Banded rubber frog (Phrynomantis bifasciatus): range, size and status

The banded rubber frog, Phrynomantis bifasciatus, is a glossy black microhylid marked by two broad reddish-orange stripes running down its back, a pattern that gives the species its common name. It is widespread across central and southern Africa.

Identification

The species is a mid-sized frog, with adults reaching about 40–60 mm in body length. The facts box carries the full size range. Its glossy black skin with paired reddish-orange stripes makes it a distinctive sight among the savanna frogs it shares ground with, and its skin releases a milky toxic substance that can be lethal to other frog species and to humans.

Habitat and range

Within that broad African range, the banded rubber frog occupies dry and moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, grassland and freshwater marshes, including human-modified habitats such as pastures and water storage ponds. That tolerance for both natural and farmed or artificial ground helps explain why the species turns up across so much of central and southern Africa.

Conservation

The facts box gives the species’ current IUCN Red List category, Least Concern, a listing that reflects its extensive range across central and southern Africa and its tolerance of a wide range of habitats, from natural savanna and marsh to pastures and ponds altered by people.

Similar species

Other members of the genus Phrynomantis, such as Phrynomantis affinis, Phrynomantis annectens and Phrynomantis microps, are built on the same black-bodied, striped pattern but differ in the extent and shade of their markings and in their more restricted African ranges. None of these relatives has a profile on this site yet.