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Brevicipitidae
Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small Family (biology), family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of 2025 contains 38 species in 5 genera. [web application]. 2013. Berkeley, CaliforniaBrevicipitidae AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/. (Accessed: 30 November 2013). Formerly included as subfamily in Microhylidae (narrow-mouth frogs), phylogenetics, phylogenetic research has indicated the brevicipitine frogs should be considered as a family with Hemisotidae (shovelnose frogs) as the most closely related sister taxon. Most adult brevicipitine frogs are not easily seen as they spend extended periods of time in soil or leaf litter. However, some species might be partly arboreal at times. Many species show strong sexual size dimorphism, with females being much larger than males. At least the frogs in ''Breviceps'' and ''Probreviceps'' genera breed by direct development, in which small froglets emerge from eggs without intervening aquatic tadpole phase. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Callulina
''Callulina'' (commonly known as the warty frogs) is a small genus of frogs in the family Brevicipitidae with nine members in Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ... and Kenya. Originally ''Callulina'' was thought to be monotypic and widely distributed through Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania and in southern Kenya. However, within the last decade eight new species has been identified, the majority of which are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Species Amphibian Species of the World lists nine ''Callulina'' species, most of which have been discovered within the last decade. * ''Callulina dawida,'' Taita warty frog * ''Callulina hanseni'', Hansen's warty frog * ''Callulina kanga'', Krefft's secret fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breviceps
''Breviceps'' is a genus of frogs in the family Brevicipitidae. Species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ... in the genus ''Breviceps'' are commonly known as rain frogs or short-headed frogs. They occur in arid to semiarid climates of Eastern and Southern Africa. Taxonomy The genus ''Breviceps'' consists of 21 species, of which most occur in southern Africa. There are five species found in the Western Cape, '' B. gibbosus'', '' B. fuscus'' (black rain frog), '' B. rosei'' (Rose's rain frog), '' B. montanus'' (mountain rain frog) and '' B. acutirostris'' (strawberry rain frog). Two species are found in arid areas and other species are found in the eastern and northern parts of southern Africa. Description Species of the genus ''Breviceps'' are sexually dimorph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Probreviceps
''Probreviceps'' is a small genus of Brevicipitidae, brevicipitine frogs with only six members. They occur in the montane forests of Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and possibly Mozambique. They are sometimes known as the forest frogs, forest rain frogs, big-fingered frogs, or primitive rain frogs. Description ''Probreviceps'' are burrowing frogs with short limbs and direct development (i.e., there is no free-living larval stage); the eggs are deposited in burrows. Maximum snout–vent length is between in males and between in females, depending on the species. Males often have larger Tympanum (anatomy), tympani than females. No discs are present on fingers or toes. Species identification is based on Sexual selection in amphibians#Vocal signaling in frogs, male advertisement calls, features of hands and feet, and distribution. Species There are six recognized species: * ''Probreviceps durirostris'', Snouted forest frog * ''Probreviceps loveridgei'', Loveridge's forest frog * ''Probrevice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spelaeophryne
''Spelaeophryne methneri'' is a species of frog in the family Brevicipitidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Spelaeophryne''. It is found in Tanzania and possibly Malawi. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, and moist savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th .... References Brevicipitidae Amphibians described in 1924 Taxa named by Ernst Ahl Monotypic amphibian genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{neobatrachia-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breviceps Gibbosus
The cape rain frog or giant rain frog (''Breviceps gibbosus'') is a species of frog in the family Brevicipitidae. Adults grow up to 45 mm in length. It was the first African frog species to be scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, under the name ''Rana gibbosa''. It is the most common and largest of rain frogs. The name "rain frog" that is applied to the genus refers to a belief that these frogs bring rain. Distribution and habitat The species is endemic to South Africa, where it occurs in the far southwestern Cape, in Cape Town and northwards as far as Citrusdal. In this area it inhabits Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, known as fynbos, renosterveld, pastureland on farms, rural gardens, and even urban areas. It seems to adapt well to suburban gardens, but like most frog species it is vulnerable to herbicide poisons and domestic pets. Physiology ''Breviceps gibbosus'' is part of the family Brevicipitidae. All species in this family of frog are conside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balebreviceps
The Bale Mountains tree frog (''Balebreviceps hillmani'') is a species of frog in the family Brevicipitidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Balebreviceps'' and endemic to the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. Its natural habitats are tree heath (''Erica arborea'') woodland near the timberline as well as partly cleared mixed forest further down. Despite its entire range being within the Bale Mountains National Park, it is threatened by habitat loss and deterioration (deforestation) caused by cattle grazing, firewood collection, fencing, and settlement development. Description ''Balebreviceps hillmani'' is a stout bodied frog. They are most commonly referred to as the Bale Mountains tree frog or the Ethiopian short-headed frog. They have a smooth ventral side, except their throat, while their dorsal side is thick and pitted. The throat of this species is wrinkly. They have short but muscular legs and their toes lack webbing and have a reduced fifth toe. The males lac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250Myr, million years ago), but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their divergent evolution, divergence from other amphibians may exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tadpole
A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found in adult amphibians, such as a lateral line, gills and swimming tails. As they undergo metamorphosis, they start to develop functional lungs for breathing air, and the diet of tadpoles changes drastically. A few amphibians, such as some members of the frog family Brevicipitidae, undergo direct development i.e., they do not undergo a free-living larval stage as tadpoles instead emerging from eggs as fully formed "froglet" miniatures of the adult morphology (biology), morphology. Some other species hatch into tadpoles underneath the skin of the female adult or are kept in a pouch until after metamorphosis. Having no hard skeletons, it might be expected that tadpole fos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexual Size Dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecious species, which consist of most animals and some plants. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, color, markings, or behavioral or cognitive traits. Male-male reproductive competition has evolved a diverse array of sexually dimorphic traits. Aggressive utility traits such as "battle" teeth and blunt heads reinforced as battering rams are used as weapons in aggressive interactions between rivals. Passive displays such as ornamental feathering or song-calling have also evolved mainly through sexual selection. These differences may be subtle or exaggerated and may be subjected to sexual selection and natural selection. The opposite of dimorphism is ''monomorphism'', when both biological sexes are phenotypically indistinguishable from e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphibian Families
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane, such as modern reptiles, birds and mammals). All extant taxon, extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass (biology), subclass Lissamphibia, with three living order (biology), orders: Anura (frogs and toads), Urodela (salamanders), and Gymnophiona (caecilians). Evolved to be mostly semiaquatic, amphibians have adapted to inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living in freshwater ecosystem, freshwater, wetland or terrestrial ecosystems (such as riparian woodland, fossorial and even arboreal habitats). Their biological life cycle, life cycle typically starts out as aquatic animal, aquatic larvae with gills known as tadpoles, but some species have devel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocrine Glands
Holocrine (from Ancient Greek ὅλος; ''hólos'', “whole, entire” + κρῑ́νω; ''krī́nō'', “to separate”) is a term used to classify the mode of secretion in exocrine glands in the study of histology. Holocrine secretions are produced in the cytoplasm of the cell and released by the rupture of the plasma membrane, which destroys the cell and results in the secretion of the product into the lumen. Holocrine gland secretion is the most damaging (to the cell itself and not to the host which begot the cell) type of secretion, with merocrine secretion being the least damaging and apocrine secretion falling in between. Examples of holocrine glands include the sebaceous glands of the skin and the meibomian glands of the eyelid. The sebaceous gland is an example of a holocrine gland because its product of secretion (sebum A sebaceous gland or oil gland is a microscopic exocrine gland in the skin that opens into a hair follicle to secrete an oily or waxy mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
