HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Mozambique rain frog (''Breviceps mossambicus''), also known as the flat-faced frog, is a species of
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 ski ...
in the family
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. eb application 2013. Berkeley, CaliforniaBrevicipitidae AmphibiaWeb, available at http ...
. It is found in
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
,
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
,
Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...
,
Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
,
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
,
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 ...
,
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
,
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
, and possibly
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
. Its natural
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s are dry
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 ...
, moist savanna, temperate
shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...
, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland,
arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...
, pasture land and rural gardens.


Description

The Mozambique rain frog is a sturdy animal, stout with short legs and a blunt snout. Females grow to a snout-to-vent length of about . The dorsal surface is greyish-brown speckled with darker colour. A dark streak joins the eye and the front leg, passing over the tympanum. The belly is white with dark blotches and in males, the throat is brown. The feet are unwebbed and the outer two toes are much smaller than the other ones. This species could be confused with '' Callulina kreffti'' but that species is more arboreal in habit and has square-ended toepads to assist it in climbing trees. Another frog that is very similar in appearance is '' Breviceps fichus'' but the calls of the two species are markedly different.


Distribution and habitat

The Mozambique rain frog has a widespread distribution in southern and central Africa. Its range extends from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania in the north to the Republic of South Africa in the south. Its natural habitats are savannah, bushy country and open woodland, especially the moister parts of these. It is found in the lowlands and on the lower slopes in mountainous areas up to a height of above sea level. It is an adaptable species and seems to be able to cope with habitat degradation.


Biology

In dry weather the Mozambique rain frog conceals itself under rocks or in hidden places among tree roots. It feeds on small invertebrates. After substantial rainfall, swarms of winged
termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s occur and these frogs emerge in large numbers to feed on them. The Mozambique rain frog lays a small clutch of about twenty-two yolk-rich eggs in a spherical chamber under leaf litter or a grass tussock. Each egg is about in diameter and about double this size including the capsule. The embryos take six to eight weeks to develop inside the eggs into young froglets. There is no
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, ...
stage or need for a body of water in which to reproduce. The female often provides some level of parental care by staying near the clutch but outside the sealed chamber.


Status

The
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...
lists the Mozambique rain frog as being of "
Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
". This is because it has a wide range, occurs in a variety of habitats and is able to move to new locations if disturbed in its original habitat.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2241041 Breviceps Amphibians described in 1854 Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Taxonomy articles created by Polbot