AW Amphibian Book: Frogs & Toads (Anura)

[ExFmem]

Order: Anura


Upload your pic of a frog and add a description underneath. Please only do one species per post. All entries will be edited and updated (additional photos and information will be added by moderators). New entries will be posted according to taxonomic order and the post date does not reflect the actual date of new posts.


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Order: Anura

South African frogs belong to 12 families and over 50% of the 135 or so species occur nowhere else.

frog families.jpg (45.95 KiB) Viewed 25051 times

[Toko]

Brevicipididae (Rain Frogs)
Breviceps adspersus Bushveld Rain Frog

Bufonidae (Toads)
Sclerophrys capensis Raucous Toad
Sclerophrys garmani Eastern Olive Toad
Amietophrynus pantherinus Western Leopard Toad
Bufo gutturalis Gutteral Toad, African Common Toad

Hemisotidae (Shovel-nosed Frogs)
Hemisus marmoratus Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog

Hyperoloiide (Reed, Bush & Lily Frogs)
Hyperolius marmoratus Marbled Reed Frog, Painted Reed Frog

Microhylidae (Rain & Rubber Frogs)
Phrynomantis bifasciatus Banded Rubber Frog

Petropeditidae
Phrynobatrachus natalensis Natal Dwarf Puddle Frog

Pyxicephalidae
Amietia delalandi Common River Frog
Amietia fuscigula Cape River Frog, Dark-throated River Frog
Cacosternum boettgeri Common Caco, Boettger’s Dainty Frog
Pyxicephalus edulis Lesser Bullfrog, Edible Bullfrog
Pyxicephalus adspersus Giant Bullfrog, Highveld Bullfrog
Strongylopus grayii Gray's Stream Frog, Clicking Stream Frog
Tomopterna cryptotis Tremolo Sand Frog, Cryptic Sand Frog

Rhacophoridae (Foam Nest Frogs)
Chiromantis xerampelina Grey Foam-nest Tree Frog

[ExFmem]

Grey Foam-nest Tree Frog (Chiromantis xerampelina)
Family: Rhacophoridae

© Moshi Monster
Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo

Description
A very large Chiromantis with almost full webbing. Males 43–75 mm, females 60–90 mm. A slender gray treefrog, appearing almost completely white
during the daytime. Dorsal surfaces brownish to grey, sometimes white, with or without darker mottling. In some individuals the backis mottled with a darker brown pattern resembling tree bark. No tarsal fold. The eyes are large with horizontal pupils, and the tympanum is distinctly visible. It has extensive webbing; broad web extends more than 70% of the distance between the tubercles of the third finger.The fingers have wide expanded disks and are arranged in opposable pairs that wrap easily around small branches. Toes are completely webbed.

Distribution
C. xerampelina is widely distributed in eastern and southern Africa. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and possibly the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. In South Africa it is confined to the northern bushveld, eastern lowveld and south through Swaziland and northern KwaZulu-Natal to the coast.

Habitat
It is a very adaptable species living in all types of savannah, shrubland, disturbed forests, grassland, agricultural land, pastureland and suburban areas. It breeds in temporary pools using foam nests.

Size
This is the largest of South Africa's ‘tree frogs’. Males measure 43-75 mm and females 60-90 mm in snout-vent length.

Behavior
These frogs are well adapted to a dry, arboreal life although they may frequently visit water to rehydrate. They will rarely be found swimming or sitting in water like many other frogs and toads but are commonly found in and around buildings where lights attract a source of insect food. With a variety of mottled patterns, they can change color within a range of white to dark grey to match their background and are well camouflaged against tree bark.
These frogs must tolerate high temperatures and dry conditions, and they have evolved a highly waterproof skin, the ability to change color to a bright white that helps reflect sunlight, and a 'scrunched' posture shown here that minimizes surface area. This frog has not shifted to the 'white' color and is a camouflaged blotchy brown. They spend the day sitting on tree limbs.

