Help me with my strange coloured xenopus

jarno · Nov 28, 2004

Since a couple weeks I've two female Xenopus. The first owner told me their a couple of years old. Their size is 6 - 7 cm. They have a strange colour. Their light brownish with a orange glow. Between their feet they've orange webbing.
Is this a Xenopus leavis or an other specie?

colin · Nov 28, 2004

Sounds like Xenopus muelleri to me... Do they have large protruding bits under their eyes (suboccular tentacles)

does this look like them? The male is the smaller of the two and has very orane legs, the females have just the colour on their feet

(Message edited by colin on November 28, 2004)

(Message edited by colin on November 28, 2004)

jarno · Nov 28, 2004

No, yours are more gray. I can't see any suboccular tentacles at this moment. Their really brown-orange at the top. The bottom of the frogs are light brown yellow.

colin · Nov 29, 2004

OK.... next...

do the frogs have a claw on their heel or not? That will get us to genus level...

Xenopus have 3 claws, Silurana have 4

Here is a pic of one of my Silurana looking a bit orange too

colin · Nov 29, 2004

doral shot of silurana...

jarno · Nov 29, 2004

Thanks Colin, that frog is exactly like those of mine. They have very small eyes.
Can you tell me more about these animals? Is it hard to get more animals of this specie? Are these frogs less common than Xenopus?

martin · Nov 29, 2004

Hello,
Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis is very present at the (European) pet trade.
There are at least four Silurana species or forms.
In the pet trade not all Silurana are tropicalis.

(In Germany) Sometimes they are sold as African Dwarf Clawed Frogs.

Some photos of Silurana epitropicalis: http://www.pipidae.de/arten_gehalten_kf_siluranaepitropicalis1.php

Bye Martin

(Message edited by martintruckenbrodt on November 29, 2004)

(Message edited by martintruckenbrodt on November 29, 2004)

jarno · Nov 29, 2004

I try to borrow a digicam from a friend. Maybe someone can tell which specie of the genus Silurana I have.

martin · Nov 29, 2004

Hello,
IMO for the first look Colins Silurana looks like a epitropicalis type.
IMO tropicalis is not so nice coloured as epitropicalis. IMO tropicalis is more uni coloured.
Since some weeks I am keeping tropicalis from Nigeria. They are very greyish on their back without clear dots.

Bye Martin

jarno · Nov 29, 2004

If my silurana's are real silurana (and not Xenopus), is there someone interested in my animals?

martin · Nov 29, 2004

Hello,
Silurana definitely have smaller eyes as Xenopus.
The Netherlands are not very far away from me. But I have not any tank free!

Bye Martin

colin · Nov 29, 2004

Hi martin

yes, i think that the pictures show epitropicalis, although many have argued over it!

Jarno, someone may be interested but i have a few already

They are easy to keep and nice little frogs

cheers
Colin

jarno · Nov 30, 2004

The're nice little frogs. But at this moment I'm afraid that I need all the space in my room. My female verrucossus laid over a 300 eggs. So I guess they will fill up my room.

martin · Nov 30, 2004

Hello,
you should move to a pond!

Try a post at the Pipidae board on my website www.pipidae.net to find a new home for your Silurana.

Bye Martin

patrick · Dec 13, 2004

The frogs that Martin and Colin have are indeed a new silurana tetraploid found in Nigeria.. There is documentation on them i have read, it should be released by now. "new tetraploid 2" is the name being used for now.

Kriton has these Silurana as well..

Some quick corrections looking thru the posts: not all xenopus have 3 claws.. the fraseri-like sub group and X clivii all have the 4th claw on the prehallux. also, there are now 5 identified species of Silurana the two newest are new tetraploid2 and there is also a new diploid (tropicalis-like).

(Message edited by xenopuszoo on December 14, 2004)

martin · Dec 14, 2004

Hello,
I got the epitropicalis from Kriton. They were from Accra/Ghana. After two years I brought him the last two females back.

Now I am keeping Silurana (tropicalis) from Nigeria.

Bye Martin

patrick · Dec 14, 2004

I think that Kriton had S. epitropicalis from Geneva as well. the new tetraploid2 are from Ghana also. I wrote a thread on pipidae.net about them

The silurana are even more difficult to distinguish then xenopus. they are capable of crossing, adding chromosome numbers to the offspring which can create a whole new species.

I am certain that this taxa will explode with new species and subspecies.

I am waiting to get the paper back on them, my computer crashed last month and I lost alot of files, including my book..

I am slowly rebuilding everything though

martin · Dec 14, 2004

Hello Patrick,
I don't know if he had an other epitropicalis.
At the last visit he had tropicalis.
His last statement is, that the Ghaneese Silurana are epitropicalis cause they have only very little genetic differences to the former known epitropicalis.

Kriton should have more time for surfing discussion boards!

I am not a Xenopus or a Silurana freak. I only want to keep one species of each genus in my still under construction community tank (paludarium with 1500 liters of water).
I am a poor ADCF freak!

Bye Martin

(Message edited by martintruckenbrodt on December 14, 2004)

patrick · Dec 14, 2004

From what I have been told, the Silurana tetraploids are very difficult to distinguish, even through karotyping. Mating call is no real indication either.

Maybe they are more likely geographical subspecies. It's very difficult to know 100%.. I just enjoy what I have and am very fortunate to have the frogs that I do.

Here is a photo of S. epitropicalis that my friend Melody sent me. She took these photos at a lab in France. Although color is a very bad way to identify a species, S epitrop generally is not speckled.

Help me with my strange coloured xenopus

jarno

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