Poyntonophrynus vertebralis (Smith, 1848)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Poyntonophrynus > Species: Poyntonophrynus vertebralis

Bufo vertebralis Smith, 1848, Illust. Zool. S. Afr., 3 (Part 27): pl. 68, fig. 2 and 2a. Syntypes: BMNH 1947.2.20.96–99, 1947.2.21.1–2 (formerly of a series numbered 1858.11.25.11), according to Grandison, 1985, in Frost (ed.), Amph. Species World: 64. Type locality: "In the interior districts of Southern Africa north-east of the Cape Colony"; type locality restricted to "Cape of Good Hope", Western Cape Province, Rep. South Africa, by lectotype designation of Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 567.

Bufo vertebralis vertebralisPoynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 62.

Poyntonophrynus vertebralisFrost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 365.

English Names

Pigmy Toad (Hewitt, 1937, Guide Vert. Fauna E. Cape Province, Rept. Amph. Fishes: 89; Rose, 1950, Rep. Amph. S. Afr.: 107; Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 103; Wager, 1965, Frogs S. Afr.: 115; Broadley, 1973, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 10: 22; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 80).

Pygmy Toad (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 98).

Flat Toad (Broadley, 1971, Puku, 6: 110).

African Dwarf Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 44).

Southern Pygmy Toad (Bates, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 82; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 170).

Karoo Pygmy Toad (Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 82). 

Distribution

Nama Karoo Biome in Northern, Eastern, and Western Cape Provinces and the Orange Free State, into adjacent southeastern Botswana as well as in to the extreme western highlands of Lesotho around Maseru.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa

Comment

Considered a junior synonym of Schismaderma carens by a number of early authors (e.g., Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 301). See comment under Bufo fenoulheti. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 98, Bates, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 82–84, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 170–171, provided accounts. Bates and Haacke, 2003, Navors. Nas. Mus. Bloemfontein, 19: 121, provided the Lesotho records. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 152, reported on comparative tadpole morphology. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 82–83, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map. 

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