Breeding

© Sprocky
Kruger National Park

The males gather at suitable nesting sites at night where they produce soft, discordant croaks and squeaks. They do not appear to be territorial, and two or more frogs close together, or even on top of each other, will call irregularly and independently.
The grey foam-nest tree frog mates in what is described as the most extreme example of polyandry of all vertebrates. The simultaneous polyandry begins when a female starts releasing eggs onto a tree branch. Up to 12 males then cluster around her and fertilize the eggs.
A study in 2008 found that fertilization success was positively correlated with the number of mating males, and females that mated with more males also produced more tadpoles. These findings provide evidence that polyandry can benefit female frogs by increasing fertilization success and offspring production.
Additionally, offspring of these polyandrous encounters are more likely to survive than the eggs fertilized by a single male.

Foam Nests

© Alf
Kruger National Park, on the S118 near the S114 intersection (9 January 2014)

© Flutterby

© nan

The common name comes from the whitish clumps of foam that they construct as ‘nests’ in which to lay their eggs. These nests are always constructed on some branch or object over, and often many metres above, water. Nest construction begins when the female releases an oviducal secretion and churns it into a white foam with her hind legs. Into this foam she lays 500 - 1250 eggs, on average, which are fertilized by attendant males. Neither the amplexing male nor the peripheral males participate in the construction of the foam nest. Communal nests, involving two or more females and numerous males, are commonly formed.
The foam prevents desiccation of the eggs and keeping eggs and small tadpoles out of water eliminates much predation.
The nest may take up to seven hours to complete, and nest construction is split into 2–4 sessions. Between sessions, the female leaves the nest site and returns to the water to rehydrate.
About five days after hatching the small tadpoles wriggle out of the foam to drop into the water below, where they continue to grow and complete their normal metamorphosis.

© nan
Lake Panic, Kruger National Park

© nan
Lower Sabie Camp, Kruger National Park

© nan
Shireni Bushveld Camp, Kruger National Park

Did you know that....

Chiromantis xerampelina changes colour from dark grey to chalky white depending on the temperature – in hotter temperatures, the skin colour becomes lighter to reduce water loss. These photos, of the same individual, were taken on the same day in an outside shower area.

Links: FrogMAP Species text

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Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog Hemisus marmoratus
Family: Hemisotidae

Common Names: Mottled Burrowing Frog, Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog, Pig-nosed Frog, Shovel-nosed Burrowing Frog, Marbled Shovel-nosed Frog, Marbled Shovel-snouted Frog, Marbled Pig-nosed Frog, Marbled Snout-burrower, Mottled Shovel-nosed Frog







Distribution
It occurs from South Africa all the way to Egypt and West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

Habitat:
H. marmoratus has a wide-ranging inhabitant of sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in savanna habitats but also occurs in forest; it may be found in grasslands, plantations, agricultural areas, as well. It prefers muddy banks of pans and slow-moving streams in savanna woodland.

Description: This frog has a typical almost cylindrical body shape with short limbs, a pointed snout. It is a medium-sized frog. Males are from 2.5 to 3.5 cm in size; females are larger, ranging from 2.9 to 5.5 cm. Above mottled grey brown with yellow. The back is yellowish brown, usually with darker markings and often with a light vertebral stripe. The belly surface is smooth and pale pink. Males have darkly pigmented throats. The limbs are mottled and usually paler than the body. The toes are webbed only very slightly at the base. These frogs have a narrow snout from which they ‘shoot’ (different from all other frogs which ‘flip’) a very special small tongue. The tongue has two lobes which surround the ant or termite as soon as it hits it. As termites and ants move around
quite fast, the frog is able to adjust its aim to hit its prey. The size of the snout is so small, these frogs can’t eat bigger prey, instead they specialise on termites and ants.

Diet:
Food includes ants, termites and earthworms. It feeds mainly on termites and is thought to forage underground. At night, especially after rains, they come out of the soil and move around, eating small insects. These frogs have a narrow snout from which they ‘shoot’ (different from all other frogs which ‘flip’) a very special small tongue. The sticky tongue has two lobes which surround the ant or termite as soon as it hits it.

