Historical overview of amphibian systematics in southern Africa

There are 196 amphibian species in southern Africa. I review the major periods in the discovery, naming and systematic arrangement of the taxa. The earliest workers were based in European museums, working with specimens submitted by missionaries, explorers and government officials in the colonies. A shift to more fieldwork is followed by a period of extensive work by scientists based in Africa. The data used by taxonomists have changed as the branches of zoology developed. External morphology is supported later by comparative anatomy of both skeletal elements and soft tissue. The rapid rise of technology in the last two decades has enabled data from sound analysis, chromosomes, proteins and DNA sequences to be used to distinguish taxa. The improvement in computers and software following the rediscovery of Hennig’s Phylogenetic Systematics has started to make significant changes to the way systematics is practised, permitting data-rich analyses to replace arrangements based on the opinion of the worker.