Breviceps sylvestris FitzSimons, 1930

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

Breviceps sylvestris FitzSimons, 1930, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 14: 46. Holotype: TMP 6353, by original designation. Type locality: "Woodbush, Pietersburg District", Limpopo Province, Rep. South Africa.

Breviceps sylvestris taeniatus Poynton, 1963, Ann. Natal Mus., 15: 322. Holotype: TMP 25321, by original designation. Type locality: "near Mara, summit of the Soutpansberg (about 15 miles west of Louis Trichardt), Transvaal", Limpopo Province, Rep. South Africa.

Breviceps sylvestris sylvestrisPoynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 75.

English Names

Transvaal Forest Rain Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 92).

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

Forest Rain Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 226).

Northern Forest Rain Frog (Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 191; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 130).

Distribution

Montane forest and mountain grassland in eastern and northern Limpopo Province in two allopatric and diagnosible populations, Rep. South Africa.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: South Africa

Endemic: South Africa

Comment

Two allopatric subspecies recognized. See accounts by Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 226, Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 191-193, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 130-131 (who noted distinctive calls between the allopatric subspecies). See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 446. 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. 

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