Reproduction:
Breeding habitat includes pans, waterholes or isolated pools in riverbeds. Once males and females pair the female selects a suitable oviposition site and disappears beneath the surface, male in tow, to excavate a breeding chamber. Together, they burrow into the mud and deposit clutches of 150 – 200 eggs. Females remain with the clutch until hatching and guard the eggs. Once the tadpoles hatch they remain in the underground nests where they cling to their mother. During the dry season the tadpoles stay in the nest with their development frozen. Once the rains come the tadpoles leave the nest to feed. Large tadpoles emerge after eight days and make their way from the burrow to water either by swimming out when the burrow floods, or being transported by the mother. Females often dig shallow channels for floating of the breeding chambers to aid the tadpoles as they move toward water.

Special Behaviors:
These burrowing frogs spend the dry season in a torpid state, underground. Unlike most other burrowing species, which burrow by their hind limbs (transformed into shovels), this species uses its small pig-like head to burrow head first into the soil in very wet and sandy places near streams and rivers where it spends the day. digging themselves backward rather slowly, Hemisus species invariably burrow head first, even when the male clasps his mate in inguinal amplexus. H. marmoratus is encountered at the surface mainly at night, or immediately before or after rainfall. Otherwise, the frogs are hardly ever active at the surface.

Call:
Males call from muddy areas near water. The call is an extended buzzing lasting several seconds and repeated frequently. Males are known to call both below ground and on the surface.
Listen to Call:







This Starling was hunting the frog, but the frog happily survived the attack. The slimy skin secretions gave him protection from the attacks by the bird.
View videos (Djuma Safari Game Drives for Wildearth): Part 1, Part 2

Links:
Vincent Carruthers: Frogs and Frogging in Southern Africa
http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query ... marmoratus;
FrogMAP Species text: http://frogmap.adu.org.za/Species_text.php?sp=550

[nan]

Guttural Toad, African Common Toad Amietophrynus gutturalis, Bufo gutturalis
Family: Bufonidae

© nan
Kruger National Park, Satara

Diagnostic Description
This is a large toad. Skin has rough, lumpy elevations. Elongated swelling on each shoulder. Brown or grey. Individual markings can be highly variable. Pairs of dark, irregular dorsal patches: one pair on snout, another over eyes. The dorsum is yellow-brown with irregular darker brown blotches, and red patches on the back of the thigh. A light middorsal stripe is often present. Between the eyes, a cross is formed by two sets of dark patches. The forearm is edged with a row of conspicuous white tubercles. The parotid glands are large and distinct. Toes are webbed only very slightly at the base. The ventral surface is pale and granular, and the throat of the male is darkly pigmented. Males in breeding condition have distinct dark nuptial pads.

Amietophrynus gutturalis can be distinguished by the prominent cross on its head between the eyes. A. maculatus and A. xeros can also have a light cross or stripe between the eyes. The parotid glands are distinctly elevated in A. gutturalis but are level with the head in A. maculatus. A. maculatus also lacks the red infusions on the thigh that are present in A. gutturalis. A. xeros often has red markings on the thigh and vent as in A. gutturalis, but lacks distinct dark dorsal markings.

Size
Males range from 64–90 mm and females 62-120 mm in snout-vent length.

Distribution
This species occurs from extreme southern Somalia, central and southern Kenya, though Tanzania, southern Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola, south to northern Namibia, northern central and eastern South Africa. It occurs on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (Tanzania). The boundary between this species and Bufo regularis in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is poorly understood, and the map should be regarded as provisional. It is introduced on Reunion (to France) and Mauritius. Records from southeastern Uganda might refer to Bufo regularis and therefore require confirmation.
The Guttural Toad is a common species distributed widely throughout the region, except the south-western parts, although populations have been recorded in the Western Cape in recent years.



