Ghost frog

Eastern ghost frog ( Heleophryne orientalis)

The ghost frogs ( Heleophrynidae ) were originally used as mono- generic family with Heleophryne the only genus. 2008, the South African herpetologist David Eduard van Dijk classified the Natal ghost frog in a newly created second genus Hadromophryne. The ghost frogs are found in the far South, where prevail cooler climatic conditions. Their habitat are rushing creeks and rivers. They are nocturnal. During the day they live hidden under rocks and in caves. The trivial name is probably derived from the transparent skin, especially on the abdomen, as well as from their occurrence on Table Mountain Skeleton Gorge.

Features

Ghost frogs reach a size of 35 to 65 mm. With its flat body they are adapted to a climbing through rock crevices. In proportion to their size, they have to cling very large T -shaped adhesive discs on the fingers and toes, with which they are able to rock. Other characteristics of this genus are teeth on the vomer, vertical pupils, a disk-shaped tongue, lack of a Sternalelements ( Omosternum, ossified anterior part of the sternum ), and only moderately broadened transverse processes of the sacral vertebra. The tadpoles have Mundsaugnäpfe that allow them to cling while feeding on stony ground. The development of the tadpole to adult frog takes two years.

System

The ghost frogs are closely related to the Seychellenfröschen and probably with the Australian Südfröschen. We distinguish six species in two genera:

Genus Heleophryne Sclater, 1898

  • Hewitt's ghost frog ( Heleophryne hewitti ) Boycott, 1988 Occurrence:. Geelhoutboom Rivers, Martin's, small and Diepkloof in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
  • Eastern ghost frog ( Heleophryne orientalis) FitzSimons, 1946 Occurrence:. Eastern Langeberg Mountains in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Was originally considered a subspecies of Heleophryne Purcelli.
  • Ghost frog ( Heleophryne Purcelli ) Sclater, 1898 Occurrence:. Western Cape Province, South Africa Cederberg from the north to the south to the Hex River, the Du Toit 's Kloof, Hottentots Holland and Klein River Mountains and eastward along the Riviersonderend and Langeberg Mountains.
  • King Spooks frog ( Heleophryne regis) Hewitt, 1910 Occurrence:. Western and Eastern Cape Province.
  • Cape ghost frog ( Heleophryne rosei ) Hewitt, 1925 Occurrence:. Western slopes of Table Mountain in the Western Cape Province. The IUCN calls him one of the hundred most endangered species

Genus Hadromophryne Van Dijk, 2008

  • Natal ghost frog ( Hadromophryne natalensis, synonym: Heleophryne natalensis ( Hewitt, 1913) ). Occurrence: Drakensberg and Maluti Mountains in South Africa and Lesotho and Swaziland.
Lissamphibia Gladwyn Kingsley Noble Mesa Sacrum Philip Sclater John Hewitt (herpetologist)
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