View the above photo record (by Eloise Costandius) in FrogMAP here.
Find the Cape Mountain Rain Frog in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Breviceptidae
CAPE MOUNTAIN RAIN FROG – Breviceps montanus
Power, 1926
Habitat
B. montanus is restricted to the Fynbos Biome, and usually occurs in Mountain Fynbos vegetation, but is also known from altered habitats such as pine plantations. It is usually found on coarse, acidic, sandy soils, but it is also known from heavier, shale-derived soils. It generally occurs at high altitudes but is also found at sea level in areas where mountains reach the coast (e.g. Betty’s Bay 3418BD). In such coastal situations it appears to be restricted to fynbos vegetation and is not found in coastal thicket (cf. B. rosei).
Behaviour
Photo by Zenobia van Dyk
Despite a relatively extensive distribution in the Western Cape, little is known of the biology of this species. Calling occurs both at night and during the day, usually during and after rain showers in winter and spring (June–November), but dense mist may be sufficient to stimulate calling. Channing (2001) collected a female with large eggs in October, and recorded calling activity in January. Males have been found calling from vegetation above ground level (Visser 1979d) or while moving about on the surface (L.R. Minter pers. obs.). The breeding biology is assumed to be similar to that of other members of the genus.
Status and Conservation
B. montanus occurs in relatively undisturbed montane habitat, and it is found within a number of protected areas. It is not threatened and is probably secure for the foreseeable future.
Photo by Keir Lynch
Distribution
This diminutive species occurs widely in the Cape fold mountains of the Western Cape Province, from northeast of Clanwilliam (3118DD), to the Outeniqua Mountains in the southeast (3323CC). On the Cape Peninsula it occurs with B. gibbosus in some localities, and to the east its range coincides, in part, with that of B. acutirostris and B. fuscus.
B. montanus probably occurs in a number of relatively inaccessible mountainous areas not surveyed during the atlas period. The eastern limits of its distribution, in particular, are not yet certain.
Further Resources
Virtual Museum (FrogMAP > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name)
More common names: Mountain Rain Frog (Alternative English Name); Kaapse Bergblaasoppadda (Afrikaans)
Recommended citation format for this species text:
Harrison JA, Tippett RM. Cape Mountain Rain Frog Breviceps montanus. BDI, Cape Town.
Available online at http://thebdi.org/2022/02/01/cape-mountain-rain-frog-breviceps-montanus/
Recommended citation format:
This species text has been updated and expanded from the text in the
2004 frog atlas. The reference to the text and the book are as follows:
Harrison JA 2004 Breviceps montanus Cape Mountain Rain Frog. In Minter LR
et al 2004.
Minter LR, Burger M, Harrison JA, Braack HH, Bishop PJ, Kloepfer D (eds)
2004. Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs of South Africa, Lesotho and
Swaziland. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and Avian Demography
Unit, Cape Town.
