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 verrucosus Rapp, 1842

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

Breviceps verrucosus Rapp, 1842, Arch. Naturgesch., 8: 291. Type(s): Not designated. Type locality: "Natal", Rep. South Africa.

Breviceps tympanifer Hewitt, 1925, Ann. Natal Mus., 5: 190. Syntypes: AMG 390 (2 specimens), by original designation (but see comments by Conradie, Branch, and Watson, 2015, Zootaxa, 3936: 52); now in PEM; PEM A4811 designated lectotype by Conradie, Branch, and Watson, 2015, Zootaxa, 3936: 52–53, and who commented on the confusing status of specimens as types generally. Type locality: "Pirie, [Eastern] C.[ape] P.[rovince]", Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 72.

Breviceps rugosus Power, 1926, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., 20: 467. Holotype: MMK, by original designation. Type locality: "Marianhill, [KwaZulu-]Natal", Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 188; Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 70.

Breviceps striatus Hoffman, 1940, Soöl. Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 1: 101. Holotype: NMB 1691, by original designation. Type locality: "Mazongwaan Forest, Gretown, [KwaZulu-]Natal", Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 70.

Breviceps maculatus FitzSimons, 1947, Ann. Natal Mus., 11: 134. Holotype: NMP 656, by original designation. Type locality: "Bushman's Peak (8500 ft. altitude), Giant's Castle, Drakensberg, [KwaZulu-]Natal", Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 84.

Breviceps verrucosus tympanifer — Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 72. Distinctiveness from Breviceps verrucosus verrucosus rejected by Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 195.

Breviceps verrucosus verrucosus — Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 72.

Common Names

Plaintive Rain Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 84; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 227; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 132).

Natal Short-headed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 88).

Rain Frog (Breviceps tympanifer [no longer recognized]: Hewitt, 1937, Guide Vert. Fauna E. Cape Province, Rept. Amph. Fishes: 113).

Spotted Short-headed Frog (Breviceps maculatus [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 87).

Distribution

Drakensburg and Eastern Plateau slopes of Rep. South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa

Comment

See accounts by Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 61-62 (who noted possible sympatry between Breviceps verrucosus tympanifer and Breviceps verrucosus verrucosus), Branch, 1990, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 37: 20, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 228, Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 194-195, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 132-133. Breviceps maculatus was resurrected by Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 65, who provided a brief account, but this resurrection was disputed by Channing, 1989, Lammergeyer, 40: 2, who noted that the difference between the taxa was solely a minor difference in color pattern). Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 121-122, discussed the species in Lesotho. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 140–141, provided a brief account for southern Africa, including a polygon range map, photograph, identification features, morphology, habitat, and call. In the Breviceps gibbosus group of Nielsen, Daniels, Conradie, Heinicke, and Noonan, 2018, J. Biogeograph., 45: 2067–2079, who reported on molecular phylogenetics and biogeography. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 122–123, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.

External links:

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For access to general information see Wikipedia
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To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.