Tracy KarplusViews:
Based in South Africa, Dylan Leonard has spent years exploring the region in search of reptiles and amphibians. In 2018, that passion took him and a few friends to a grassy hillside near the small town of Boston, where they went looking for one rare rain frog, and stumbled across something entirely unexpected.
“New rainfrog species! In 2018, Nick Evans @nick_evans_reptile_rescuer and I set out to find Bilbo’s Rain Frog, Breviceps bagginsi. Babanango and Boston were, at the time, the only known localities. So, we decided to give Boston a try, being closer to home.
We picked up Cormac Price @cormac_is_out_of_the_office on the way, having tracked the weather and seeking favourable conditions. We heard them calling from a grassy slope. After seeing the frogs, we knew they were not Bilbo’s. Being morphologically similar to the Plaintive Rain Frog, B. verrucosus, we got in contact with James Harvey (herpetologist) and, later, Professor Louis Du Preez (zoologist at North-West University).
The result is that a new species, Breviceps batrachophiliorum, has now been described. This discovery has helped us realise the true range limits of both Bilbo’s Rain Frog and the newly discovered Boston Rain Frog, leading to the IUCN conservation status of Bilbo’s being elevated to Critically Endangered.” – Dylan Leonard
Connect with Dylan Leonard and see more of his work on Instagram @fieldherpingafrica and on YouTube. Be sure to check out the video of the Boston Rain Frogs calling!
