Colours of Wildlife: Banded Rubber Frog
Created | Updated Jul 29, 2012
BANDED RUBBER FROG
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours ... but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
Today's painting is of a Banded Rubber Frog, Phrynomantis bifasciatus. These wonderful little frogs are found in much of Southern and Central Africa. I am lucky enough to have encountered them on a few occasions. One of them wandered into our house once; it was a pleasant surprise and at the time I was not acquainted with it at all. It might have been one of the stimuli that prodded me into learning more about South African frogs. It was impossible for me to see something like that without wanting to know more about it.
Perhaps the most special encounter for me was when I stumbled upon a large marsh where all sorts of frogs were breeding. The call of the banded rubber frogs was specifically noticeable: a rather long, drawn-out trill, 'PRRRRR….' repeated at intervals of several seconds. I did not see any of the frogs on that occasion, since they hide themselves well and stop calling when you approach them, but their calling was a significant element of the atmosphere. I've since learnt that that marsh is a breeding habitat for several more frog species. On the occasion, I remember also hearing Bubbling Kassinas (which I also hope to soon illustrate for you) and I have encountered baby African Giant Bullfrogs there as well.
Banded rubber frogs are extremely striking and cannot really be confused with anything else. With their smooth, black and bright red skins, they really do look as if they're made out of rubber! They're small, less than 7 cm/3" in length. They have short, rather skinny legs, and walk rather than hop. They are not very fast, but make up for that in being quite poisonous. Their bright colours, as they often are in Nature, are an indication of that. Handling these frogs might result in a painful rash if you have a sensitive skin, and after you've done so, by any means don't touch your eyes until you've washed your hands very well! One person even developed symptoms like chest contractions, difficulty breathing, loss of balance and nausea. But the symptoms clear up again later.
Another tactic the rubber frog will use when it encounters something that might want to eat it, is to inflate its body as much as it can, and stretch out its legs to raise itself as high as possible and so make itself look bigger.
These frogs occur in savannah regions, with trees as well as grass. This is where the adults hunt. They have small, narrow mouths, and eat mainly ants. They might even use the formic acid of the ants to help them create the toxins they store in their skins. They breed, as I've said, in marshes or pans – shallow expanses of water with tall grass and reeds on the margins. In dry weather the frogs will seek out cavities in trees, hollow logs or cracks underneath flaking bark. You might sometimes find several of these frogs in a large enough cavity.
These frogs belong to the Microhylidae family, which occurs worldwide and includes a vast assortment of frogs of a diversity of shapes and sizes. The Rain Frogs belong to the same family. The Banded Rubber Frog is widespread and common in suitable habitat, and currently not threatened.
