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Anhydrophryne Ngongoniensis
''Anhydrophryne ngongoniensis'', the Ngongoni moss frog, Natal bandit frog, or mistbelt chirping frog (and many combinations of the previous), is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae. It is endemic to South Africa. ''Anhydrophryne ngongoniensis'' inhabit montane forest and, to a lesser extent, high-altitude grassland. The habitat of this species is being lost rapidly because of afforestation, the spread of invasive wattle trees, and inappropriate fire regimes. Distribution This tiny frog is restricted to an extremely small range, on grassy slopes in indigenous grasses of hills facing the ocean. The eastern escarpment of the Drakensberg Mountains is on the windward side and receives cool moist air so that it could be said to be in a permanent mist belt. It hides in the base of grass tussocks. Description and discovery It is small (1.6–1.8 cm) sandy/golden brown frog with four broken stripes of darker brown down the back extending onto the limbs. A very distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 Myr, million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyxicephalidae
The Pyxicephalidae are a family of frogs currently found in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in the Eocene, the taxon '' Thaumastosaurus'' lived in Europe. Classification The Pyxicephalidae contain two subfamilies, with a total of 12 genera. This family was formerly considered part of the family Ranidae. Family Pyxicephalidae * Subfamily Cacosterninae'' ** Genus '' Amietia'' (16 species) ** Genus '' Anhydrophryne'' (3 species) ** Genus '' Arthroleptella'' (10 species) – moss frogs ** Genus '' Cacosternum'' (16 species) ** Genus '' Microbatrachella'' (monotypic) – micro frog ** Genus '' Natalobatrachus'' (monotypic) ** Genus '' Nothophryne'' (5 species) – mongrel frogs ** Genus '' Poyntonia'' (monotypic) ** Genus '' Strongylopus'' (10 species) ** Genus ''Tomopterna'' (16 species) *Subfamily Pyxicephalinae'' ** Genus '' Aubria'' (2 species) – Masako fishing frog, brown ball frog ** Genus '' Pyxicephalus'' (4 species) – African bull frogs, pixie frog ** Genus '' Thaumastos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus name is New Latin, borrowed from the Greek (), a term used by Dioscorides for a preparation extracted from the leaves and fruit pods of ''Vachellia nilotica'', the original type of the genus. In his ''Pinax'' (1623), Gaspard Bauhin mentioned the Greek from Dioscorides as the origin of the Latin name. In the early 2000s it had become evident that the genus as it stood was not monophyletic and that several divergent lineages needed to be placed in separate genera. It turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia was not closely related to the much smaller group of African lineage that contained ''A. nilotica''—the type species. This meant that the Australasian lineage (by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drakensberg Mountains
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within the border region of South Africa and Lesotho. The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for more than from the Eastern Cape Province in the South, then successively forms, in order from south to north, the border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape and the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal Province. Thereafter it forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and next as the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga Province. The escarpment winds north from there, through Mpumalanga, where it includes features such as the Blyde River Canyon, Three Rondavels, and God's Window. It then extends farther north to Hoedspruit in southeastern Limpopo where it is known as 'Klein Drakensberg' by the Afrikaner. From Hoedspruit it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperolius
''Hyperolius'' (commonly known as the African reed frogs or reed frogs) is a large genus of frogs in the family Hyperoliidae from Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov .... Species Different sources may delimit species differently, and as new species are still being described, different number of species can be found. As of early 2022, ''Amphibian Species of the World'' lists 145 species and ''AmphibiaWeb'' 152 species. The following list follows the ''Amphibian Species of the World'': Nomina inquirenda The following species are considered '' nomina inquirenda'' (species of doubtful identity): * ''Rappia granulata'' Tornier, 1896 * ''Rappia fimbriata'' Tornier, 1896 * '' Hyperolius laticeps'' Ahl, 1931 * '' Hyperolius thoracotuberculatus'' Ahl, 1931 R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonotaxis
A taxis (; ) is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stimulus) in that in the case of taxis, the organism has motility and demonstrates guided movement towards or away from the stimulus source. It is sometimes distinguished from a kinesis, a non-directional change in activity in response to a stimulus. Classification Taxes are classified based on the type of stimulus, and on whether the organism's response is to move towards or away from the stimulus. If the organism moves towards the stimulus the taxis are positive, while if it moves away the taxis are negative. For example, flagellate protozoans of the genus ''Euglena'' move towards a light source. This reaction or behavior is called ''positive phototaxis'' since phototaxis refers to a response to light and the organism is moving towards the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthroleptella
''Arthroleptella'' is a genus of frogs known as moss frogs in the family Pyxicephalidae. The ten species of this genus are endemic to South Africa. It contains the following species: * '' Arthroleptella atermina'' Turner and Channing, 2017 - Riviersonderent moss frog * '' Arthroleptella bicolor'' Hewitt, 1926 – Bainskloof moss frog * '' Arthroleptella draconella'' Turner and Channing, 2017 – Drakenstein moss frog * '' Arthroleptella drewesii'' Channing, Hendricks and Dawood, 1994 – Drewes' moss frog * '' Arthroleptella kogelbergensis'' Turner and Channing, 2017 – Kogelsberg moss frog * '' Arthroleptella landdrosia'' Dawood and Channing, 2000 – Landdros moss frog * '' Arthroleptella lightfooti'' (Boulenger, 1910) – Lightfoot's moss frog * '' Arthroleptella rugosa'' Turner and Channing, 2008 – Rough moss frog * '' Arthroleptella subvoce'' Turner, de Villiers, Dawood and Channing, 2004 – Northern moss frog * '' Arthroleptella villiersi'' Hewitt, 1935 – De Vill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anhydrophryne
''Anhydrophryne'' is a genus of frogs in the family Pyxicephalidae, formerly in Petropedetidae. It is endemic to South Africa. Until recently, the genus was monotypic, containing only '' Anhydrophryne rattrayi'', until it absorbed two more species formerly classified as belonging to genus ''Arthroleptella''. Species The genus contains these species: * '' Anhydrophryne hewitti'' (FitzSimons, 1947) – Hewitt's moss frog * '' Anhydrophryne ngongoniensis'' (Bishop and Passmore, 1993) – Ngoni moss frog * '' Anhydrophryne rattrayi'' Hewitt, 1919 – Hogsback frog The Hogsback frog (''Anhydrophryne rattrayi''), or Rattray's forest frog, is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae. It is one of three species within the genus '' Anhydrophryne''. It is endemic to the Eastern Cape province of South Afri ... References Endemic amphibians of South Africa Pyxicephalidae Amphibian genera Taxa named by John Hewitt (herpetologist) {{Ranoidea-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darrel Frost
Darrel Richmond Frost (born 1951) is an American herpetologist and systematist. He was previously head curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, as well as president of both the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (1998) and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2006). Four taxa are named in his honor: the toad genus '' Frostius'' (which includes Frost's toad), the tree frog '' Dendropsophus frosti'', Darrel's chorus frog ''Microhyla darreli'', and Frost's arboreal alligator lizard '' Abronia frosti''. Life Frost became interested in animals after witnessing his father kill a rattlesnake at the age of four. He earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Arizona in 1973, an M.S. in Zoology from Louisiana State University in 1978, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Systematics from the University of Kansas in 1988. He became an adjunct professor at Columbia University in 2000. In 1990, Frost was appointed Assistant Curator of H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frogs Of Africa
The fauna of Africa, in its broader sense, is all the animals living in Africa and its surrounding seas and islands. The more characteristic African fauna is found in the Afrotropical realm. Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and equally to north and south of the equator creates favourable conditions for rich wildlife. Africa is home to many of the world's most famous fauna in human culture such as lions‚ rhinos‚ cheetahs‚ giraffes‚ antelope, hippos, leopards, zebras‚ and African elephants among many others. Origins and history of African fauna Whereas the earliest traces of life in fossil record of Africa date back to the earliest times, the formation of African fauna as we know it today, began with the splitting up of the Gondwana supercontinent in the mid-Mesozoic era. After that, four to six faunal assemblages, the so-called African Faunal Strata (AFSs) can be distinguished. The isolation of Africa was broken intermittently by discontinuous "filter routes" tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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