Habitat
A. gutturalis inhabits various vegetation types in the Savanna, Grassland and Thicket biomes at altitudes ranging from sea-level to about 1800 m. It is commonly found around homes as it is tolerant to disturbed habitats and can be found in towns and cities.

Diet
Adults will eat just about anything that moves and will fit into their mouths, although most of their diet consists of a wide range of insects, spiders, centipedes, slugs and snails. In captivity, even lizards and other frogs have been recorded as prey items. One of the most spectacular sights is watching these animals come to lights at night to catch insects which are attracted there. On nights when termites fly this frog can be found gorging itself.

Predators
Adults are preyed on by various snakes including the Black-necked Spitting Cobra, Common Night Adder, and Western Green Snake, as well as Serrated Hinged Terrapin, and African Civet. The tadpoles are eaten by aquatic birds, fish and the Common Platanna.

Reproduction
Breeding takes place in small permanent water bodies, and in areas where there are no permanent water bodies, the breeding will begin with the first heavy rains. It breeds frequently in garden pools. Males call from inside breeding habitats, both permanent and temporary pools. The call is a loud extended snore repeated at three second intervals. Males call alternately with one another or with males of different species. Females are attracted to the calls and when approaching the chorus they are quickly grasped by males. Many males may try to grasp one female forming large balls of animals. This species shows site fidelity, returning year after year.

Call
Listen to call
Wagner (1986) found that after breeding 25 000 small black eggs are laid in two gelatinous strings, often times wrapped around aquatic vegetation. Small dark tadpoles with bright specks emerge after 2 - 3 days and reach metamorphosis after 75 days. Once front legs have developed the toadlets leave the water until their tails are absorbed.

Status
IUCN (Red List) status: Least Concern (LC).

Links: FrogMAP Species text; AFRICAN AMPHIBIANS LIFEDESK; Vincent Carruthers: Frogs and Frogging in Southern Africa; SANBI Animal of the Week

© BluTuna

© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

© BluTuna
Balule camp. Kruger National Park

[BluTuna]

Common Caco, Boettger’s Dainty Frog Cacosternum boettgeri (Blikslanertjie)
Family: Pyxicephalidae

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park

Description
Head moderate; tympanum hidden. Colour varies from dark brown to green or red. With or without stripes. Horizontal pupils. Dark facial mask.
Third finger scarcely more than once and a half the length of second: tips of fingers and toes not dilated: two metatarsal tubercles. The hind limb being carried forwards along the body, the tibio-tarsal articulation marks the shoulder.
Skin perfectly smooth: a curved fold from the eye to the shoulder.
Very variable colours and patterns from green to brown with stripes and spots. Olive above: a light line from below the eye to the shoulder; in some specimens, a light vertebral line and a broad light stripe from the scapular region to thogroin; transversely dilated dark spots on the legs; belly generally with round black spots; inferior surface of limbs with dark vermiculalions.
Male with a large external subgular vocal sac.
From snout to vent 19 mm.

Distribution
This species occurs in most of southern Africa. This frog inhabits South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, the savanna regions of Namibia, eastern Botswana, southern
Zambia and the Zimbabwe plateau.

Habitat
It is a species of grasslands (including montane grassland) and dry savannahs, favouring open areas with short vegetation, and is extremely successful in grassy meadows. It breeds in any shallow water body, including vleis, flooded depressions, drainage ditches, puddles, small pools, inundated grasslands and shallow pans, especially where grass is growing. They have been found in large numbers in disused termitaria.

Reproduction
This species appears to have an extended breeding season. During the rainy season, males usually start calling in the late afternoon and call incessantly after dark, continuing until around midnight. Large choruses are common.
Call bouts are usually initiated by the same individual in the group. Males normally call from concealed positions under vegetation or other cover, at water level, but have also been observed calling from totally exposed positions. A short territorial call is sometimes uttered by individual males prior to their regular advertisement call.
Clutches of c.250 eggs are attached to vegetation below the surface of the water. The tadpoles usually hatch two days later, and metamorphosis is completed within approximately two weeks.

