Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Search tool	Example of search string in box	What that means to the database
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	Hyl*	Will find all uses of "Hyl . . ." anywhere in a record: e.g., Hylarana, Hyla, Hylidae, Hylinae, Hylaedactyla.
* = "wildcard". Allows a partial letter string to be entered and implies either no or various extension on this letter string	*Hyla	Will find all uses of ". . . hyla" anywhere in a record: e.g., Hyla, Hylidae, Plectrohyla, Ptychadena hylaea, Adenomera hylaedactyla
Single word	Hyla	Will find all records that contain stand-alone uses of Hyla: e.g., Hyla, Hyla arenicolor
Strings of words without quotation marks	Lithobates pipiens	Interprets this as "Lithobates OR pipiens" so will find the union of all records that contain either "Lithobates" or "pipiens": e.g., Lithobates omiltemanus, Hylorana pipiens
Strings of word with quotation marks	"Lithobates pipiens"	Interprets this as "Lithobates AND pipiens" so will return all records that have the character string "Lithobates pipiens" anywhere within a record: e.g., all members of the Lithobates pipiens complex.
AND statement. Means that the results of the search must include both words held together by an AND	Lithobates AND pipiens	Same as "Lithobates pipiens"
OR statement. Means that the results of the search will all records that have either of the terms held together by an OR	Lithobates OR "Costa Rica"	Recovers all records that contain the word "Lithobates" or "Costa Rica": 402 records inasmuch as this will include all records for the entire amphibian fauna of Costa Rica
Combining Boolean operators within the Basic Search box (AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks)	Lithobates AND "Costa Rica" NOT forreri	Recovers only records that contain the word Lithobates AND "Costa Rica", but excludes any record that contains the word "forreri" in any part of the record: 9 records
Printable HELP file

Breviceps gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Brevicipitidae > Genus: Breviceps > Species: Breviceps gibbosus

Rana gibbosa Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., Ed. 10, 1: 211. Type(s): Not stated; holotype in NHRM according to Andersson, 1900, Bih. K. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. Handl., 26: 20. (See Andersson, 1900, Bih. K. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. Handl., 26 for image of NHRM type.) Laurenti, 1768, Spec. Med. Exhib. Synops. Rept.: 27, notes specimens in the "Museo regio Suecico", "Academico Upsaliensi", and "[Museum] Gronoviano", so some or all of these specimens might have been available to Linnaeus. Type locality: "Exteris regionibus"; rendered as "Africa" by Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 178.

Bufo gibbosus — Laurenti, 1768, Spec. Med. Exhib. Synops. Rept.: 27.

Buffo gibbosus — Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, Quarto ed., 1: Table following page 618 and referencing account on page 599.

Breviceps gibbosus — Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 178. Schinz, 1822, Thierr. Naturgesch., 2: 169; Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 53; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 176.

Bombinator gibbosus — Schlegel, 1826, Bull. Sci. Nat. Geol., Paris, Ser. 2, 9: 239.

Engystoma gibbosa — Fitzinger, 1826, Neue Class. Rept.: 65.

Engystoma dorsatum Cuvier, 1829, Regne Animal., Ed. 2, 2: 112. Substitute name for Rana gibbosa Linnaeus, 1758. Synonymy by Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 755.

Bufo (Breviceps) dorsatus — Cuvier, 1829, Regne Animal., Ed. 2, 2: 111, by implication.

Bufo (Breviceps) gibbosus — Cuvier, 1829, Regne Animal., Ed. 2, 2: 111, by implication.

Systoma gibbosum — Wagler, 1830, Nat. Syst. Amph.: 205. Parker, 1868, Monogr. Struct. Devel. Shoulder-girdle Stern. Vert.: 69.

English Names

Short-headed Frog (Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 170).

Headless Frog (Rana acephala [no longer recognized]: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 170).

Hunched Toad (Lacépède, 1802, Nat. Hist. Ovip. Quadruped. (Kerr transl.): 310).

Cape Short-head (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 137; Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4).

South African Rain Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 174).

Rain Frog (Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 86).

Verruculose Rainfrog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Verruculose Short-headed Frog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Linnaeus' Short-headed Frog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Linnaeus' Rainfrog (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15).

Cape Rain Frog (Passmore and Carruthers, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 19: 4; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 88; De Villiers, 1988, in Branch (ed.), South Afr. Red Data Book, Amph. Rept.: 46; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 114).

Blaasop (Rose, 1962, Rep. Amph. S. Afr., Ed. 2: 86; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 88).

Jan Blom (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 88).

Cape Short-head (Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 88).

South African Short-headed Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 87).

Giant Rain Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 216).

Distribution

Sandy areas of the Cape Peninsula from Piketberg to the Stellenbosch area, with a population in Newlands (Cape Town), Western Cape Province, Rep. South Africa.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: South Africa

Endemic: South Africa

Comment

See accounts by De Villiers, 1988, in Branch (ed.), South Afr. Red Data Book, Amph. Rept.: 46-47, Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 216–217, Harrison and Minter, 2004, in Minter et al. (eds.), Atlas Frogs S. Afr. Lesotho and Swaziland: 177–180, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 114–115. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 446. In the Breviceps gibbosus group of Nielsen, Daniels, Conradie, Heinicke, and Noonan, 2018, J. Biogeograph., 45: 2067–2079, who reported on molecular phylogenetics and biogeography.

External links:

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To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
For additional information see AmphibiaWeb report
For information on conservation status and distribution see the IUCN Redlist
For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.