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This list of amphibians of South Africa contains species that form a part of the class Amphibia (phylum Chordata) fauna of South Africa. The list follows the South African National Bioinformatics Institute listing.

Amphibians are ectothermic, tetrapod vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this.

The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe.

The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian period from sarcopterygian fish with lungs and bony-limbed fins, features that were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced by reptiles and other vertebrates. The origin of modern amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia, which first appeared during the Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago, has long been contentious. However the emerging consensus is that they likely originated from temnospondyls, the most diverse group of prehistoric amphibians, during the Permian period.

The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (the frogs), Urodela (the salamanders), and Apoda (the caecilians), a fourth group, the Albanerpetontidae, became extinct around 2 million years ago. The number of known amphibian species is approximately 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea (Paedophryne amauensis) with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.30 in). The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 metres in length. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology. (Full article...)

Where common names are given, they are not the only common names in use for the species.


Anura


Order Anura – frogs and toads


Arthroleptidae


Family Arthroleptidae


Brevicipitidae


Family Brevicipitidae


Bufonidae


Family Bufonidae


Heleophrynidae


Family Heleophrynidae


Hemisotidae


Family Hemisotidae


Hyperoliidae


Family Hyperoliidae


Microhylidae


Family Microhylidae


Phrynobatrachidae


Family Phrynobatrachidae


Pipidae


Family Pipidae


Ptychadenidae


Family Ptychadenidae


Pyxicephalidae


Family Pyxicephalidae


Ranidae


Family Ranidae


Rhacophoridae


Family Rhacophoridae


Notes



    References


    1. "Checklist of South African Chordata, Class Amphibia. Animal checklist website". South African National Biodiversity Institute. Retrieved 28 November 2020.


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