Call
Explosive bursts of six to ten clicks. Choruses are almost painful to the human ear at close quarters.

Links: Vincent Carruthers: Frogs and Frogging in Southern Africa, FrogMAP Species text

[mposthumus]

Banded Rubber Frog Phrynomantis bifasciatus
Family: Microhylidae






We came upon this strange oukie on several occasions and have noticed that it does not jump at all and as soon as you enter his comfort zone he puffs himself up.

Key ID points
• Eyes: small; pupil circular.
• Grey underside with white spots.
• Minimal webbing on the limbs.
• Two bands extending from the snout to the flanks.

Description
Maximum size: 65 mm.
Colour: Varies from black to dark gold. Two red bands extend from the snout, over the eyes, to the flanks. Another band is located low on the body, above the cloaca. Spots varying from red to white visible on the flanks, near and on the limbs.
Body: Flat, elongated and pear-shaped with long, slender limbs. Long neck, narrow head and blunt snout. Tympanum small. The skin on the back is smooth and rubbery. The underside feels smooth and rubbery, and has a grey colour with white markings.
Forearms: Fingers with minimal webbing and small terminal discs.
Hind legs: Toes with minimal webbing and small ter-minal discs.
Sexual dimorphism: Males have darker throats.

Call
A long, high-pitched melodious pirrrrrrrrr trill sound.

Distribution
It is found in central and southern Africa.

Distribution.jpg (10.78 KiB) Viewed 25367 times

[Toko]

Lesser Bullfrog, Edible Bullfrog Pyxicephalus edulis
Family: Pyxicephalidae

© mposthumus
Kruger National Park

Description
Typical body shape; large ranid frog; protruding eyes; dorsal ridges; large inner metatarsal tubercle.
A large, very compact ranid. Males reach 83–120 mm (SVL), females 85–110 mm. Females reach just 50% of the male weight. The lower jaw of the broad mouth bears two characteristic long projections (tooth like structures) which point dorsally. Nuptial pads appear on the first finger of the male. The skin is faintly warty, and the warts are rather rounded. The lateral ridges are short, never stretching from the head to the end of the body. The habitus changes considerably as growth proceeds. Young frogs are sturdy and almost plump. Adult animals are dorsoventrally flattened, resembling a flat cake. The eyes move more and more towards the center of the frontal region, and in adults are very protruding. The tympanum is distinct, large and high-oval in shape. Webs are found exclusively on the hind feet. Finger and toe tips are not enlarged. The inner metatarsal tubercle is transformed into a large shovel whose length surpasses that of the shortest toe.
Coloration: The dorsum of adult animals is more or less uniform yellow green to drab olive green. Males tend to be more greenish, whereas females are often more olive brown. A pale vertebral stripe and light lines on the ridges and warts are more common in females. The young often bear a bright, light green vertebral stripe, gold-brown speckles and black markings on their dark green skin. Forming black bars, these markings also appear on the lips and extremities. Lower lip, finger-tips and venter are uniform white or cream. Males have dark yellow throats. On some individuals, the venter is completely yellow. A dark patch is often present in the center of the tympanum. The webs are darkly pigmented.

Taxonomic Notes
This species was elevated from subspecies status under Pyxicephalus adspersus by Channing et al. (1994).

Distribution
This species ranges from southern Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania, south to Mozambique, southern Malawi, southern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern and eastern South Africa and Swaziland.
In southern Africa, the ranges of the two species have not yet been neatly defined, mainly due to the ancient confusion of P. edulis and P. adspersus. In the northern range of the species, all former P. adspersus records will be in fact P. edulis.

Habitat
It is found in arid savannas where it apparently prefers sand and clay substrates.
It inhabits flat areas in open grassy woodland and marshy areas in eastern and southern Africa, it is fossorial, only coming to the surface at the beginning of the rainy season. It breeds in shallow, well-vegetated seasonal pans, as well as many man-made small waterbodies.

