Rose's ghost frog

Rose's ghost frog
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Heleophrynidae
Genus:	Heleophryne
Species:	H. rosei
Binomial name
Heleophryne rosei Hewitt, 1925
Rose's ghost frog distribution according to the IUCN.   Extant (resident)

Rose's ghost frog (Heleophryne rosei), or Table Mountain ghost frog, is a species of

This is a moderately sized frog, with the larger female up to 60 mm (2.4 in) and the smaller male up to 50 mm (2.0 in) in length. The colouration of adults is striking, often a pale green background with purple to brown blotches. The fingers and toes have large, triangular terminal discs. A rudimentary thumb is present as a distinct inner metacarpal tubercle. The feet are half webbed, with one phalanx of the fifth toe free of web. The tadpole has neither an upper nor lower jaw sheath, but up to 17 rows of posterior labial teeth. The tadpole also has a large oral disc and is able to climb up wet vertical rock faces.[3]

Distribution

This species is known only from the southern, eastern, and marginally western slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town.^[3]

Habitat

The typical habitat of this frog includes moist, forested gorges, with vertical rock faces to more exposed streams surrounded by dense marginal vegetation, the latter habitat usually found at higher altitudes. Tadpoles require year-round supply of water whereas adults can stray away from streams, even to be found in caves.^[3]

Behaviour

The frogs are found on rock ledges or up in vegetation at night, retreating under large rocks and in cracks of rocks during the day.

Diet

These frogs eat a range of small insects and other forest arthropods.

Reproduction

Breeding starts in November when the streams are low but the temperature is high. The male's secondary sexual characteristics include a number of small black spines on the outside surfaces of the forearms, on the back, and on the top of the back legs. The eggs have not been found, but in other species they are deposited under rocks in streams. The tadpoles develop for about 12 months.^[3]

Conservation status

This species is listed as