''Hemisus barotseensis'' 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

Hemisotidae The shovelnose frogs are the species of frogs in the genus, ''Hemisus'', the only genus in the family Hemisotidae. They are found in tropical and subtropical sub-Saharan Africa. The shovelnose frogs are moderate-sized frogs, reaching a length of ...

. It is

endemic 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 elsew ...

to western

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and known with certainty only from the

Barotse Floodplain The Barotse Floodplain, also known as the Bulozi Plain, Lyondo or the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a designated Ramsar site, regarded as being of high conserv ...

, along the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

. The record from the

Kafue Flats The Kafue Flats (locally called Butwa) are a vast area of swamp, open lagoon and seasonally inundated flood-plain on the Kafue River in the Southern, Central and Lusaka provinces of Zambia. They are a shallow flood plain 240 km long and a ...

is uncertain.

Description

Males measure and females in snout–vent length. The body is spherical with small head. The snout is tapered and has a hardened, pale tip. The arms short and muscular, with pointed fingers (the fore limbs are used in burrowing). The hind limbs are short. Skin is smooth. The dorsum and sides are translucent silvery-yellow on black background, with black mottling. Most specimens have a thin, pale vertebral stripe. The male advertisement call is a long trill. Pulses come in quadruplets, with a pulse rate of 28 per second. The dominant frequency is 4.3 kHz. The call is unique among ''Hemisus''.

Habitat and conservation

''Hemisus barotseensis'' lives in floodplains in

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

s. It is probably

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

, and nests in burrows in wet soil, adjacent to temporary water. Threats to it are unknown. It occurs in the Liuwa Plain and

Lochinvar National Park __NOTOC__ The Lochinvar National Park lies south west of Lusaka in Zambia, on the south side of the Kafue River.The habitats the national park protects are a large portion of the southern Kafue Flats floodplain, including the Chunga Lagoon, and dri ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1595182 barotseensis Frogs of Africa Amphibians of Zambia Endemic fauna of Zambia Amphibians described in 2002 Taxa named by Donald George Broadley Taxonomy articles created by Polbot