Reproduction
Numerous heavily pigmented single eggs are deposed in deep water. The eggs which are deposited as a surface layer in two subsequent charges. The tadpoles hatch within 20 hours. It is active at night during the breeding season. The males guard the tadpoles, protecting them from predation.

Behaviour
These frogs spend most of the year buried in the substrate, appearing only when the rains set in. In order to survive the dry season, both young and adult frogs produce cocoons formed by shed skin-layers and soil particles sticking to it. The frogs are thus capable of reducing their evaporation rate by 50%.

Call
A loud whoop lasting about 0.11 to 0.29 sec, with the dominant frequency of this frequency modulated call being 0.45–0.60 kHz.
http://www.frogbook.co.za/frog-calls.php# (no 156)

Links:
FrogMAP Species text
EWT Booklet
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/76317591/87648183

[Toko]

Marbled Reed Frog, Painted Reed Frog Hyperolius marmoratus
Family: Hyperoliidae

© Pumbaa
Hyperolius marmoratus subsp taeniatus, Kruger National Park

© Alf
Hyperolius marmoratus subsp taeniatus, Kruger National Park, Skukuza nursery

© mposthumus

Description
A medium-sized Hyperolius with a maximum body length of about 33 mm. Pupil horizontal. The adult color pattern is extremely variable. The pattern varies from distinct stripes through to vermiculations, dots and splotches, and the colours of the patterns vary from dark brown or black through to yellow and peppermint green. Red inner limbs and weebing are diagnostic. Juvenile males appear to be overall brown during their first breeding season.

Taxonomic Notes
This species is part of the Hyperolius viridiflavus superspecies. It is considered here as a separate species. It should be noted that the taxonomic relationships within this superspecies are still far from settled. Members of this superspecies, which consists of a large number of forms that are distributed, generally allopatrically, throughout the tropical African savanna, have a common morphology, voice and ecology, but with widely differing dorsal patterns.

Distribution
This species ranges from northern Mozambique, through eastern Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe to Swaziland and eastern and southern South Africa. The western parts of the range in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces of South Africa probably represent recent spread at higher altitudes. It has also extended its range along the south coast of South Africa (it originally did not occur west of Tstitsikamma).

Habitat
It is associated in with emergent vegetation at the margins of swamps, rivers and lakes in all types of savannah, grassland and bush land, as well as many human-modified habitats, including cultivated land, towns and gardens. It spreads rapidly into recently created waterbodies.

Reproduction
It breeds in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, ranging from very small to very large ponds, usually using permanent, but often also in temporary, waterbodies.
At dusk they descend to the pond where males take up specific call sites (which they return to on consecutive nights) and call consistently from dusk to just after midnight. Where present, tall emergent plants such as reeds and sedges are favored as call sites, but males will also call from trees, grasses, bushes, floating vegetation or even bare soil at the water’s edge. Gravid females enter the pond shortly after dusk and usually select a mate within a few hours. After several hours in axillary amplexus, the eggs are laid in water. Females have been observed to lay more than one clutch of eggs per season with a month long interval between layings. Between 150 and 650 eggs are laid in flattened clumps of about 20, on the surface of submerged leaves, stalks or stones or amongst the roots of aquatic plants. Tadpoles hatch within 5 days and metamorphosis takes about 6-8 weeks.

Behavior
The adults aestivate during the dry season, and have been found sheltering some distance from their breeding sites in vegetation or under logs and stones. During this time they often take up residence inside houses, where they conceal themselves behind cupboards, pelmets, pictures and in toilet cisterns.

Links: Vincent Carruthers: Frogs and Frogging in Southern Africa; ADW; FrogMAP Species text

© PJL
Hyperolius marmoratus marmoratus

© PJL
Hyperolius marmoratus marmoratus Garden in PE

© PJL
Hyperolius marmoratus verrucosus

© PJL
Hyperolius marmoratus verrucosus

© PJL
Hyperolius marmoratus verrucosus