View the above photo record (by Trevor Hardaker) in FrogMAP here.
Find the Mountain Caco in the FBIS database (Freshwater Biodiversity Information System) here.
Family Pyxicephalidae
MOUNTAIN CACO – Cacosternum parvum
Poynton, 1963
Habitat
C. parvum appears to be restricted to high-altitude grassland habitats above 1200 m. It breeds in well-vegetated (grassy) ponds, marshes and streams, and inundated grassland.
This species vies with C. striatum for the title of the smallest frog in South Africa. Its small size reflects a marked trend in the genus towards size reduction in high-altitude forms.
Behaviour
Very little is known of the life history of C. parvum. Specimens recorded near Graskop, Mpumalanga Province, were calling from beneath grass at the edge of shallow puddles in inundated grassland, while another population was breeding at a seep on a grassy slope. Advertisement and (presumably) agonistic calls were recorded (L.R. Minter pers. comm.).
Status and Conservation
C. parvum has been recorded from the Royal Natal National Park and the Giants Castle and Cathedral Peak nature reserves in KwaZulu-Natal Province, as well as Malolotja Nature Reserve in Swaziland. The species is locally abundant, and is not threatened or in immediate need of conservation action.
Distribution
There has been much confusion in the literature surrounding the separation and distribution of C. nanum and C. parvum, because the key in Poynton (1964) provides inadequate characters to separate these species. Poynton (1964) and Lambiris (1989a) listed grid localities where both species are supposedly present, but these were based on some specimens being identified as both nanum and parvum (Bates 1995). Material examined from all of these contested localities was found to be referable to C. parvum (E. Scott in prep.), and no specimens of C. nanum have been obtained from any of these localities.
C. parvum occurs in high-altitude habitats above 1200 m along the Drakensberg escarpment. It is known from the northern parts of Eastern Cape Province but appears to have its stronghold in KwaZulu-Natal, with an apparent gap between populations in this province and those farther north, in Swaziland and Mpumalanga Province. The identity of the isolated specimen from near Louis Trichardt (2330AB), mentioned by Poynton (1964), has not been confirmed.
C. parvum has been recorded in sympatry with C. nanum at Malolotja Nature Reserve (2631AA) in Swaziland (R.C. Boycott pers. comm.), and in the Maclear (3128AB) and Mount Frere (3028DD) districts in the Eastern Cape Province (M. Burger pers. comm.).
The advertisement calls of C. nanum and C. parvum are sufficiently different to allow recognition in the field and were used to identify populations during the atlas period. The distribution map for C. parvum presented here is based mainly on aural records. The atlas data are accurate but incomplete.
Further Resources
Virtual Museum (FrogMAP > Search VM > By Scientific or Common Name)
More common names: Mountain Dainty Frog (Alternative English Names); Berg Blikslanertjie (Afrikaans)
Recommended citation format for this species text:
Scott E, Tippett RM. Mountain Caco Cacosternum parvum. BDI, Cape Town.
Available online at http://thebdi.org/2022/02/17/mountain-caco-cacosternum-parvum/
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:
Scott E 2004 Cacosternum parvum Mountain Caco. 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.
