Cover photo by Nick Helme.
Find the Tradouw MountainToadlet in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Bufonidae
Identification
The Tradouw Mountain Toadlet is a small Bufonid that attains a maximum size of 48mm. It has a toad-like appearance, but unlike true toads, it has smooth skin with blister-like ridges and warts, and the body is somewhat elongated.
The dorsal surface colouration varies from dark reddish-brown to black, with shades of grey and with scattered dark blotches. A pale vertebral stripe is often, but not always, present. The parotid glands are prominent and orange to red in colour. A row of orange-red warts is found along the flanks. The tympanum is visible and is smaller than the eye. The underside is white with variable dark grey mottling.
Wolfberg Arch, Western Cape
Photo by Paul Bester
Habitat
The Tradouw Mountain Toadlet occurs at high altitudes in mountainous terrain where it inhabits Mountain Fynbos and Grassy Fynbos. Most of its range lies within the western winter-rainfall region, but in the east extends into the zone of transition to summer rainfall.
Breeding takes place on mountain slopes and valley bottoms in shallow pools in seepage areas, moist depressions, vleis and slow streams. A breeding site on the slopes of Matroosberg in the Hex River Mountains consisted of rock pools varying in depth from a few to several centimetres, in a large expanse of exposed bedrock above a waterfall. Clumps of reeds and grass growing in the cracks provided limited shade to the pools that, in most cases, were on the bedrock and exposed to direct sunlight (pers obs).
Behaviour
During the day, adults shelter under rocks but may also be found in the open near seepage areas. Diurnal activity is especially common during the breeding season, June–September, when males are often found walking about at the breeding site. A number of tadpoles, found in rock pools at Matroosberg toward the end of October 1982, had hindlimbs, indicating that spawning had taken place in September, assuming that C. tradouwi has a developmental period similar to C. rosei, that is, 25–30 days (pers. obs.).
At the end of October, Tradouw MountainToadlets were common at the Matroosberg locality, with >20 specimens seen over a two-day period. They were found under stones lying on bedrock in seepage areas, and even on the high, dry slopes. A somewhat later breeding period was recorded at the eastern-most locality in the Tsitsikamma Mountains. Here, males were observed calling in late November 1993, in close proximity to small pools containing tadpoles (M. Burger pers. comm.).
Op de Berg, Western Cape
Photo by Nick Helme
The males call from the edge of shallow pools, often from concealed positions (Channing 2001). Amplexus is axillary. The eggs are unusual in that they are laid singly; in most bufonids, including C. rosei, they are laid in strings. The clutch size is c.60 eggs which are 2 mm in diameter and black at one pole (Channing 2001).
The tadpoles are dark, with unusually long undulating tails, and are benthic in habit (Passmore and Carruthers 1995). At the Matroosberg site, small black tadpoles were densely packed in the pools in plain sight. In some of the larger pools in the bedrock, as many as 100 tadpoles were found, while in the smallest pools, several tadpoles were present. Tadpoles were also found sheltering under small rocks that were lying in some of the pools.
Status and Conservation
The Tradouw MountainToadlet has a wide distribution in the southwestern and southern parts of the Western Cape Province, in remote mountainous areas. It occurs in a number of protected areas, including Cederberg Wilderness Area, Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve and Formosa Conservation Area, and does not appear to be threatened. Nevertheless, there have been few recent observations of C. tradouwi, and it is recommended that surveys be undertaken to confirm its current status.
Distribution
The Tradouw MountainToadlet is endemic to the Cape fold mountains in the southwest and south of the Western Cape Province (Grandison 1980), with the most easterly locality marginally entering Eastern Cape Province at Misgund (3323CD) in the Tsitsikamma Mountains. The species occurs north and east of the Berg and Breede river valleys, from the Matsikammaberg (3118DD) near Vanrhynsdorp in the north, southward to the Hex River Mountains, and eastward along the Langeberg mountain range to the Outeniqua, Swartberg and Kammanassie ranges. The species is recorded at altitudes of 1000–1600 m.
The atlas data are accurate but incomplete.
Further Resources
The use of photographs by Nick Helme and Paul Bester is acknowledged.
Tradouw MountainToadlet Capensibufo tradouwi (Hewitt, 1926)
Other Common Names: Tradouw-bergskurwepadda (Afrikaans)
Recommended citation format: Boycott, RC; Tippett, RM. (2025). Tradouw MountainToadlet Capensibufo tradouwi. Biodiversity and Development Institute, Cape Town. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2021/12/20/tradouw-mountain-toadlet-capensibufo-tradouwi/
This species text has been updated and expanded from the text in the
2004 frog atlas: Boycott, RC. (2004). Tradouw MountainToadlet Capensibufo tradouwi. In Minter LR et al 2004.
References:
Minter, LR; Burger, M; Harrison, JA; Braack, HH; Bishop, PJ; Kloepfer, D. (Editors). (2004). Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and Avian Demography
Unit, Cape Town.
Carruthers, V; du Preez, L. (2017). Frogs of southern Africa: A Complete Guide. Struik Nature, Cape Town.
Channing, A. (2001) Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa. Protea Book House, Pretoria
