Breviceps

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Breviceps
Breviceps montanus

Breviceps montanus

Systematics
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank: Amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Order : Frog (anura)
Subordination : Neobatrachia
Family : Short-headed frogs (Brevicipitidae)
Genre : Breviceps
Scientific name
Breviceps
Merrem , 1820
Breviceps gibbosus in Cape Town

Breviceps , also known as rain frogs , is a genus of frogs from the short-headed frog family. Their distribution area includes southern Africa . The name rain frogs refers to the calling of the males, who especially court the females after rainfall. These then leave their caves under stones, fallen trees or in the dunes to mate.

description

The short-headed frogs of the genus Breviceps stand out due to their round shape, which is often reminiscent of stones in its color. Their limbs are very short and their hind legs, unlike those of most other frogs, are hardly suitable for jumping. Depending on the species, the frogs reach a head-to-trunk length of around 2 to 6 centimeters. Individual toes and fingers are often only a few millimeters long. The tips of the fingers and toes are not enlarged and have simple, bony terminal phalanges . With the exception of Breviceps macrops , the fingers and toes of the species of the genus are not webbed .

The muzzle is short and flat, the head is hardly separated from the body. The eyes are large and directed forward. The pupils are horizontal. The tongue is oval, with entire margins and freely liftable to the rear. The palate is covered with protuberances (papillae), palatal teeth and palatal folds are not present. The eardrum is not or only indistinctly visible. The coracoids are greatly widened at the medial end and form an acute angle with the well-developed, straight precoracoid. The omosternum is absent, the sternum is very small and cartilaginous. The transverse processes of the coccyx fused sacral vertebra are very much broadened.

Occurrence

The genus occurs in arid to semi-arid eastern and southern Africa. To the north, it ranges from South Africa to Mozambique and Tanzania to Kenya , and to the west to Namibia and Angola . The frogs inhabit the beaches, dunes and savannahs of the coastal strips of the countries mentioned. However, they can also be found in the grasslands of landlocked countries such as Lesotho , Botswana , Malawi , Zambia, and Zimbabwe .

Way of life

The species of the genus Breviceps usually spend the day in caves or buildings in the soil of their habitat. In the cooler night they search for food. The main source of food is insects , in some regions wingless termites .

The mating takes place mainly in the summer months of the southern hemisphere after heavy rains. Because of their short hind legs, the males are unable to perform the amplexus , which is common with frogs, i.e. holding the clamps during mating . Therefore, when mating, a sticky secretion is secreted, with the help of which the males remain attached to the females. The eggs are housed in an underground burrow by the females and fertilized by the males. The larvae develop directly in the eggs and hatch as finished frogs without a tadpole stage in the water.

Systematics

The genus Breviceps was first described by Blasius Merrem in 1820 . Merrem took the Breviceps gibbosus , known at the time as "arched short head" , which had already been mentioned by Carl von Linné in his work Systema naturae , as a type specimen of the genus, which then did not include any other species. 16 species are currently described:

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nery Castillo: Breviceps macrops at Amphibia Web, June 23, 2011, accessed February 18, 2014
  2. ↑ Fritz Nieden: Anura II. In: FE Schulze, W. Kükenthal, K. Heider (eds.): Das Tierreich, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin and Leipzig 1926, p. 4.
  3. ↑ a b Darrel R. Frost: Breviceps Merrem, 1820 . In: Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference . Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History, New York 1998-2017, accessed January 4, 2018
  4. ↑ EB Harper, GJ Measey, DA Patrick, M. Menegon & JR Vonesh: Field Guide to Amphibians of the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya. Camerapix Publishers International, Nairobi 2010
  5. ^ Alan Channing: A new species of Rain Frog from Namaqualand, South Africa (Anura: Brevicipitidae: Breviceps). Zootaxa, 3381, pp. 62-68, 2012
  6. ^ LR Minter: Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of Breviceps. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1998
  7. ↑ Blasius Merrem : Attempting a system of amphibians. Marburg 1820, pp. 177–178 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.5037
  8. ↑ a b L. R. Minter, EC Netherlands & LH Du Preez: Uncovering a hidden diversity: two new species of Breviceps (Anura: Brevicipitidae) from northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Zootaxa 4300, pp. 195-216, 2017

Web links

Commons : Breviceps  - collection of images, videos and audio files