''Callulina dawida'', also known as Taita warty frog, is a species of
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-f ...
s in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Brevicipitidae
Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of 2020 contains 37 species in 5 genera. eb application 2013. Berkeley, CaliforniaBrevicipitidae AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/. ...
.
[ It is endemic to ]Kenya
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, where it is only found in severely fragmented montane forests
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
in Taita Hills
The Taita Hills, sometimes also spelled as Teita Hills, are a mountain range located in the Taita-Taveta County in south-eastern Kenya. The hills consist of three massifs: Dawida, Sagalla in the southern side of Voi township and Kasigau in ...
in the south-eastern part of the country. Originally ''Callulina'' was thought to be monotypic and widely distributed through Eastern Arc Mountains
The Eastern Arc Mountains is a chain of mountains found in Kenya and Tanzania. The chain runs from northeast to southwest, with the Taita Hills being in Kenya and the other ranges being in Tanzania. They are delimited on the southwest by the fau ...
in Tanzania and in southern Kenya. However, within the last decade eight new species have been identified, many which are considered critically endangered by IUCN.Dawida language
Taita is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Saghala (Northern Sagala, Sagalla) variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from the Da ...
, which is spoken in Taita Hills.[
]
Description
''Callulina dawida'' is a medium-sized frog in which females can reach 55 mm and males 35 mm. The toes of the hind feet are arranged in two opposable groups, with the fourth and fifth together, pointing backward when walking on the forest floor. The skin is warty and dorsal adult colour is variable from light brown, grey, dark brown, orange to yellowish. In terms of colouration there is no well-marked sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
.[
]
Habitat
''Callulina dawida'' is a high-elevation species occurring in indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
forest fragments above 1400 m (4600 ft) within Dawida and Mbololo blocks of the Taita Hills. The species is most abundant in the high altitude, but is absent in typical farmland and plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
habitats. ''Callulina dawida'' is most active during the warm months of January to March and August to October and less so during the cold months of June and July. They are also less active during the peak rainy seasons in April and November/December, and especially in July, which is the coldest month in the Taita Hills.[
''Callulina dawida'' is a solitary species. Movement is limited in this species justifying its survival in tiny forest patches. The frogs are good climbers and may perch higher than 1 m on tree stems.][
]
Breeding
''Callulina dawida'' start breeding with calls mainly during the long dry season from around July.[ The call is a fast repeated “brrr brr brr...”, with the peak frequency at 1.6 kHz.][ Then egg clutch is deposited on leaf litter nests in September and the mother broods them for three months until November. ''Callulina dawida'', like other brevicipitids, deposit relatively small clutches of large yolk-rich eggs that are buffered by infertile jelly-filled egg capsules, possibly to prevent the fertile eggs from ]desiccation
Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container.
...
during the dry period. Eggs hatch at different times and the young ones immediately leave the nest site. After hatching around November the froglets are grown-up enough to move around and be easily detected in January and February. ''Callulina dawida'' reaches sexual maturity within eight months of hatching.[
]
Conservation
''Callulina dawida'' has been evaluated by IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
as a critically endangered species because its small and fragmented range and ongoing deterioration and loss of its habitat.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2934309
Callulina
Endemic fauna of Kenya
Amphibians of Kenya
Frogs of Africa
Amphibians described in 2009