The spotted running frog, Kassina maculata, is a large hyperoliid best known for the bright red-orange flash on the backs of its hind legs. Rather than hopping, it mostly walks, an unusual way of getting around for a frog. It is endemic to the tropical and sub-tropical areas of Africa’s east coast, found in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Eswatini, where it lives wherever fresh water or high humidity keeps the ground damp enough for it.
Identification
Adults typically measure about 60–75 mm in body length, making this one of the larger members of its genus. The facts box carries the full size range. Its back is patterned with dark blotches over a lighter ground colour, but the clearest field mark is on the hind legs: the undersides are bright red-orange, a flash of colour that is hidden at rest and exposed when the frog moves or is disturbed.
Habitat and range
The species occupies dry savanna, moist savanna, and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and similar terrain across eastern Africa, wherever fresh water or high humidity is available. It tolerates a range of vegetation types as long as damp ground or standing water is nearby, which lets it persist outside dense forest. Habitat loss across this range is a recognised threat to the species.
Behaviour and breeding
K. maculata feeds mainly on insects and insect larvae at night, hunting after dark rather than during the day. Most distinctively, unlike most frogs it prefers walking with its back legs over the typical hopping gait, a slow, deliberate way of moving that gives the species its common name.
Conservation
The species’ facts box carries its current IUCN Red List category, Least Concern, a listing last reviewed in the 2022.2 assessment. That reflects its wide distribution across seven countries along Africa’s east coast, despite ongoing habitat loss within that range.
Similar species
No other profile on this site yet covers a member of the genus Kassina. Within its own range, the combination of large size, mottled back and bright red-orange under the hind legs sets K. maculata apart from other hyperoliid frogs sharing the same savanna and shrubland habitat.