Black Rain Frog
Black Rain Frog
Breviceps fuscus
Amphibia
RARE

Stats

Lifespan
10-15 yrs
Size
Small
Diet
Insectivore
Activity
Nocturnal
Social
Solitary
Biome
Temperate shrubland
Range
Southern Africa
Movement
Burrowing
Breeding
Egg-laying
Defense
Burrowing
Status
Rare

About

The Black Rain Frog is a round, burrowing frog from South Africa's coastal fynbos, famous online for its perpetually grumpy-looking face. It skips amplexus entirely: since its stout body can't be grasped, the much smaller male simply glues himself to the female's back with a sticky secretion during mating.

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

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Amphibia
Order
Anura
Family
Brevicipitidae
Genus
Breviceps
Species
Breviceps fuscus