Hemisus barotseensis
Status: Data Deficient
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Hemisotidae
Genus: Hemisus
Threat: harmless
Venom/Toxin: none
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.
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.
Length: Males (25–30 mm) and Females (21–37 mm)
Ecology and 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.
Diet
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.
into which the larvae move when hatched.
Conservation
It is categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as, " Data deficient ".
Trend: uncomfirmed
Distribution and 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.
Interaction with humans
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