The Senegal running frog, Kassina senegalensis, is a small hyperoliid known for its wide African range and its tolerance of a great variety of habitats. It is widespread across much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east, and south to South Africa, with its presence uncertain in only a few countries such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo within that span.
Identification
It is a small frog: adults measure about 35–40 mm in body length, with males running slightly smaller than females. The facts box carries the full size range. Like other members of its genus, it is built for walking and hopping rather than the long leaps of many other frogs, a trait shared across Kassina.
Habitat and range
Within that broad African range, the species occupies humid and dry savannas, montane grasslands and shrublands, and wetlands, alongside artificial habitats such as pastures and canals, from lowland sites up to about 2,000 m elevation. That tolerance for both natural and human-altered ground, and for a wide elevation band, helps explain why the species turns up across so much of the continent.
Behaviour and breeding
Males call to attract females, and breeding pairs then move frequently while the male fertilises eggs one at a time, laying between one and fifteen eggs at each spot the pair stops at, for a total of roughly 600 eggs per clutch, at depths of 1–6 cm. The eggs hatch after about six days, and the tadpoles that emerge take 50–60 days to complete metamorphosis into frogs, a breeding cycle built around temporary water that can hold for a couple of months.
Conservation
The facts box gives the species’ current IUCN Red List category, Least Concern, a listing that reflects its extensive range across most of sub-Saharan Africa and its tolerance of many different habitats, from natural savanna and wetland to pastures and canals altered by people.
Similar species
The red-legged kassina, Kassina maculata, shares the walking gait typical of the genus but is a much larger frog, with adults reaching about 60–75 mm against the Senegal running frog’s 35–40 mm, and carries a bright red-orange flash on the undersides of its hind legs that K. senegalensis lacks. The two species’ ranges barely overlap: K. maculata is confined to Africa’s eastern coastal strip, while K. senegalensis spans the continent from Senegal to the Horn of Africa and south to South Africa.