Favorite Images of Rain Frogs

A list of my favorite images of rain frogs.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_frog

Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of November 2013 contains 34 species in 5 genera.

Formerly included as subfamily in Microhylidae (narrow-mouth frogs), phylogenetic research has indicated the brevicipitine frogs should be considered as a family with Hemisotidae (shovelnose frogs) as the most closely related sister taxon.

Most adult brevicipitine frogs are not easily seen as they spend extended periods of time in soil or leaf litter. However, some species might be partly arboreal at times. Many species show strong sexual size dimorphism, with females being much larger than males.

At least the frogs in Breviceps and Probreviceps genera breed by direct development, in which small froglets emerge from eggs without intervening aquatic tadpole phase. It is likely that the same applies to the other genera too.

The frogs lay small clutches of 13–56 fairly large eggs (4–8 mm diameter not including the protective capsule) in cover, often in underground burrows. With some species either male or female stays with eggs or close to the egg chamber, though the details and extent of brood care is poorly understood within Brevicipitidae as a whole.

Black rain frog (Breviceps fuscus) is a species of frog in the family Brevicipitidae. It is endemic to South Africa.

The species is only found on the southern slopes of the Cape Fold Belt from Swellendam to the Outeniqua Mountains, at elevations of up to 1000 m. It inhabits fynbos and forest fringes and does not require the presence of open water.

Black rain frog young show direct development. The frog keeps its tail as it evolves from a tadpole to a mature frog. Shortly after growing legs, the juvenile is in constant competition with its siblings.

The Black Rain frog likes to create tunnels up to 150 mm deep. It can blow itself up like a balloon, as a defense mechanism to make itself harder to be eaten. It does this while tunneling, in order to prevent itself from being removed.