I Think I was sold the wrong species. Can you help?

[JacobPuttock]

Hello. I was told this was a 4 year old African Dwarf Bullfrog, but I think it's a female giant African Bullfrog. What do you think?

[poison]

Need pictures

[tgampper]

Pictures will help. According to the field guide to South African frogs, it is fairly easy to tell the difference between the giant and the dwarf. However, recently there was a fourth species of African bullfrog that was rediscovered which has been causing a lot of confusion in the pet trade.

The giant:
The distance from the eye to the tympanum is about twice the diameter of the eye (key feature)
Armpits and groin yellow

The dwarf:
Upper jaw with irregular vertical pale bars (key feature)
White, elliptical or crescent-shaped spot on tympanum (key feature)
Pale interorbital bar (key feature); this is a bar located on the top of the head that connects both eyes
The distance from the eye to the tympanum is about the same as the diameter of the eye (key feature)

It is fairly difficult to tell the difference if the frog is a juvenile.

[Bball799]

Baby Giants will have three bright green stripes. Dwarves will have a yellow to creamy color stripe down its back. Will definitely be able to tell with some pics.

[tgampper]

Juveniles of both species have stripe down the back. The stripe disappears as the giant matures but generally fades in the dwarf. Color and back ridges are not a good indicator to determine species. The dwarf may have brownish patches in the groin or belly area. The key features I mentioned in my last post are sure indicators. A while back I contacted a South African herpetologist on the issue and this is what they said.






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[Bball799]

I know they both have stripes. Giant babies will have 3 bright "green" stripes while dwarves will have yellow to cream colored stripes. Some giants get yellow on their throats and some don't and don't show these colors until older. Eye tympanum distance depends on male vs female and some species of dwarf have as much distance as a giant. The the male from the dwarf species "angusticeps" has two to three times the distance of eye to tympanum than the dwarf species "edulis." Giant pixie babies will also have a blue tint on their hind legs. Baby Giants also have a white spot on tympanum. Have yet to see a baby giant on this forum without one. The different dwarf species are murkier but with a pic can definitely tell if it's adspersus or not.


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[Bball799]

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...iG0utv1-JOB9HU


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[Bball799]

Just for the record Terry in no way am I trying to question your knowledge. The different sub species with these guys are definitely in need of more clarification. The "dwarf" species are commonly labeled "edulis" while some of these guys seem to get close to if not the same size as adspersus. And certain species outside of edulis can look similar to adspersus. Great to debate and share info.

[tgampper]

No worries, Bball! This debate has been going on for a very long time. I do have a African Bullfrog Identification Guide available to anyone who PM me their email address. The guide is based on information obtained from mainly South African sources and has some interesting pictures of frogs from various areas in southern Africa. I also have a PDF of the complete species description of P. angusticeps. A while back I had an interesting discussion with Dr. Charles Parry who originally described the species. According to Dr. Caroline Yetman, there may be one or two additional species in the genus. This is really exciting!

By the way, there used to be several other species in the genus, but they have been reassigned to the genus Tomopterna (these are the real pyxie frogs).