Barotse Shovel-snout Frog
- Hemisus barotseensis
- IUCN Status: Data Deficient
- Threat: harmless
- Venom/Toxin: none
- Trend: uncomfirmed
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Amphibia
- Order: Anura
- Family: Hemisotidae
- Genus: Hemisus
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General Information
The barotse shovel-snout frog is a tiny frog that is endemic to Zambia. It occurs in the Liuwa plains national park and the Lochinvar National Parks in the western province of Zambia along the barotse flats.
Fun Facts
The barotse shovel-snout frog is endemic to the barotse plains and unconfirmed in the kafue flats. Little information about this small frog has been collected.
Description
The body is spherical with small head. The snout is tapered and has a hardened, pale tip. The arms short and muscular, with pointed fingers. The hind limbs are short. Skin is smooth. The dorsum (anatomy) and sides are translucent silvery-yellow on black background, with black mottling. Most specimens have a thin, pale vertebral stripe.
- Length: Males (25–30 mm) and Females (21–37 mm)
Ecology & Behaviour
The barotse shovel-snout frog uses it’s fore-limbs to burrow. It is most likely fossoral (meaning it digs and spends most but not all of its time underground). Threats or predators to this species are unknown.
Reproduction
The male advertisement call is a long trill. Pulses come in quadruplets, with a pulse rate of 28 per second. The dominant frequency is 4.3 kHz. The call is unique among Hemisus.
Conservation
It is categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as, ” Data deficient “.
Distribtion & Habitat
The barotse shovel-snout frog lives in floodplains in savannas and nests in burrows in wet soil, adjacent to temporary water. It occurs in the Liuwa Plain and Lochinvar National Parks. It is endemic to western Zambia and known with certainty only from the Barotse Floodplain, along the Zambezi River. The record from the Kafue Flats is uncertain.
