Hyperolius kivuensis Ahl, 1931

Taxonomic Classification

Hyperolius kivuensis is a species of frog belonging to the family Hyperoliidae.

Confirmed and Unconfirmed Distribution

Its confirmed distribution includes Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, with unconfirmed possible records from Mozambique and Sudan.

Natural Habitats

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and plantations.

Conservation Status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature does not consider this species to be threatened.

Subspecies Synonymy Finding

Recent taxonomic research has found that Hyperolius kivuensis and Hyperolius multifasciatus are only distinct at the subspecific level, leading to H. multifasciatus originally being synonymized into H. kivuensis.

Original Publication Details

Both taxa were originally described by Ernst Ahl in 1931 in the same publication, with H. multifasciatus described on page 278 and H. kivuensis described on page 280.

Senior Name Argument

Based on this order, some authors argued that the synonymy should instead prioritize H. multifasciatus as the senior species name.

ICZN Naming Rule

However, under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), when multiple taxa first established in the same publication are later determined to belong to the same species, the first scientist to revise the group retains the right to choose which name to use, and that first revision's outcome is binding.

Final Accepted Scientific Names

Because of this rule, the original synonymization cannot be reversed, and the correct scientific names for these taxa are Hyperolius kivuensis kivuensis and Hyperolius kivuensis multifasciatus.