Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Angola, Botswana, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, United Republic of, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Introduced: Mauritius.

	View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
	View Bd and Bsal data (18 records).

Comments
This species was featured as News of the Week August 31, 2020:

Despite ample evidence of the negative effects of parasites on amphibians, little is known about the majority of them. Netherlands et al. (2020) shed some light on this with the description of a new genus and species of filarial (roundworm) nematode, Neofoleyellides boerewors in South Africa. The parasite was found in Guttural Toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) and Garman's Toad (Sclerophrys garmani) with transmission from two mosquito vectors, Uranotaenia (Pseudoficalbia) mashonaensis and Uranotaenia (Pseudoficalbia) montana that preferentially sought out calling male toads. Surprisingly, while only male Guttural Toads were found to be infected, only female Garman's Toads were found to be infected with total infection rates of 13.5% and 6.7% respectively for each group. In lighter parasite loads, N. boerewors was found in the body cavities of toads. However, in highly infected toads, the parasite could be found subcutaneously, in the lymphatic tissue, and, in one disturbing case, in the host eye. Highly infected toads also had enlarged spleens, gallbladders, and livers, and had darker than normal external coloration. The individual with a parasite in the eye also appeared to lose vision in the eye as well as having swelling, infection, and internal bleeding of the eye. Despite this extreme case, the specific pathological effects of the parasite on the two species of Sclerophrys has yet to be determined. (Written by Ann Chang)

References
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 Sclerophrys gutturalis: Guttural Toad <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/189> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 21, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 21 Nov 2024.

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