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

Schismaderma carens (Smith, 1848)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Schismaderma > Species: Schismaderma carens

Bufo carens Smith, 1848, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Part 27): pl. 68, fig. 1 and facing page. Syntypes: BMNH 1865.5.11.124–126, 1858.11.25.91–93, according to Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 76. Type locality: "Interior of Southern Africa".

Schismaderma lateralis Smith, 1849, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Part 28, Errata sheet): 1 p. and Smith, 1849, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Appendix): 28. Replacement name for Bufo carens.

Schismaderma carens — Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 138; Van Dijk, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 255.

Common Names

Red Toad (Rose, 1950, Rep. Amph. S. Afr.: 107; Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 102; Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 78; Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 108; Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 110; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 22; Broadley, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 33; Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 78; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 44; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 103; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 117; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 190).

Red-backed Toad (Lambiris, 1990 "1989", Monogr. Mus. Reg. Sci. Nat. Torino, 10: 64).

African Split-skin Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 45).

Distribution

Southwestern Kenya near the border of Tanzania, extreme eastern Angola, and southeastern Dem. Rep. Congo through Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and along the Botswana border to northeastern Rep. South Africa, possibly into Lesotho and the Caprivi of Namibia.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Botswana, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Likely/Controversially Present: Lesotho, Namibia

Comment

Reviewed by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 60–62, as Bufo carens. See accounts by Poynton and Broadley, 1988, Ann. Natal Mus., 29: 484–485, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 103–105, Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 117–119, Theron and Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 92–94, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 554–555, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 190–192, provided accounts. Stevens, 1974, Arnoldia, Zimbabwe, 6: 5, reported one specimen from near Chikwawa in southeastern Malawi. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 141, suggested the possible presence of this species in Lesotho. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 133–134, provided an account for Malawi.Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 153–155, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Harper, Measey, Patrick, Menegon, and Vonesh, 2010, Field Guide Amph. E. Arc Mts. Tanzania and Kenya: 156–157, provided a brief account and photograph for the Eastern Arc Mountains region of Tanzania and Kenya. Viertel and Channing, 2017, Alytes, 33: 38–46, reported on larval morphology. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 29, provided a photograph, Zululand regional map, and a brief account of life history and identification. See Bittencourt-Silva, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13 (2: e181): 4, for comments on systematics, morphology, and ecology in western Zambia. Spawls, Wasonga, and Drewes, 2019, Amph. Kenya: 15, provided a range map for Kenya, photograph, and brief characterization. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 82–83, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. Dehling and Sinsch, 2023, Diversity, 15 (512): 1–81, discussed the range, identification, natural history, advertisement call, and conservation status in Rwanda.

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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.