Common Name: Muller’s Platanna Frog, Muller’s Clawed Frog
Scientific Name: Xenopus muelleri
Family: Pipidae – Tongueless Frog family
Location: Botswana, Chad, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Female Size: 3.5 inches (90 mm)
Male Size: 2.4 inches (61 mm)
The Muller’s Platanna Frog is an aquatic species of frog, found in the savannah in stagnant bodies of water from temporary ponds to permanent ponds and lakes. Platanna is the common name for the frogs in Afrikaans name for the frog, which is thought to be an alteration of plat-hander which means flat hands. Their genus name Xenopus means strange feet and boy they got some weird ones. Their back feet are highly webbed with black claws. Front legs are more noodle-like and makes them look funny when they gobble down their food.
The Platanna Frog breeds in water. Even though the frogs are tongueless, the males will still call out for the females but its more like some clicks than a trill or ribbit. Mating takes place in the water where the female lays her eggs. Neither parent provides any parental care. The eggs hatch into tadpoles that go through metamorphosis.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Muller’s Platanna Frog as Least Concern for Extinction. The frog has a wide range and are numerous throughout it.