Pyxicephalus Differences

[Malachi]

Possible that edulis in South Africa look different than the "Tanzanian" edulis?

Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

How well are these frogs documented in the countries above? I am sure people in those countries would love to sell frogs to us under any name

So in south Africa there are two easy to distinguish frogs, but now pyxies from other regions are being sold either as the giant or dwarf.

[tgampper]

Possible that edulis in South Africa look different than the "Tanzanian" edulis?

It is quite possible that there are color morphs among different population groups, so what may be distinctively different in South Africa are more similar elsewhere.

Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. How well are these frogs documented in the countries above? I am sure people in those countries would love to sell frogs to us under any name

I think for the most part, the genus Pyxicepahalus is well documented, especially adspersus and edulis (obbianus is another story). P. edulis has two discontinuous ranges: the eastern range overlaps that of adspersus and its western range is also discontinuous: Nigeria, Senegal and Mauritania. I really like the picture of P. edulis in Roedel's book, looks a lot different than in other books.

So in south Africa there are two easy to distinguish frogs, but now pyxies from other regions are being sold either as the giant or dwarf.

Roedel, du Preez, Channing, and Carruthers has done a great job in describing the species, however, the name "pyxie" refers to frogs in the genera Pyxicepahalus and Tomopterna. Here in the U.S., we often refer to adspersus as a "pyxie". Popular names often lead to confusion.

[Malachi]

An adspersus looks like adspersus.

An edulis can look a lot different from edulis.

This is what is weird/confusing, not just color but shape it seems too.

And then you have the frogs that seem to be a mix

It would be nice to be able to match all the edulis morphs to the region they are from.

[onedge30]

Malachi, I am right with you. This is less clear to me now, then when this thread started. I guess I was completely off, thinking we could find a concrete physical description with an image for each species.

[tgampper]

Don't get discouraged

We have come a long way in coming to a conclusion in this "great debate". John mentioned back when this thread began that is wasn't going to be straight forward. I thought it would be easy too. Was I wrong!

Here are some photos:

P. edulis
Pyxicephalus edulis | AFRICAN AMPHIBIANS LIFEDESK

P. adspersus
Pyxicephalus | AFRICAN AMPHIBIANS LIFEDESK

[onedge30]

Terry, Here is some further confirmation of what we are finding.

These are P. adspersus:



These are P. edulis:




I will have to send you the location information and copyright.

Other tid bits: From Caroline Yetman, SA field researcher

"Yes, I examined genetic variation among P. adspersus collected from different localities mainly in Gauteng Province, using universal cyt. b primers. I also used ND2 and 16s primers to look at genetic variation between P. adspersus and P. edulis. This data indicates that P. adspersus and P. edulis are 2 distinct species. The male advertisement call is currently the most reliable trait to distinguish between P. adspersus and P. edulis."

"Yes, many photographed and even preserved museum specimens have been incorrectly identified. As you have noticed, the problem is worst for P. edulis. I have also yet to come across a photo or specimen of P. obbianus."


"It's difficult to say. The specimen in the photograph with the white background is possibly a variant of P. adspersus from, e.g. the Free State Province in South Africa, where P. adspersus is smaller, and produces a slightly different call compared to P. adspersus in Gauteng Province."


"The specimen in the photograph with the black background is possibly a variant of P. edulis or P. adspersus from, e.g. Botswana, or possibly a new species of Pyxicephalus. I obtained a tissue sample from such a specimen in Botswana, and used the ND2 and 16s primers, which revealed that it was highly genetically differentiated from P. adspersus and P. edulis."

[Malachi]

WOW! great post! Look all different frogs. This is a very interesting discussion. Look all different frogs.

What do you guys think on mine?