Breviceps pentheri Werner, 1899

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

Breviceps pentheri Werner, 1899, Zool. Anz., 22: 116. Types: Presumably NHMW although not in recent type lists. Type locality: "Capland, wahrscheinlich Grahamstown", Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa. 

Breviceps parvus Hewitt, 1925, Ann. Natal Mus., 5: 192. Syntypes: AMG (several specimens, now in PEM) and MCZ 10836 (on exchange from PEM, according to Barbour and Loveridge, 1929, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 69: 230); PEM A1534 designated lectotype by Conradie, Branch, and Watson, 2015, Zootaxa, 3936: 52, who commented on the types generally. Type locality: "Grahamstown", Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa. Synonymy with Breviceps pentheri pentheri by Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 192. Synonymy by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 82.

Breviceps parvus caffer Hewitt, 1932, Ann. Natal Mus., 7: 109. Syntypes: AMG, by original designation; now in PEM according to Conradie, Branch, and Watson, 2015, Zootaxa, 3936: 52, who designated PEM A849 lectotype. Type locality: "Gleniffer, near Kei Road", Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa. Synonymy with Breviceps adspersus pentheri by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 82.

Breviceps pentheri pentheri — Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 192.

Breviceps pentheri caffer — Parker, 1934, Monogr. Frogs Fam. Microhylidae: 192.

Breviceps adspersus pentheri — Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 82; Gorham, 1974, Checklist World Amph.: 117.

Breviceps pentheri —  Nielsen, Daniels, Conradie, Heinicke, and Noonan, 2018, J. Biogeograph., 45: 2067–2079, by implication of finding Breviceps pentheri far phylogenetically from Breviceps adspersus. 

English Names

Bushveld Rain Frog (Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 108)

Distribution

Found on sandy to sandy loam soils in semiarid grasslands of the coastal region of the Eastern Cape Province, Rep. South Africa. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: South Africa

Endemic: South Africa

Comment

See literature of Breviceps adspersus with which this species was long confused. Removed from the synonymy of Breviceps adspersus by Nielsen, Daniels, Conradie, Heinicke, and Noonan, 2018, J. Biogeograph., 45: 2067–2079 (on the basis of being more closely related to Breviceps sopranus and Breviceps bagginsi and patristically distant from Breviceps adspersus) , where it had been placed by Poynton, 1964, Ann. Natal Mus., 17: 82. This phylogenetic result confirmed by Heinicke, Beidoun, Nielsen, and Bauer, 2021, Herpetol. Notes, 14: 397–406, even though they considered this taxon to be a subspecies of Breviceps adspersus

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