Saturday, 4 October 2014

Creature 4: Breviceps namaquensis

An inflatable real  frog
Description:
Breviceps namaquensis or the Desert rain frog, otherwise known as the Namaqua rain frog is the strange individual shown below.



They are a burrowing frog, spending most of their time under ground as do many frogs that live in arid environments. When they are threatened they inflate their body and make a squeaking which sounds something like a kids toy. This is supposed to intimidate, I'll let you be the judge of how effective it is. Watch it here:

Distribution:
Breviceps namaquensis is known from the arid west coast of South Africa. I can't seem to find any records that extend into Namibia, but I suspect that might be sampling error or a lack of knowledge on my part because species other than humans don't tend to pay much heed to political boundaries.

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Brevicipitidae
Genus: Breviceps
Species: Breviceps namaquensis

Image links:
http://photodozen.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/namaqua-rain-frog.html
http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15179
https://www.tumblr.com/search/namaqua

Video links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBkWhkAZ9ds

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