 species in 19 genera. Seventeen genera are native to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the monotypic g ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Udzungwa Mountains The Udzungwa Mountains are a mountain range in south-central Tanzania. The mountains are mostly within Iringa Region, south of Tanzania's capital Dodoma. The Udzungwa Mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains, and are home to a biodiverse ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. It was originally described as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of '' Afrixalus septentrionalis'', but is currently recognized as a full species. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''morerei'' honours Jean-Jacques Morère, a French herpetologist from the

National Museum of Natural History, Paris The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

. Its common names are Morère's spiny reed frog, Dabaga's leaf-folding frog, and Morere's banana frog.

Description

Adult males measure in snout–vent length. The legs are relatively short. The dorsum is light. A pair of parallel dark dorsolateral lines runs from behind the eye to the groin, merging into the dark lateral bands. There is a brown dot on top of each eye. The middle of tibia have a single brown band. The male advertisement call is a long, even buzzing.

Habitat and conservation

''Afrixalus morerei'' occurs in marshy areas in open montane grasslands and in grassy glades in forest–grassland mosaic at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It can also occur in pastureland. Its range is poorly known, but it is moderately abundant in suitable habitats. However, its habitats can suffer from afforestation,

agricultural expansion Agricultural expansion describes the growth of agricultural land ( arable land, pastures, etc.) especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. The agricultural expansion is often explained as a direct consequence of the global increase in food and e ...

, fire, and expanding human settlement. It is not known to occur in protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1942972 morerei Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Tanzania Endemic fauna of Tanzania Amphibians described in 1986 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot