Pyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

Open encyclopedia reference

The African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus), also known as the giant bullfrog or the South African burrowing frog, is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae. It is also known as the pixie frog due to its scientific name. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has been extirpated from Eswatini. It has long been confused with the edible bullfrog (P. edulis), and species boundaries between them, including exact range limits, are not fully understood. Additionally, P. angusticeps of coastal East Africa only was revalidated as a separate species in 2013.

The natural habitat of the African bullfrog is moist to dry savanna, subtropical to tropical dry shrubland, intermittent freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, canals, and flooded ditches. It is among the largest anurans on the planet, sixth only to the goliath frog, the helmeted water toad, the Lake Junin frog, Blyth's river frog, and the cane toad.

Wikipedia contributors, African bullfrog; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T18:23:19.232882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Pyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

Name authority

Tschudi, 1838

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Anura

Family

Pyxicephalidae

Genus

Pyxicephalus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAmphibia
9. orderAnura
10. familyPyxicephalidae Bonaparte, 1850
11. subfamilyPyxicephalinae Bonaparte, 1850
12. genusPyxicephalus Tschudi, 1838
13. speciesPyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Pyxicephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 66 records assigned to Pyxicephalidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=665251 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4QYCF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.