Common Rain Frog (Frogs of South Africa)

Common Rain Frog

Breviceps adspersus

Summary ⁴

The Common Rain Frog or Bushveld Rain Frog (Breviceps adspersus) is a species of frog in the Brevicipitidae family. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, temperate grassland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, arable land, pastureland, plantations, and urban areas.

Taxon biology ⁵

Breviceps adspersus, also commonly called the Blaasop or the Rain Frog, is a common burrowing frog native to southern Africa. It has a round, globular body with a small head and short, robust limbs. Its back is brown, and while dorsal color patterning is highly variable in this species, it is usually marked by a series of light patches paired around the vertebral line. The underside is white and may have dark mottling. Breviceps adspersus is adapted to living on the savanna, favoring sandy and moist habitats but persisting in hot and dry regions including the Kalahari sand dunes. This species is sexually dimorphic, with females significantly larger than males. Like many other microhylid frogs that are fat-bodied burrowers, male B. adspersus glue themselves to the backs of females during amplexus.

The behavior of Breviceps adspersus is highly seasonal. It spends most of the year underground, hibernating in communal burrows during the winter and forming a mucous cocoon around its body to estivate through the dry season. Its emergence in October corresponds with the beginning of the wet season as well as the swarming of termites, its primary source of food. Like other members of its genus, B. adspersus most commonly calls in choruses rather than individually. The breeding period of this species lasts for approximately 4-6 weeks between late November and early January. Large yolk-filled eggs are laid in small clutches underground and develop directly into froglets without passing through a free-living tadpole stage.