Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Breviceps mossambicus Peters, 1854

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Brevicipitidae > Genus: Breviceps > Species: Breviceps mossambicus

Engystoma granosum Cuvier, 1829, Regne Animal., Ed. 2, 2: 112. Types: Not stated; presumably originally in the MNHNP but not known to be there now. Type locality: "Cap" (= Cape of Good Hope, Western Cape Province, Rep. South Africa). Nomen nudum. Synonymy by Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 194.

Bufo (Engystoma) granosus Cuvier, 1829, Regne Animal., Ed. 2, 2: 112. by implication, an alternative original combination.

Breviceps mossambicus Peters, 1854, Ber. Bekannt. Verhandl. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1854: 628. Syntypes: ZMB 3554 (3 specimens) (see discussion by Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 517-518; and Bauer, Günther, and Robeck, 1996, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 72: 261); BMNH 1862.7.29.29 (reregistered 1947.2.30.93) recorded as a syntype in BMNH records. Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 195, also records BMNH 62.7.29.29 as a syntype. Type locality: "Insula Mossambique [all surviving syntypes], Sena".

Systoma granosum — Parker, 1868, Monogr. Struct. Devel. Shoulder-girdle Stern. Vert.: 69.

Breviceps mossambicus var. mossambicus — Werner, 1903, Abh. Math. Physik. Cl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., 22: 383, by implication.

Breviceps mitchelli Hoffman, 1944, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 182. Holotype: NMB A2632, by original designation. Type locality: "Chitiala [= Chitala River], Nyasaland", Malawi. Synonymy by Loveridge, 1953, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 110: 329, 393; Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 517.

English Names

Flat-faced Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 174; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4).

Mozambique Blaasop (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 81).

Mozambique Rain Frog (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 81; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 22; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 104; Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 69; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 220; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 120).

Moçambique Rain Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4).

MoZambique Rain Frog (Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 219).

Flat-faced Rain Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 104).

Mozambique Short-headed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 87).

Distribution

Eastern Tanzania south to eastern Rep. South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and through northern Mozambique and northern Zambia to southeastern Dem. Rep. Congo.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Botswana

Comment

Angolan material separated as an undescribed taxon by Poynton, 1982, S. Afr. J. Zool., 17: 67–74, who reported extensive hybridization with Breviceps adspersus (although this was rejected by Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 172–173). See Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 26: 517–528, and Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 68–69, for discussion of taxonomic problems and comparison with Breviceps adspersus. Minter, 1997, Ann. Natal Mus., 38: 5–19, reported on advertisement call structure and morphology. See also accounts by Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 221–222, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 219–220, Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 184–186, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 61–62, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 120–121. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 105–107, provided an account for Malawi. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 82–83, provided a brief account for the Eastern Arc Mountain region of Tanzania. Portik, Mulungu, Sequeira, and McEntee, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 395, provided a record for Zambézia Province, Mozambique. Ohler and Frétey, 2014, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist., 103: 81–82, provided a brief account for northern Mozambique. Conradie, Bittencourt-Silva, Engelbrecht, Loader, Menegon, Nanvonamuquitxo, Scott, and Tolley, 2016, Zoosyst. Evol., Berlin, 92: 163–180, reported populations from Mount Namuli (Zambezia Province) and Mount M'pàluwé (Nampula Province), Mozambique. In the Breviceps mossambicus group of Nielsen, Daniels, Conradie, Heinicke, and Noonan, 2018, J. Biogeograph., 45: 2067–2079, who reported on molecular phylogenetics and biogeography. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 25, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 120–121, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Bittencourt-Silva, Bayliss, and Conradie, 2020, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 14 (2: e247): 198–271, reported the species from Mount Lico, Ile District, Zambezia Province, northeast-central Mozambique; possibly to northeastern Botswana. Miguel, Matsinhe, Francisco, and Kaiser, 2022, Herpetol. Notes, 15: 773, reported a population in central Zambezia Province, Mozambique.

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For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.