Description
The background body color ranges from light to dark brown, and has rows of lighter yellowish or orange patches on either side of the vertebral column and on the sides. Sometimes dark speckles and spots are present, as are a narrow, light vertebral stripe and a light line extending from heal to heal. A broad black stripe runs from the eye to the armpit. The tympanum is not visible, the dorsal surface can be granular or smooth, and the ventral surface is smooth and usually unmarked. While all females have a mottled throat, males may have either a totally black or a mottled throat, which may be divided by a black stripe. Palmar tubercles are moderately to well developed and the basal suparticular tubercles are single. The inner and outer toes are not noticeably longer than they are wide.
Calls are short, blurred whistles, which are emitted in a continuous series of single calls, or in groups of 2, 3, or more calls.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (3 records).

Passmore and Carruthers (1995) report that this frog is found in South Africa and Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, and Namibia.
B. adspersus usually breeds in open and closed woodland with sandy soils. In South Africa, it is found along the hot, dry foothills of the northeastern escarpment, and is absent from the higher slopes and crests of the mountains. In the northern part of the its South African range, it usually occurs in dry bushveld.

References

Passmore, N. and Carruthers, V. (1995). South African Frogs, a Complete Guide. Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Phaka, F.M., Netherlands, E.C., Kruger, D.J.D., Du Preez, L.H. (2019). Folk taxonomy and indigenous names for frogs in Zululand, South Africa. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 15, 17. [link]

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2023 Breviceps adspersus: Common rain frog <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/2372> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 30, 2023.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2023. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 30 Nov 2023.

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