A new Rain Frog (Anura: Brevicipitidae; Breviceps) from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, South Africa

Abstract

Breviceps, an African genus of fossorial frogs, comprises 20 species most of which occur in South Africa. In this study we describe a new species that differs morphologically from its closest congener Breviceps verrucosus, in the position of the mouth and relative size of the inner and outer metatarsal tubercles. Its taxonomic status as a separate species is placed beyond doubt by very significant differences in the structure of the advertisement call and substantial genetic divergence (7.5% uncorrected p-distance) in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. This study demonstrates the value of an integrative approach in taxonomy and that, when assessing the reliability of distribution data, it is better to err on the side of caution.