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

Tomopterna natalensis (Smith, 1849)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Cacosterninae > Genus: Tomopterna > Species: Tomopterna natalensis

Pyxicephalus natalensis Smith, 1849, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Appendix): 23. Type(s): Not stated; types not noted by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 31, but current museum records note holotype as BMNH 1858.11.25.87. Type locality: "the country to the eastward of the Cape Colony, more particularly the districts in the neighbourhood of Port Natal", Rep. South Africa.

Tomopterna natalensis — Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 129; Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 131.

Rana natalensis — Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 30.

Pyxicephalus pondoensis Power, 1935, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1935: 335. Holotype: MMK, by original designation. Type locality: "Port St. Johns", Pondoland, Rep. South Africa. Synonymy by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 101.

Rana (Pyxicephalus) natalensis — Inger, 1959, in Hanström et al. (eds.), S. Afr. Animal Life: 520.

Tomopterna natalensis — Van Dijk, 1966, Ann. Natal Mus., 18: 258; Vences, Glaw, Kosuch, Das, and Veith, 2000, Lourenço and Goodman (eds.), Diversité et Endéémisme à Madagascar: 232.

Rana (Tomopterna) natalensis — Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233, by implication.

Tomopterna (Tomopterna) natalensis — Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 57.

Common Names

Natal Burrowing Frog (Hewitt, 1937, Guide Vert. Fauna E. Cape Province, Rept. Amph. Fishes: 92; Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 79; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 122).

Natal Pyxie (Pienaar, 1963, Koedoe, 6: 79; Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 137; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 122).

Natal Sand Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 5; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 122; Channing, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 327-328; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 444).

Natal Bullfrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 110).

Distribution

Southern Mozambique and Transvaal, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa; northern highveld area in the Caledon Valley in Lesotho; Eswatini.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa

Comment

See accounts in Poynton and Broadley, 1985, Ann. Natal Mus., 27: 131, Lambiris, 1988, Lammergeyer, 39: 79–80, Channing, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 327–328, Pickersgill, 2007, Frog Search: 126–127, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 444–445. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 125, discussed the species in Lesotho. Du Preez and Carruthers, 2017, Frogs S. Afr., Compl. Guide: 472–473, provided an account, including a polygon range map, photograph, identification features, adult and larval morphology, habitat, and call. Phaka, Netherlands, Kruger, and Du Preez, 2017, Bilingual Field Guide Frogs Zululand: 73, 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.: 382–383, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.

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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