Hyperolius argus
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Hyperolius argus, known under common names Argus reed frog, Argus sedge frog, and Boror reed frog (and many others) is a hyperolid frog found in the eastern coastal plain of Africa from southern Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe to KwaZulu-Natal in eastern South Africa.
Hyperolius argus is sexually dichromatic: adult males are usually green, and females usually reddish-brown with large white spots. The coloration and pattern show geographic variation. Both females and males metamorphose to a solid green color without spots—the color of adult males. Under experimental conditions, the time from metamorphosis to the change to a female color pattern took about two months; for a male, the time from metamorphosis to the development of vocal sacs, with spontaneous vocalization and aggression, was about three months.
The females attach the eggs to vegetation below the surface of the water (possibly caused by raising water level). The female can lay in total about 200 eggs in clusters of about 30 eggs. Hyperolius argus is a common species living near water in low elevation dense, humid savanna and grassland. Breeding... Wikipedia →
Recording0:11
South Africa · 2024
© JeanneT4Frogs · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:13
Kenya · 1993
© probreviceps · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:05
South Africa · 2025
© Richard McKibbin · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an argus reed frog sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 11th most-seen of the 13 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an argus reed frog in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in April to October, the lowest months. Those are among Durban's wettest months, with about 190 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in June.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most argus reed frog sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Durban, in our data
Durban is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate argus reed frog sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Hyperolius
The closest relatives of the argus reed frog that you can see in Durban (genus Hyperolius, Reed Frogs) are Painted Reed Frog (about 30%), Tinker Reed Frog (about 20%) and Water Lily Reed Frog (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the argus reed frog is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Durban (20 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
