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

Pyxicephalus Tschudi, 1838

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Pyxicephalinae > Genus: Pyxicephalus

5 species

Pyxicephalus Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 46. Type species: Pyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838, by subsequent designation of Fitzinger, 1843, Syst. Rept.: 32.

Maltzania Boettger, 1881, Abh. Senckenb. Naturforsch. Ges., 12: 417. Type species: Maltzania bufonia Boettger, 1881, by monotypy. Synonymy by Barbour and Loveridge, 1928, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 50: 200. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1882, Zool. Rec., 18: 14; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 7.

Phrynopsis Pfeffer, 1893, Jahrb. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst., 10: 101. Type species: Phrynopsis boulengerii Pfeffer, 1893, by monotypy. Synonymy with Rana (sensu lato) by Barbour and Loveridge, 1928, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 50: 200. Preoccupied by Phrynopsis Rafinesque, 1815, Analyse Nat.: 107.

English Names

Bullfrogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Passmore and Carruthers, 1979, S. Afr. Frogs: 112; Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 345; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 318; Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 410).

African Bullfrogs (Van Dijk, 1978, J. Herpetol. Assoc. Afr., 17: 15; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 106).

Distribution

Nonforested areas of subsaharan Africa, seemingly in isolated populations.

Comment

Prior to the revision of Frost, 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, placed in subfamily Raninae, Tribe Pyxicephalini according to Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 66. Subfamily Pyxicephalinae, according to Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 317, following Clarke, 1981. See comment under Aubria. Regarded as a subgenus of Rana by Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 225-284, and related to the Rana occipitalis group of Euphlyctis (now Hoplobatrachus occipitalis group), a view not in agreement with Clarke, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 285-311, who regarded Pyxicephalus and Aubria as sister-taxa and together the sister-taxon of Conraua + the Rana (Euphlyctis) occipitalis group (now Hoplobatrachus occipitalis group). Subsequently regarded as a genus by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 66, and Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 317. Channing, Du Preez, and Passmore, 1994, J. Zool., London, 234: 141-148, diagnosed the two species and discussed their biology. Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 345-351, and Du Preez and Carruthers, 2009, Compl. Guide Frogs S. Afr.: 410-417, provided keys and accounts for the species of southern Africa. Nago, Grell, Sinsin, and Rödel, 2006, Salamandra, 42: 93-108, discussed the distinctiveness of Pyxicephalus adspersus and Pyxicephalus edulis. Blackburn, 2008, Herpetol. Rev., 39: 364, briefly discussed the taxonomic uncertainty of West Africa populations. Channing, Rödel, and Channing, 2012, Tadpoles of Africa: 344–348, provided information on comparative larval morphology. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 376–379, provided brief accounts, photographs, and range maps for the species.

Contained taxa (5 sp.):

Pyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

Pyxicephalus angusticeps Parry, 1982

Pyxicephalus beytelli Du Preez, Netherlands, Rödel, and Channing, 2024

Pyxicephalus edulis Peters, 1854

Pyxicephalus obbianus Calabresi, 1927

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