Plaintive Rain Frog
Breviceps verrucosusSummary 1
The Plaintive Rain Frog or Rough Rain Frog (Breviceps verrucosus) is a species of frog in the Brevicipitidae family. It is found in Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, temperate grassland, and rural gardens. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Description 2
The snout vent length is up to 53 mm. Males are considerably smaller than females, weighing only one-third what the females weigh on average (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). The head is very small in relation to the globular body, with a flat face and short snout (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). The tympanum is generally visible (Passmore and Carruthers 1995) but may be covered with granules in some specimens (Channing 2001). The skin is granular both dorsally and ventrally, with dorsal granules large and pitted (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). A pair of glandular, parallel ridges runs longitudinally from behind the eyes to the posterior (Wager 1986). Limbs are short and stout, and hands and feet lack webbing (Bates 1995). The toes are long, with the fifth toe extending beyond the level of the basal tubercles of 4th toe; tip of 1st toe reaching the basal tubercle of 5th toe; 5th toe longer than 2nd toe, 1st toe half the length of the 2nd toe and extending beyond basal tubercle of 2nd toe (Bates 1995).
Color varies dorsally from tan, gray, or black, to a light brown mottling on a dark brown background (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). The dorsal ridges may be lighter in color than the rest of the dorsal skin. There is also sometimes a light vertebral line, as well as a light line that extends along the back of the legs from heel to heel (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). Ventral skin is off-white with a creamy mottling (Lambiris 1988).
Sources and Credits
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breviceps_verrucosus
- (c) AmphibiaWeb © 2000-2015 The Regents of the University of California, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/34267025
