Hyperolius argus
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
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 |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an argus reed frog sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 107 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 22 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an argus reed frog in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month. Those are among iSimangaliso Wetland Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against 30 mm in July.
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 iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate argus reed frog sightings: about 30% 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 iSimangaliso Wetland Park (genus Hyperolius, Reed Frogs) are Painted Reed Frog (about 50%), Tinker Reed Frog (about 40%) and Water Lily Reed Frog (about 30%), 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 iSimangaliso Wetland Park (107 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
