Rough Moss Frog

Appearance

Males in the type series measured 11.9–14.1 mm (0.47–0.56 in) and the single female 15.5 mm (0.61 in) in snout–vent length. There are a large number of very distinct glandular protuberances on the dorsal surfaces, distinct from all other Arthroleptella species. Adults are uniform dark chocolate brown in colour, with slightly paler, irregular dorsolateral bands that may become visible under bright lighting conditions.

Range and habitat

It is endemic to South Africa and only known from the Klein Swartberg Mountain, an inselberg near Caledon, Western Cape.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Breeding

Calling males and egg sites define most frog field work. A species known from one ridge is as narrow as it sounds.

Eggs and damp skin make amphibians quick to vanish from a drained wetland or a forest stripped of litter.

In crisis

The habitat is under severe threat from fire and invasive plant species. In addition, the species has very small extent of occurrence (searches on neighbouring mountains have not revealed any specimens), and has therefore been assessed as "Critically Endangered".

Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.

Rough Moss Frog is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Rough Moss Frog, Wikidata item Q4662694. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.