Rose's ghost frog (''Heleophryne rosei''), or Table Mountain ghost 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 Heleophrynidae

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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 ...

. It is a medium-sized species with purple or brown blotches on a pale green background and large discs on its fingers and toes. It has a very restricted range, being only known from the slopes of parts of

Table Mountain Table Mountain (; ) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, cableway or hik ...

. The

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, ...

s live in permanent streams but these are in danger of drying up because of the establishment of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

plantations. Because of its small range and changes in its habitat, this frog is listed as

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

Description

This is a moderately sized frog, with the larger female up to and the smaller male up to in length. The colouration of adults is striking, often a pale green background with purple to brown blotches. The fingers and toes have large, triangular terminal discs. A rudimentary thumb is present as a distinct inner metacarpal tubercle. The feet are half webbed, with one phalanx of the fifth toe free of web. The tadpole has neither an upper nor lower jaw sheath, but up to 17 rows of posterior labial teeth. The tadpole also has a large oral disc and is able to climb up wet vertical rock faces.

Distribution

This species is known only from the southern, eastern, and marginally western slopes of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Habitat

The typical habitat of this frog includes moist, forested gorges, with vertical rock faces to more exposed streams surrounded by dense marginal vegetation, the latter habitat usually found at higher altitudes. Tadpoles require year-round supply of water whereas adults can stray away from streams, even to be found in caves.

Behaviour

The frogs are found on rock ledges or up in vegetation at night, retreating under large rocks and in cracks of rocks during the day.

Diet

These frogs eat a range of small insects and other forest arthropods.

Reproduction

Breeding starts in November when the streams are low but the temperature is high. The male's secondary sexual characteristics include a number of small black spines on the outside surfaces of the forearms, on the back, and on the top of the back legs. The eggs have not been found, but in other species they are deposited under rocks in streams. The tadpoles develop for about 12 months.

Conservation status

This species is listed as

by the

(IUCN) and in the South African Red Data Book. The population is small, geographically restricted, and threatened by the plantations of pines on the mountain that cause the streams to dry up. Many of the streams historically populated by ''Heleophryne rosei'' were diverted during the 1900s in order to supply the newly built reservoirs on Table Mountain. Due to the ancient,

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

origin of the family Heleophrynidae and their evolutionary significance, ''H. rosei'' is listed as #11 on the list of the top amphibian

EDGE species Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2712058 Heleophryne Frogs of Africa Endemic amphibians of South Africa Natural history of Cape Town Table Mountain Critically endangered fauna of Africa EDGE species Amphibians described in 1925 Taxa named by John Hewitt (herpetologist) Taxonomy articles created by Polbot