Mistbelt moss frog
Anhydrophryne ngongoniensisSummary 1
The Ngoni moss frog (Arthroleptella ngongoniensis) is a species of frog in the Petropedetidae family. It is endemic to South Africa. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate grassland, and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Description 2
The dorsal colouration is fairly uniform in all individuals (no sexual dimorphism), being a base of sandy to golden brown with four indistinct stripes, composed of small dark brown spots. There is a broad dark brown stripe (bordered ventrally and dorsally by a thin white/silvery stripe) beginning at the tip of the snout, passing through the nostril, eye and tympanum and ending at the axilla. The belly is white, while the ventral surface of the limbs and throat are pale yellow.
This species can be easily identified by its call and it is often difficult to locate the calling frog without destroying its habitat. Males produce a very soft, trilled, cricket-like call, repeated three or four times with an interval of about one second between calls. The call consists of 8-10 pulses with a duration of 55 ms and the frequency at the midpoint is 4.5 kHz (Bishop and Passmore 1993). Males call in bouts of up to seven calls often alternating with an adjacent male.
Urgent conservation action was recommended by Harrison et al. (2001) as it was thought that the situation with regard to this species could deteriorate very rapidly. A population and habitat viability assessment was recommended, along with a detailed survey to identify the location and size of the remaining populations of this species. In particular, it was considered important that the only remaining protected areas of moist upland grasslands were extensively surveyed to detect any previously unknown populations.
Management recommendations include the establishment of a monitoring programme, wild population management, habitat management and limiting factor management. In view of its extremely restricted and fragmented distribution, priority should be given to the conservation and management of the remaining habitat before this species becomes extinct.
This species was transferred to the monotypic genus Anhydrophryne by Dawood and Stam (2006).
Sources and Credits
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhydrophryne_ngongoniensis
- (c) AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2015 The Regents of the University of California, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/34266122
