Stats

Lifespan

4-15 yrs

Size

Tiny

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Coastal desert

Range

Southern Africa

Movement

Burrowing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Burrowing

Status

Near Threatened

About

A round, sand-colored burrowing frog found only on a narrow strip of Namibian and South African coastal desert. It cannot hop — it can only walk or crawl — and squeaks like a squeeze toy when threatened.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2. 2.
   tadpole

   A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Anura

Family

Brevicipitidae

Genus

Breviceps

Species

Breviceps macrops